Mission to Moscow: People Are Strange

It has been an interesting few days for me here in Moscow. I went to the flea-market at Izmailovskii Park and picked up a few souvenirs. The place is huge and even though I've been there before, I am still surprised at the size of it and the sheer number of matryoshka dolls. Of course, they are there for the tourists to purchase and it is a must to haggle over prices for anything. I suppose if you are not accustomed to it the whole haggling business can be somewhat intimidating, but if you make just the slightest attempt it can be a blast. The vendors that I dealt with seemed to appreciate the game of it all.

After leaving Izmailovskii I went to the farmer's market near the Danilovskii Monastery, and was that ever an experience! The minute I walked into the market people were yelling at me "devushka, devushka, devushka!" But it wasn't that I had done anything wrong, they were just trying to get my attention so that I would purchase something from them. One guy practically dragged me over to his table to try his homemade juice. It is an entirely different cultural experience from the Muscovites and Russians that you encounter on the street or the metro. Most of the vendors at the larger farmer's markets are from the "stans" - Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, etc. and they do not maintain the same stoic composure that Russians usually do. I had a great time though just interacting with everyone and searching for peppers with any kind of heat. Sadly they were not to be found but I did find three different types of basil and nutmeg.

I tried to go into the courtyard of the Danilovskii monastery, but the police officer would not let me through the gate because I did not have a scarf to cover my hair with. I wasn't trying to be disrespectful or anything, I had just forgotten about the whole scarf deal. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to go into the monastery in a strapless mini-dress that even Heidi Klum would find too short, and wearing 5 inch platform heels, as long as you have your hair covered. That was how the woman in front of me was dressed.

I found my way to "Chistie Prudi" today, which means "clean ponds." It is a nice park, although the pond does not appear too clean to my eye. As I came out of the metro I noticed lots of flags, which is my mind is not usually a comforting sight. It was pretty ironic too considering I had recently been chatting with Rachel about how I haven't seen many flags at all since I've been in Moscow, at least not compared to what you see in Florida. Apparently there was a nationalist demonstration protesting pretty much everything that they think is wrong with the Russian government. The group is the Motherland Party of Russia. They would most likely refer to themselves as patriots, but when the language is anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and about the importance of a strong military and the Russian Orthodox Church, in my opinion it is nationalistic. What was especially disturbing was the sign with the quotation by Henry Ford that monarchic governments are the best form of government known to man, or some approximation of that. I'm not very familiar with Ford's written works, so I do not know if he actually said what the protestors seem to think he said. However, I do know that among certain circles in Europe Ford is revered not only for the manufacturing process that he established, but also his anti-Semitic publications. Therefore, seeing a sign with Ford's name so prominently displayed was very disturbing. I didn't stay near the demonstration for very long once I heard the speaker begin talking about the danger that immigrants posed to Russia. I'm obviously a foreigner and did not want to chance anything.

Fortunately the afternoon ended well - Alla made a plum tort and I am eating a piece of it now and having a cup of amaretto coffee. It is a fantastic treat on such a rainy afternoon. And, not a bad way to end my mini-vacation. Tomorrow it is back to Soviet musicological journals of the 1950s! I am actually excited about that too. Cheers.