I can't believe I am in Russia- Day 4- Arbatskaya (Moscow)

Building appearances can be deceiving. The cheery one behind me, on Lubyanka Square, is the former headquarters of the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti), the committee for state security of the former USSR. 

From 1954 to 1991 the KGB gathered intelligence regarding other nations, conducted counterintelligence, maintained the secret police, KGB military corps and border guards, suppressed internal resistance, and conducted electronic espionage. They also enforced Soviet morals and promoted Soviet ideology with propaganda. 

In the 1930's a prison was built underground. It was in this location that the KGB tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of people. 

Currently Russian intelligence services work out of this building.

I walked from Kitay Gorod to Arbatskaya, enjoying the beautiful architecture and wondering what stories these buildings have stored in their walls.  

This is one of my favorite narratives, maybe it could even be considered a Greek tragedy (I would say it could be considered a Russian tragedy but I think that would be too tragic for this particular story which is more ironic than anything else): In 1895 the  tea merchant Sergey Perlov got wind that an official representative of the Chinese emperor would be visiting so he had his entire tea house redesigned with a vision of the Orient.  When the Chinese representative came To Russia he went to Perlov's nephew's shop, who was also a tea merchant, by mistake.  

Within Arbatskaya is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, a church destroyed by Stalin in 1931, rebuilt in 1997.  It cost 200,000,000$ (US) to rebuild (funded from the state budget).  

In 1833 Christ the Saviour was the tallest building in Moscow.  

How cool that Russia has spent so many rubles rebuilding the rubble that Stalin left in his wake. 

From Christ the Saviour I walked to Old Arbat (partially because it is featured in the book I was reading while there, The Secret History of Moscow- a fictional story about a world underneath Moscow).  

Orthodox churches such as these are not even shown on maps, there are too many I suppose.  

Old Arbat was converted into a pedestrian street in 1985.  There are museums, shops, cafes, and street art.  

Famous Russians, such as authors Andrei Bely and Alexander Pushkin, lived here in the 1800s.

From Old Arbat I took the metro back to Tretyakovskaya with hopes of ending my day at the Tretyakov, the world's largest collection of Russian art.  

Although one could argue that the entire city of Moscow is the world's largest collection of Russian art.

I am obsessed with the Moscow metro.  

The Tretyakov had a long line that was not calling my name so I decided to put it off another day.   

But before heading back to Kitay Gorod I took a picture of the french fries on the McDonald's menu, and used it to order.  McDonald's is not a place that I would ever stop at for a snack but different rules apply when you are in Russia, hungry because you are avoiding restaurants because you don't want to accidentally order veal.  Plus I ate potatoes, a Russian favorite.  

I can't believe I am in Russia- Day 3- new years day in Zamoskvoreche (Moscow)

I walked through the subway (turning left at the kit of indoor pigeons) to the metro.  I had to buy my metro card today but I was ready this time.  I had written down words like ticket, trip, ten and eleven. (I wrote ten down because my book said that metro cards are sold in increments of 1, 5, 10, and 20. But the very dependable internet said 11 instead of 10 and I wanted to be prepared.) 

I told the employee, "Hello. I don't speak Russian. Ticket. Ten." She looked at me and then shook her head, and that was that.  

Hmmm.  Okay.  

Then I said "eleven", and she smiled and nodded her head. (I am really not sure what would have happened had I not had the number eleven written down.)  She showed me the price on her calculator and I paid and went on my merry way!  I didn't have to transfer so the metro was super simple to navigate. I wrote down my stop in Russian for good measure, TpeTbbackwardsRkOBCKabackwardsR. 

Easy!

TpeTbbackwardsRkOBCKabackwardsR is connected to HobokythenumberthreebackwardsHecombinationofuandthenumberfourKabackwardsR.  This station was designed in the middle of World War II, and is filled with military art.  I love the lampposts.  

This artwork is located just outside the metro station, and is one of my favorite representations of the story of Adam and Eve.  Eve makes forbidden fruit look delicious. 

The Church of St Clement was built in the 1720s, and is an example of late Moscow Boroque.  During the Soviet era the Lenin State Library stored their books here.  

I forgot to mention that there was nobody out this morning, because it was new years day.  I couldn't be happier to have Zamoskvoreche district practically to myself.  

Unfortunately this meant that everything was closed but I enjoyed just walking around and taking pictures.  

Zamoskvoreche was settled in the 13th century to guard against the Mongols.  Later when the royal guard moved in so did artisans who served the courts and a plethora of churches.  

Soviet architecture is pretty.  

The Tretyakov Gallery was backwardsRHBapbackwardsR.  That sucks.  

But I guess I should have known better, it was new years after all.  

In 1670, the royal guard provided the funds for the Church of St Nicholas in Pyzhy, claimed to be one of the bell towers in Moscow.  

The Convent of SS Martha and Mary was one of my favorite buildings of the day.  It looks medieval but it is on the newer side, constructed just over one hundred years ago.

The limestone carvings contain mythical creatures.  

I lost track of which church is what but it was the first building I had been inside all day and I was excited about warming up a bit (I imagine that this was a big draw to join churches hundreds of years ago).  

The frescoes have seen better days but the wear is representative of what the buildings have been witness to.  If only the saints could talk... 

I walked through the longest, most disorienting and seemingly crime filled subway I had been in as of yet.  I have to say I am not a fan.  

I am in love and completely fascinated with Moscow metros.  If I had more time I would spend a day or maybe two exploring each stop.  This one in particular had a Soviet era look to it.  

After my day of walking around I grabbed a bottle of wine at a рынок.  

By the 1980s the Soviet Union was the world's fourth largest producer of wine.  Georgia is one of the oldest wine countries in the world.  I am not sure which country this is from (whether it is from Georgia or Armenia or Ukraine) but I can guarantee I have never had wine from that country before. It was good, but very sweet.