Our life in Russia
Wayne
and the dog and three cats arrived at the end of August 1998. Patti
joined the rest of the family on 1 October. We lived in Moscow for
three years and enjoyed our time there. We made many Russian friends
during our stay and have been able to stay in contact with them over
the years.
Moscow
is a fascinating city. It was founded in 1147. For a North American it
was unbelievable to be surrounded by such a sense of history. It never
ceased to be a thrill for me to look out of our kitchen window and see
the Hotel Ukraina, one of Stalin's extremely ornamented "Seven
Sisters". 
The
architectural mix of Russian Imperial, Stalinist adornment, Soviet ugly
and modern architecture must be unparalleled anywhere else in the
world. Our apartment complex on Kutuzovsky Prospect (left) and indeed
most of the buildings on our street (right)
are examples of what we lovingly came to call "Soviet Ugly", the
prevading style of many of Moscows neighbourhoods rebuilt after the
Great Patriotic War (WWII).
The Moscow
subway system, the Metro,
is excellent. Each station on the central "circle" line is a distinct
work of art. Many of the older stations on the outlying lines are also
beautiful. The building of the Metro was administered by Nikita
Khrushev, possibly the only good thing he ever managed, even though the
death toll in its creation was appalling. While we lived there it was
still illegal to photograph, almost all tourists did and the police
(the militsia) rarely seemed to worry about it. Gradually Russia is
overcoming it's old Soviet era illogical hangups, but it is a slow
process. Click on the link for a self-guided tour
of the Moscow Metro.
During our stay in Moscow we were fortunate to see a number of operas
and ballets at the world famous Boshoi Theatre. The Bolshoi Opera
Company was always wonderful. The Bolshoi Ballet Company, while still a
good company, seemed to lack the precision and mastery of movement
which were its hallmarks when we had seen them on tour in North America
many years ago.
The
Theatre itself is a
magnificent theatre with beautiful paintings on the ceiling and trim in
red and gilt throughout. The theatre curtain is adorned with the CCCP
and hammer and sickle insignia of the former Soviet era in matching red
and gold, and a huge Soviet crest adorns the top of the "Tzar's Box",
still called that today. The Bolshoi desperately needs major structural
renovations. It is to be closed for extensive repairs as soon as
sufficient funds have been raised. The theatre's companies will
continue to perform in another venue during the period of construction,
estimated at three years. Follow the link for more photos of
the Bolshoi and its environs.
A
major part of settling
in to a new home is learning where to get what one needs on a daily
basis. In a different country, that means learning what brands are
available and which best suite your family's needs. In the latter part
of 20th century, the North American press gave a lot of coverage to
food and commodity shortages in Russia. We often visited several of
Moscow's open air markets which specialize in selling produce, local
and from other republics in the Federation as well as imported from
other parts of Europe. While CNN was reporting food and commodity
shortages, the market stalls were heaped high with fresh fruits and
vegetables. Other markets were full of clothing and household goods.
The photo shows me haggling for a pair of winter boots at a Vietnamese
Market.
As
the temperatures drop
in winter, the variety of fresh produce decreases and prices rise, but
this should not come as a shock as the same thing happens in Canada and
the northern US. While prices for the imported goods rose as the value
of the rouble dropped, local produce remained relatively inexpensive
when available. I did read in one of the local English language
newspapers that the cost for a subsistence basket of goods had
increased 30% between August and November of 1998, but at that period
the value of the rouble was plunging. Even then, there were still
throngs of shoppers at the more upmarket shopping centres such as GUM,
pictured above.
During
our first winter, I joined an Art History and Culture class run under
the auspices of the International Womens' Organization. The group met
once a week either for a lecture or a field trip. With them I was able
to visit the Vysoko-Petrovski
Monastery in Moscow and the Monastery and Museum at Zvenigorod, about 90 minutes
outside of Moscow towards Smolensk.
In
the minds of
most people from North America and Western Europe, Russia is the
country that invented winter (although we Canadians take exception to
this idea as we lay claim to having a national capital colder
than Moscow by several degrees, either Celsius or
Fahrenheit). For some photos of our first Russian winter, click here.
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This page was updated on 26 November 2007.Contact me at: patti.primeau@sympatico.caThis site was edited using Nvu and Style Master. |