Since I’ve finally found an internet center that allows me to use my flash card, I have Moscow pictures to show you! There are quite a few, so I’ll do it in a few different posts. Today I’ll show you my pictures from our trip to Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Ples, even though that was actually at the end of our time in Moscow.
YAROSLAVL
First, a somewhat hazy view of the Volga:
This little spit of land was somehow important to the city, so there are fountains there, which you can see, and 996 – Yaroslavl’s age – spelled out in flowers, which you can’t see.
Now some cupolas! No old Russian city is complete without cupolas.
Here’s me in the bell tower of the monastery with some different cupolas.
It’s hard to see in this small picture, but the thing on top of the spire is a bear with an axe, the symbol of Yaroslavl.
And here’s the same tower viewed through a window in the bell tower.
KOSTROMA
It was Kostroma’s “city day,” a holiday celebrating the founding of the city. There was a concert and fireworks and stuff, and I came across these little guys (presumably out for the festivities?) in the park.
Lenin looks more like Lenin than I look like Lenin (I think that’s a good thing). This monument has a funny history: it was started in 1914 as a monument to the tsars, but then WWI came along and work was halted. After the war came the revolution, of course, and there was no longer any need for a monument to the tsars. The half-finished monument sat around for several years more until Lenin croaked in 1924. Kostroma, jumping at the chance to be the first city with a monument to Lenin, melted down the half-finished statues of tsars and made a statue of Lenin instead.
PLES
This is what Ples looked like:
This is what my jeans pocket looks like. (After several hours you just get tired of listening to Russian and can no longer process anything the tour guide says. And you start playing with your camera.)
For Denise, this is a picture of the sign to the Levitan museum. The big word at the bottom is “Levitan” (except it’s in the genitive case, so it has an A on the end).
5 comments:
oh, that's exciting. what do they have at this museum?
Ooh photos! As Mike would say, "Love your work!".
<3, L
Two of the little puppet guys are Volk and Zaets from "Nu Pogodi" (or are similar enough to be them, anyway). One of the cartoons from my childhood. If you're ever feeling like Russian cartoons, by the way, check out http://multiki.arjlover.net/multiki/
Also, I didn't know they had a museum of Levitan's there. How do you like his work? He's not my favorite Russian painter (Shishkin takes that distinction), but I do love his sort of quasi-impressionist stuff :).
The characters in the park are fascinating, as is the Museum of Levitan (Denise on display?) ... we have no such fun things in Norwalk. Nor onion domes, either, although a few of those can be found in Cleveland.
Clearly, Yaroslavl is a city on the rise!
MC
Denise: it's an art museum/Levitan's house. This guy named Levitan was a painter around the turn of the 20th century who lived in Ples after they kicked a bunch of Jewish people out of Moscow (sad). He painted a lot of Russian countryside stuff.
Mike: I liked Levitan's stuff all right - it's all really pretty - but by the time we got there we were all SO tired of tours that we could hardly pay attention. Learned some good Russian art vocabulary, though. :) As for the multfilmi, I'm planning to invest in some as soon as possible! Cartoon DVDs are cheap here, and i still haven't seen Vinni-Puxh or Cheburashka, which everyone seems to think is a crime!
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