After breakfast with our daily concert of harp music (we loved this touch....the hotel also has a pianist who plays in the lobby in the afternoons), we ventured back to the metro to go to Old Arbat Street...
...the oldest surviving street in Moscow. It was the main route that was used to reach areas west of Moscow and the place where merchants gathered to sell their wares. It was also the route used by invading armies to access and then retreat from the city. This street was originally built mostly of wood and was burned by the Russians in 1812 when Napoleon was trying to seize Moscow, leaving the french with no food or shelter. So it has been entirely rebuilt with some Italian, some art deco, some soviet construction...
and some??.....(not sure,,,eclectic?)....
It is now a pedestrian walkway lined with shops and cafes...(Jim...your kind of cafe)...
We wandered up the street, enjoying the street music...
and the architecture....There were several theaters along the way, one of which had this ballerina in front...
And we did some shopping, of course...
(modeling our purchases in Red Square in our shirt sleeves!! It has been In the 60's here! Gorgeous weather!).
On our walk back to the hotel, we walked through a park where they had just planted flowers everywhere in anticipation of May day and Victory day...
Then we saw a crowd at one corner of the Kremlin wall, so we walked over to see what they were looking at. And it was the tomb of the unknown soldier...
...and the crowd was there to see the changing of the guard which happened about 3 minutes after we got there....
We stopped for a late lunch. Then after a rest, it was time for the premiere of the ballet, "Lost Illusions," at the Bolshoi theater.
It wasn't really in the old Bolshoi theater building as that building has been under renovation for ten years. It was scheduled to reopen in 2009, but that has now been pushed back to 2013 (we just read in Tuesday's paper that it will reopen this October?) There has reportedly been a lot of graft involved, and the renovation is expected to significantly exceed budget by about $900 million. It's apparently been quite a fiasco.
Meanwhile, they built a "temporary" theater next door in about two years time, which has a phenomenal and opulent auditorium (no photos allowed), which was where we experienced the famous Russian Bolshoi ballet. The ballet was actually one that had been introduced for a short time in 1936, but was quickly shut down to avoid the wrath of Stalin, who was cracking down on artistic endeavors at the time. So this was an important premiere in light of its symbolism. And it was a very good production too! The "people watching" was also an experience as many of the women were quite beautiful and stylish. We had hoped to read the reviews the next day, since the press seemed to be there for this premiere, but we were unable to determine where it might have been covered (in English anyway).
Back to the hotel afterwards for a wonderful snack in the hotel bar, and to bed, with visions of ballerinas dancing in our heads!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Brings back memories. I was in Moscow & St. Petersburg right after the coo. Was amazed by all the art & architecture of old buildings,churches. Did you get to go to the summer palace? We went to the Moscow circus too. None of the tall skyscrapers were around then. What a wonderful way to spend Easter. Hope you're feeling better. Glad you got to meet up with friend for this part of your trip.
ReplyDelete