Letters to the Editor

 

LettersToTheEditorDear Sir:

Moscow is an unbelievably beautiful city, with something to look at around every corner. We are staying in the heart of Moscow a short walk away from Red Square where we will be walking to in a few minutes. We’ve already seen one play at the famous Vasiliev Theatre. There were children in the audience too who loved it, a dance/drama play telling a mythical East Indian story about good and evil with Katak dancing from India. The theatre was in the round, called the “Globus” theatre rather like the Globe Theatre in London.

Being in Moscow is so different from being in Evpatoria in the Crimea, which was pretty run-down. Here people are smartly dressed, and the shops are full of everything in spite of the sanctions. Tina, a Moscuvite relative of Alec’s who met us for breakfast today, said no one is missing much excepting imported cheese as Russian cheese is rather rubbery! I can attest to that.

The city is spotless and there are no bill boards or ads anywhere in the streets or subway. Apparently there used to be during the Yeltsen years, but now the mayor has said their city is too beautiful to be cluttered with ads. I think he’s right. It is so sad that Russia gets such bad   press in the West where Putin is painted as an evil demon with horns. We get a much more modulated, thoughtful and informed picture from here, particularly at the moment of what’s happening in Syria.

We walked and walked yesterday and finally made it, at our slow pace, because we gawk all the time, to the Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum—an exquisite building, inside and out. We were both too tired to see more than a few galleries all of which very impressive, especially the Schlieman findings from the excavation of Troy, with some astonishingly beautiful gold jewelery. Next week we will be at the theatre almost every night, ballet, opera and drama. We are a pair of culture vultures perhaps making up for the months and months we spend in the wilderness.

It’s quite cold so we’re into winter clothes and I’m glad I brought my hat with furry, pull-down ears. Lots of people still smoke, but now they’re all standing out on the side-walks as smoking is more or less forbidden everywhere. Alec was out there with Tina and she paid him the complement of his “looking like a Muscovite.”

Regards to all my Lakeside friends,

Gabrielle Blair

 

 

Pin It
 Find us on Facebook