missed as usual

Last Sunday was the 70th anniversary of the 1941 military parade - celebrated by a military march through Red Square -  that began the Battle of Moscow (which defeated Hitler's army right at the edge of the city). Missed it, but you can watch the RIA Novosti video here.

Also first real indication of winter. Beautiful, bright but piercingly cold weekend followed by several days of mainly rainy, sleety, wet and icy flurries, at their worst moments slanting in almost horizontally. Lovely. 

boys toys

Next door to the park is some kind of military museum; through the fence is what seems to be a car park, into which is jammed an assortment of minor looking tanks, armoured vehicles, rockets and (small) fighter jets. This boy stared through the fence for a long time, then calmly got out of his car, and squeezed through (not an easy task), whilst his father watched without speaking. And then the boy stood on the other side of the fence for a long time, staring (happily).

veterans

What was inspiring - and also sobering - was the presence of many elderly uniformed and be-medalled veterans in the crowd. Victory Day (День Победы Den Pobedy) commemorates those who died in Great Patriotic War/WWII and celebrates survivors and veterans. People carry flowers - mainly carnations - to give to any veterans they see. Sobering both because it is a reminder that in what became the Soviet Union (USSR) an unbelievable number of people - 26.6 million - lost their lives in that war. And because here are individuals who witnessed the regimes of both Hitler and Stalin, as well as the more recent upheavals of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. Hard to imagine what lives like these have been like.

The photographer, James Hill, has been taking portraits of veterans on Victory Day over the last 4 years. He currently has an exhibition of this work at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) until May 23 2010, as part of the current Moscow Photobiennale. For some examples click here.

crowd scenes

What I did see was lots of crowd anticipation at the beginning- and also people leaving, packing up flags and instruments and things at the end. The atmosphere was terrific, everyone relaxed in the sun and having a good time. And every type of Moscovite, from elderly gentlemen dressed up in ancient dark suits and homburg hats, through to young skateboarding dudes, women tottering along on their high heels in hot-pants with children in tow, plenty of families and - most surprising to me (which shows just how it easy it is to imagine the stereotypical russian as a shapka wearing, black coated, slightly depressive winter type of person ) - lots of people in sleeveless tees, shorts, flip-flops and even hawaiian shirts.

missed it!

Well, a beautiful sunny day today with a clear sky and a light breeze, so perfect weather for Victory Day. Embarrassed to admit to it, but I missed the parade itself. First there were control checkpoints for getting close all along the Tverskaya route; and then having blagged my way into Red Square I managed somehow to find myself beyond the cordon again (due to a being distracted by nipping into Zara in GUM probably!) And then, by the time I made my way back to Pushkin Square, everything had already gone by.

So I have to watch the Russia Today video on YouTube like you ( whilst taking note of an - accurate - comment posted beneath that "RT really did a horrible job on this one. Instead of a bunch of un-informed amateur commentators they should have just TRANSLATED what was said in the loud speakers for everyone to hear at the parade".)

wearing the ribbon

Tried to take a surreptitious photograph of these young women on the metro - obviously unsuccessfully - because I wanted to show the black and yellow ribbon tied around the handbag of the girl in the middle. This is a georgievskaya lenta, or St George's Ribbon, worn - like the poppy in England - to commemorate bravery during the War, and a lot of people are wearing it, usually in a single, crossed loop.

preparations

Victory Day, next Sunday 9th May, is a big and important affair, especially with this being the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of the Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (known here as the Great Patriotic War).

The preparations are serious too. Moscow News has a story about the replica of Red Square which has been built in the village of Alabino, south-west of Moscow, for training soldiers over the last two months. And Ria Novosti, the state owned news agency, has a must-see video (if only for the glories of the voice-over) entitled Repainting military equipment for Victory Day parade.

Hotel

Being driven into Moscow and already trying to locate it in and against other European cities. My image of Russia has been so blurred by that sense of the otherness of communism, that I really didn’t expect it to feel so normal. Much like any large German or Eastern European city, but crossed with Nordic light and colours (ochres, sky blues, mint greens). Sprawling monumental neo-classical blocks, wide boulevards rattling with trams and trolley-buses.  Cleaner and less shabby then Budapest. Hints of Instanbul (easy to forget that Russia has borders with the Baltic, with Europe, but also with Asia, China, Japan, the Artic.)

 

And then just when I was settling into a city like Berlin/Helsinki, we reached the hotel. Which for reasons that were not quite clear, seemed to be in the centre of a military barracks. It also has an interior with peculiar interests, fluctuating between an off-key attempt at bling –bronze statues, waterfalls and flounced curtains (by the lift) - art celebrating heroic aspects of the locality (some weird displays in the foyer); and grubby plush crimson and gilt chairs in the restaurant, oh and a grandfather clock that is also a fish-tank. So, of course, I love it.

 

Except for the mosquitoes.