The Quick and the Dead

wondering, too,

When churches fall completely out of use

What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep

A few cathedrals chronically on show,

Phillip Larkin

Got up today and headed out to the Novodevichy Convent with Mom, Dad, Chaz and Claire. Again, the monastery is deeply intertwined with Russian and Moscow history, and a special spot regardless of its importance. It’s a short subway ride from the center, and I think the metro in Moscow is a must see element of city life.

It rained pretty steadily while we were there, but we stumbled upon a male choral group in the small museum and waited out the rain while they regaled us with spiritual and secular songs. A particular highlight was the Volga Boatmen song – something I frankly never expected to hear in Russia. I always thought of it as kind of like going to the States and expecting to hear Yankee Doodle. Anyway, the singing seemed to me to be as close to the pure beauty of the human spirit as you can get.

Next, we toured the cemetery adjoining the monastery – a storied burial ground in both Russian and Soviet times. I did my tour guide bit with all the mastery of Russian and Soviet history that I could muster. Of course, I’ve been there a couple of times now so I’m getting pretty good at it.

The weather had started to clear up, so we decided to head back to the metro and off to Izmailovsky – the huge open air market. We got there under a threatening sky, but managed to time our visit just right. Mom, Dad, and I headed off separately and arranged to meet Claire and Chaz back at the entrance in about 1 hour. Well, we covered a fair bit of ground. Not only did Mom buy some souvenirs, but we got a pretty good taste of what the market is all about and what they sell in different areas. Close to the entrance we ran into Chaz and Claire, deep in negotiations to buy an array of Matroshka dolls.

I went into a jewelry store and bought a watch I’ve been researching for a while. It’s a Shturmanskiye – a chronograph with a skeleton back and stainless bracelet. It’s the same model that Yuri Gagarin wore into space. In fact, his name is one the dial. Haggled a little, bought it, and headed back out. Everyone initially thought I got tricked into buying what was supposedly Gagarin's actual watch. That's when I told them about the 3 Lenin skulls I purchased - one from his childhood, one from his adult years, and his final one that should be in the Kremlin.

Chaz and Claire were still in negotiations when I came out of the watch store, but now for a veritable army of Matroshkas. That's when I realized that they hadn’t actually gotten any farther into the market than where they were standing at that moment. Only several yards in, they had started buying things with such a frenzy that the merchants were coming from all over to see them – carrying furs, hats, dolls, jewelry, etc. And they purchased all that they wanted just by occasionally turning around and picking something out from a waiting vendor.

Back on the metro and back to the hotel loaded down with all our purchases. That was one busy day – a single family’s efforts to pump up the Russian GDP.