Let it never be said that Russians are a humorless lot. Yesterday on the metro, while I was listening to Sade's "Smooth Operator," I spotted something that made me laugh out loud, although I quickly stopped since people began to look at me strangely. As I was going down the escalator I glanced over to my left at the people who were on the escalator coming out of the metro and I spotted a large man, and by large, I mean well-fed. He stood out not only because of his size but because of the bright aqua of his t-shirt. And emblazoned across this bright aqua t-shirt, which appeared to be straining to contain his 'presence,' were the words, in English, "All this could be yours." I know it was possible that he did not know what the words meant, but I think he must have known, which just makes it all the more humorous. Clearly, here is a man that knows how to laugh at himself and does not take life too seriously.
After my chuckle I made my way to Tsaritsyno Park, which is a very large park on the outskirts of Moscow that was originally intended to be the site of one of Catherine the Great's palaces. But Catherine could just not seem to make up her mind and fired several architects and eventually ran out of money, so it was never finished. But there are some very beautiful buildings and walkways and the grounds are amazing. It was a rainy day too, which means that it was not overrun with tourists like me. There were a great deal of wedding parties though. Apparently it is a very popular place to go for pictures.
What struck me about the park was the quietness of the place. The apartment that I am living in is in a very nice part of town and is convenient to many things, but it is a very noisy spot too. I can hear the constant hum of traffic on Novyi Arbat (and its nothing like 441 and "waves crashing on the beach"), construction noise, and church bells. I know, the ringing of church bells does not seem like it would be a bad thing, but the bells at the church near my apartment ring at the oddest times and for varying lengths of time. For the life of me I cannot figure out the logic of it either as there appears to be no consistency when they ring. There are at least 12 bells in the steeple too, so its not just one bell but a whole plethora of tones that to my ear sound slightly off-key. But I digress....
At any rate, the park was very quiet and I could actually here the wind through the leaves. I didn't even realize until I was at the edge of the park how much I missed the quiet, and it made me homesick. Moscow is a great city and there are plenty of green spaces and parks, but at heart I am just not a city person.
Today I walked around the theater district looking for a bookstore that no longer exists, even though, again thank you google maps, it is still on the city map. It seems that they have changed their name and moved to a different location and with any luck I will find it tomorrow. I have been keeping myself busy in the evening reading and I have read everything I brought with me. I did buy an Edward Rutherford book at Dom Knigi (House of Books), but half-way through it I realized that I had already read it. Obviously I am turning into my Mom. I am hoping to find something new at Book Hunters, which specializes in foreign language books, and in particular English language books. I know, I should be reading Russian stuff or working on my courses, but reading in the evening seems to be keeping me sane. It is nice after struggling all day to express myself correctly to just pick up a book that requires no thought.
The pictures below are from Tsaritsyno Park, and the picture of the sickle and hammer is from the metro station of the same name. Maybe it is just my sense of humor, but it is hard not to see the communist symbol at a metro stop that means the "tsarina's" and not grin. After all, one of the main goals of the revolution was to overthrow the monarchy (tsar & tsarina) and it is not surprising that the Bolsheviks would want to put such an obvious symbol so close to the unfinished park of one of the great Russian monarchs.
I have also included a picture, that while it is not real clear, is an image of Captain America. There are movie posters and advertisements everywhere here for Transformers 3, Harry Potter, and Larry Brown too. But what is interesting about the Captain America advertisements is that there is no "Captain America." The movie is being billed as "the First Avenger" in Russia and Ukraine as well. Apparently the movie theaters in both countries decided that it would sell better as the "First Avenger" instead of "Captain America," which for some in European countries is just too nationalistic. Maybe if the United States had a better reputation in the field of foreign relations it would be a little different. Then again, the news here is all over the story of the Mexican national that was executed in Texas. The battle between state's rights and federal rights is something that many Russians that I have spoken with have a hard time understanding, and the Texas case is no different.
Tomorrow it is back to the archives with my receipt so that I can pick up my copies, which I am very excited about. Hopefully they will have the other files that I have requested, but if they do not then I will go back to the music library at Dom Pashkova and spend another glorious afternoon looking through musicological journals from the 1950s.
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