Heading out on The Golden Mile

July 30 - 31, 2016

 
My second weekend in Moscow and my jet lag is just a memory.  I had been invited to accompany some folks on a boat cruise on Sunday but opted for a quiet weekend without anything scheduled. I did have a vague intention to figure out the Hop On Hop Off Bus for Sunday but as it turned out, that seemed like even that might be too much scheduling, lol! 


Saturday was all about tidying up with laundry, dishes and light housework. Somewhere in there, the water folks delivered my water cooler along with four bottles of Nestle water. There is filtered water in the SQ but the convenience of water delivery and the modest associated costs made this seem like a good plan. Glenda I immediately thought of you when I saw those labels. A few months earlier and I might have been asking for a friends and family discount!

After my housework was done, I enjoyed a lazy Saturday of reading and communicating with folks at home. What did we do before electronics? FaceTime is great even though my (neighbour’s) Internet band width/signal is not always up to it!

Sunday also started out lazy but it was just too beautiful to stay in the apartment for the day so I headed out to explore the other side of the Moskva River though not before I blew the breaker in the kitchen! I guess the combination of water cooler, microwave and toaster was just too much… In an effort to prevent future outages, I have moved the water cooler to the study and will send another Mission Request Order to get the breakers reset tomorrow. Onward …


So … where to go on a sunny Sunday when you live in the Golden Mile? 

Headed toward Christ the Saviour Cathedral, again without head covering, and took the bridge over the river to the other side. There was a huge statue in the river that had caught my eye the week before and there were some more onion domes to investigate. The bridge across featured a photographic exhibition of some of the many spectacular orthodox churches sprinkling this vast country. Sadly, the descriptions were in Russian only and my vocabulary was not close to being up to the task.

The other side of the Moskva River

A Cafe to check out some other time

Back to my original quest. Who is this guy? ...

I finally figured out what the statue was all about from a street sign that mercifully contained some basic English information.  The subject of the nearly 100-meter monument (statue really doesn’t do it justice!) is none other than Peter the Great. The monument was built on an artificial island at the western confluence of the Moskva River to celebrate the 300^th Anniversary of the Russian Navy. The unveiling of the monument coincided with commemoration of 850^th anniversary of Moscow in 1997. Reading about it afterwards, apparently in November 2008, it was voted the tenth ugliest buildings in the world by Virtual Tourist. I guess I don’t see it that way but will leave it to you to judge …

In my quest to see the monument, I stumbled across a beautiful park along the Moskva River known as the Muzeon Arts Park or the Fallen Monument Park. On a beautiful Sunday, the park was packed with Muscovites enjoying the sunshine and the over 700 sculptures in the Muzeon’s collection. This park is the final resting place for many Soviet statues evicted from Russia’s parks and squares following the collapse of Communism. 

Since there are no beaches in Moscow, people often lie out in their bathing suits or undergarments for that matter and catch a few rays (for Ottawa folk, think about the parks especially on the Colonel By side of canal). I’ll have to go back for a better look as people watching, music and the little “shops” distracted me. There was a festival of sorts taking place featuring a brass band playing popular tunes – very kitschy.

Lemonade is a very popular drink here

Cause I'm Happy!

Clearly not one of the "fallen" statues

Cool bicycles for rent!

After a quick stop for a strawberry-basil gelato, I headed off to find the buildings under the mosaic onion domes that I had spied on my travels. The temple grounds house the church of St. Nicholas in Golutvin, bell tower, vicarage, fence and gate. The stone church was built in 1686-1692, closed in 1923 and then renovated and reconsecrated in the 1990s. The “little church that could” is a slice of tranquility surrounded by hotels and high-rises.

After exploring the grounds, I decided to try and find the International Grocery Store that is over here somewhere. I did find something that might have been the right place and bought some beautiful produce to take home. Home is always farther than you think when you are lugging groceries (beautiful produce or not) but I made it home and transformed my burden into a beautiful Greek salad that I had for supper with lots left over for next week’s lunches.  Another weekend of laziness and exploration is finished.  Back to work tomorrow.