I went today and they had my passport. Then they said, "Visa, maybe tomorrow." I left before I said some very not-nice things. I told Anatoly about it and he was all ice. "Don't worry, they'll have it, you won't have to leave with out it." Dern right, cause I CAN'T. Ergh.
Anyway, I do think I'll have it, if I have to cause some international incidents to get it. So annoyed with beauracracy, and spelling.
I'm headed to a performance, my culture prof decided to spring an excursion on me today. So I have to dash. Here's my Diaryland entry from the first day in Moscow. It's heinously long, but enjoy!
"29/11/03
Goodbye Russia! Hello Germany!
How many Americans do you think can say they ate good Italian food in Germany in an awesome apartment in Moscow? Not many, I’ll bet that.
We arrived in Moscow around 8:00am this morning…people who snore suck by the way. Huge men sleeping not 2 feet from me snoring suck the most. Anyway, we arrived, met up with Franzie and Janna, then went the Germany.
Not exactly, we went to the German embassy, which, of course, is technically German. There we went through obscene security and were escorted by a diplomat to our own freaking apartment which is decked. I mean, it’s fully furnished, like hotel style except with a full kitchen, German satellite TV, a REAL shower. Everything is up to Western standards, it’s all clean, clean clean, it’s great.
Anyway, after we moved into the apartment and relaxed for a few we dashed over to Red Square to see the world’s most famous Mummy (That would be the Lenin Mausoleum.) It is the one thing that I wanted most to see in Moscow, and it was to close at about 1:30 today and isn’t open on Sunday or Monday. Turns out it wasn’t open today either. For some reason it is closed until the 28th of December. I’m actually pretty upset about it because I’ll likely never get the chance to see it. Lenin expressed the wish to be buried in Peter next to his mother before he died. Yeltsin (I believe) attempted to give him that wish, but it caused a severe public outcry from communists. As communism wanes in Russia, I think Lenin will get his wish in the next few years, and I may never get the chance to see the necromantic weirdness that is his tomb.
For those interested. The method that they use to keep him looking up to scruff is as follows: About every 12 days he is wiped down from head to foot, given an anti-decaying chemical injection and then (I swear I’m not making this up…) dipped, completely, in wax. Apparently, it works very well, the man who developed the process came out and explained it after the fall of the Soviet Empire and offers the service to would-be immortals for a cool US 1 million.
After not seeing Lenin we went across the square to the GUM. It’s a HUGE mall. Has to be the world’s largest. During the communist era it symbolized all that was wrong with communism; incredibly long bread queues and empty shelves filled with aging scraps of what only a starving person might call food. Now, it looks to belong on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Island. Stores from Revlon to Sbarro pizza, it’s Romanesque architecture and open glass ceiling high above the third floor makes it feel very…non-provincial.
We then made a trek to the Church of Christ the Savior. This also has some really interesting history behind it. (Please, skip if I’m getting too history teacher.) It was apparently the most beautiful building in the world for years. Made of more than 10 kinds of marble and incredibly sturdy, it stood off of the center of the Kremlin. Stalin’s office desk stared out a window to the city, and in the center of his view, stood this immaculate cathedral and monument of the hope of the Russian people. He blew it up. His initial plan was to erect a huge column to Lenin on the spot, but thankfully, the land was too soft, sandy, it sank to much. It then served as the world’s largest swimming pool for many years. During Moscow’s last anniversary, a new Church was revealed. Still incredibly beautiful by my standards, it was built by a controversial architect. I think it’s great.
After the church we went to the Pushkin Museum of fine art. We were all very tired, so we only saw a few things, but we visited impressionists, and post-impressionists. I saw some really great Pissarro’s and Degas’.
We then went to the most expensive supermarket in the known world (really, by New York standards this place is ridiculous.) Now were here and cooking pasta!
The only thing wrong with the trip is that I cannot make phonecalls to the US from my apartment. The phone wont switch to tone. I got to call LaRae for about 2 seconds and leave a message courtesy of the German National Government. But, it’s a good trip. Tomorrow, the Kremlin!
~J"
If you made it this far, pat yourself on the back.