Off to Another Orphanage

After we finished shopping at Ismailovo we got on the bus to visit another orphanage. I honestly can't tell you where we went. By this time we were all so tired that we just headed off where we were pointed! Even the teenagers were dragging by this time. Of course we had a wonderful lunch laid in front of us that helped revive us before we toured the facility. I think that VIM was being asked to come stay at this orphanage during the summer to help work on the building but I'm not sure. After experiencing the conditions at Sergei Posad Psychological this place looked like it was in pretty good shape!

Dima

Dima was our #1 bus driver. He knew all the short cuts around traffic tie-ups and could squeeze that bus down the narrowest of alleys. Daddy would have been proud of him! By the way, that's not his hair, it's a hat.

Ismailovo Market

On Saturday morning (January 6) we had a couple of hours to go shopping at the Ismailovo Market next to our hotel. This is THE place to buy souvenirs in Moscow. It is an open air market where you barter for nesting dolls, linens, amber jewelry, Soviet-era military items, imitation Faberge eggs, fur hats and more. I'm no good at bargaining so I trailed along behind John and Susan who were very good at it and I came away with lots of nice things, including a real fox fur hat.

Tretyakov Art Gallery

About a block away from the Cathedral is the Tretyakov Art Gallery (again, I'm going to have to check the spelling on that). The artist Tretyakov is still living and is considered one of if not the greatest Russian artist of modern times. He is so respected that the government built this gallery just for his art. He is known for huge murals that depict Russia's place in history and the world today, especially what he considers the negative aspects of Western influence on Russia's culture (McDonald's, for example). I'm certainly no art critic, but I think one of our group's comments sum up Tretyakov's art very well: he is just mad at the world!

Christ the Savior Cathedral

Our next stop was Christ the Savior Cathedral. If you've been watching the news lately you saw this church as the site of Boris Yeltsin's funeral. The Cathedral was originally built by Tsar Alexander I to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon. The communists destroyed it when they came to power and planned to build a "palace of the people" on the site. Years dragged by and the "palace" was never built. One story goes that Stalin himself delayed the project because it was supposed to have a 20 foot tall statue of Lenin at the top. Because of his jealousy of Lenin, Stalin didn't want him honored in such a way so he prevented the building from going up. When Nikita Kruschev came to power he had a large public swimming pool complex built on the site. When communism fell and the Russian Orthodox Church regained its power as the state religion the Cathedral was reconstructed with the same plans as the original.
Icons are an important part of Orthodox worship. When blessed by a priest these images of saints are supposed to have special power to work miracles and help prayers reach God's ears. There is a famous icon of Christ in the lower part of the Cathedral that is the only religious object to have survived the destruction of the original building. It is a hauntingly beautiful head of Christ; when we were there many people were stopping to light candles and pray in front of it. I was able to buy a small copy of that icon and one of Saint Sergei at the souvenir counter.
Because of preparations for Orthodox Christmas Eve in the main sanctuary we didn't get to see that part of the building but the lower chapel was awe-inspiring. We had the opportunity to stay downtown and attend the Christmas Eve services at the Cathedral but we would have had to take the subway back to the hotel later that night. About half of us opted to go back to the hotel on the bus and watch the services on TV. We probably got a better view of the service and didn't get stuck in a corner where we got our feet stepped on and couldn't see or hear anything!

The American Grill

After we left the Kremlin we went to eat at the American Grill. The menu includes Russia's version of American food - you can get hamburgers if you let them know ahead of time. We had the pork chops and potatoes with all the extras and it was really good. See the Coke sign in the left picture? We always had "Coke Light" or "Pepsi Light" on the table wherever we ate. They have also learned that Americans don't like the fizzy bottled water so they make sure they have the "plain" bottled water for us.

Last Shot of the Kremlin

We finished the Kremlin tour in the late afternoon. As we waited for our tour bus to drive around an pick us up I had this wonderful view of a 19th century palace where Tsar Nicholas II and his family lived when they were in Moscow leading down to one of the Kremlin towers with the Soviet star still on top. I thought it was a wonderful contrast of history as well as of light and shadows. As far as photographic quality goes this is my favorite picture of the whole trip; I have it set as my wallpaper on my computer at work.

Presents Needed!

First, pardon my delay in posting! Time got away from me over Easter - when you're a church musician you're very busy during this time of year. Also, my church is involved in plans for a possible merger of five congregations and I'm on the committee that is working on that. Let's see if I can't get on the ball and give you some information!

I'm already getting donations of presents for the from the wonderful folks at church and from some of the groups to whom I've given talks. Other friends have asked me for the list of items needed so here goes:

Infant and Toddler List

Coloring Books

Box of 8 Crayons

Tube of Chapstick

Sheet of Stickers

Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Infant and Toddler Socks

Matchbox Car for Boys

Small Doll for Girls

Signed Christmas Card

Children and Youth List

Make Up and Nail Polish for Girls

Cologne for Boys

Winter Gloves and Knitted Winter Hat

Tube of Chapstick

Tube of Hand Lotion

Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Pad of Writing Paper, Erasers

Pencils, Pens, Pencil Sharpener

Socks for Boys or Girls

Signed Christmas Card

All the items will be sorted and distributed in two-gallon Zip-Lock bags. Don't worry about sorting them yourself; it is easier to pack like items together. The team will have a packing party the first night we are there to put the bags together by age and gender.

If you live in the Charleston, West Virginia area I will gladly come and pick up the items. If you live elsewhere and need to ship the items contact me through the blog and we will make arrangements. Please keep in mind that it costs money to ship these items to Russia (at least $50 per 50 pound box) and cash donations to Volunteers In Mission for this expense are greatly appreciated. We will take as much as we can in our luggage allowance and pay for the extra weight of the additional boxes. It's no more expensive to do it this way than by a shipping company and if the boxes are with us they have a better chance of actually reaching their destination. Contact me if you have any questions about any of this.