The Christ the Savior Cathedral in the center of Moscow is an imposing structure, dominating the skyline in an already impressive downtown. Walking inside is a breathtaking moment of awe as you look up and feel overwhelmed by the majesty of the place—exactly what the architects intended, by the way. It was the largest Orthodox church ever built. Which makes it all the more gut-wrenching when you realize this is the second time this church has been built. And what happened to the first one.

In 1931, the Soviets, after the death of Lenin, demolished the church to build the Palace of the Soviets in its place. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the foundation flooded and the building was never built. In the foundation hole that had been dug, they turned it into the largest open air pool in the world. In 1995, the began rebuilding the church and today it has been returned to its former glory. I didn’t take my camera there, knowing I would never be able to shoot inside, but here are a couple links for more information if you’re interested. Just as we were leaving the chanting began for an evening mass. As people began crossing themselves, opposite by the way from the catholic tradition (which is literally one of the reasons the two churches split), we decided to slide out and head for the next stop of the evening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskva_Pool

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviour

Mom and I along with Vadim and Natasha went to the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall for a concert by the Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra. It’s really amazing how much sound they can tease out of four stringed, strummed instruments. Except for a few flutes and clarinets and the percussion section, everything else was strummed like a guitar, only much, much faster. There are all sizes of balalaikas as well from the smaller ukulele size, the mandolin traditional size, to the bass balalaika that rests on the floor, but it still played horizontally like a guitar. Music truly does become international though, as we enjoyed that Russian cultural fair.

Which made it all the more amusing when we went to the Starlight Diner for a late dinner. Vadim figured since it was St. Patrick’s day we should have food from home, and I think he was curious how authentic the place was. So, he took us to a little diner near the river, styled very much like a 50s diner with old American posters on the wall and vinyl booth seats. There were some interesting things on the menu, including borscht, blini and pelmini (all Russian) and other dishes like seared Ahi tuna which are far from diner fare, but they did have a good selection of burgers and sandwiches and breakfast all day. It was funny and a lot of fun. And I finally got to pay for a meal. I ended up going with a burger and fries, but I have to say the meat was a little off. I’m not sure the reason, but it wasn’t quite the same flavor of ground beef that we are used to.

All in all, an interesting day of cultural twists and surprises in Moscow..

A series of cities dot the landscape in a rough circle, about two days horse ride, around Moscow. These cities are referred to as the Golden Ring as they are all ancient cities. Today we visited Suzdal, a city that is actually older than Moscow, founded in the 10th century.

Suzdal is about a four hour car ride from Moscow and seems fairly remote, although it is only about a half an hour from the larger industrial town of Vladimir. Suzdal has 33 churches and five monasteries/convents, with a total population of around 12,000. Pretty amazing. The biggest monastery is actually not a monastery any longer, but a museum. It’s a beautiful facility and is being restored having been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site about 17 years ago.

During the Soviet period, the monastery was turned into a prison. During World War II, it was a camp for prisoners of war and then became a prison for political prisoners/insane asylum. I’m guessing in the Soviet mind, those two things were one in the same.

Our tour guide was actually a friend of Vadim’s who isn’t a tour guide at all, but a police officer. He is just interested in history and has taken the exams to be regarded as a guide for the city. He was in his police uniform and it was amusing to see the deference he received as we walked around. While the monastery isn’t functional, the main church is actually used for special church holidays. I’m guessing here, but its probably one of the biggest in the city. Most of the icons have been removed from the church to another museum, but that actually made it easier to see the frescoes on the walls. All the more amazing when you understand that those frescoes were painted more than 400 years ago.

Our guide took us to an active church that still had the full iconostasis still in place called the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. It was being restored and I was surprised but they let me photograph inside the church. No one said anything, but I shot without flash, just using the available light. The light in a place like that can be amazing. And considering that every inch of the church is decorated in same way or another, you spend a lot of time looking up.

We actually did tour a smaller active convent after that. Vadim is a very religious man and he took the opportunity to say a prayer and light prayer candles while we were there. This chapel is also from the 15th century. Whether you are orthodox or not, religious or not, it is impossible to miss the reverence in the air in a church like that. Without even thinking about it, your own voice drops to a whisper.

While it’s difficult to get to, or at least inconvenient, if you ever visit Russia, definitely plan to make Suzdal a stop on your tour. It is well worth the time.
If you want to see more pictures, I have posted some to Facebook. If you’re not already a friend there, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206377&id=839029017&l=c13976ec47. And while you’re there, send me a friend request..

I was just asked a question and it makes me think that many more people may be curious to know the answer so, here goes. Russia is not covered in snow 12 months out of the year. Even when they do have snow on the ground, though, it does not stop people from going out and walking in it.

They do have summer here, hence the need for summer houses. Actually spring will arrive in just a few weeks here, too and when it does, it comes quick. The downside to spring, as all the snow melts off, the dirt that has stacked up in it for months then piles up on the roads and sidewalks and makes everything a dusty, dirty mess until they can clean it up. In the summer, it gets mild and comfortable. It rarely gets hot, but they do spend as much time as they can outside. Many Russian families have dachas, or summer houses, where they spend as much time as they can. Some are very nice, and others are pretty rustic, but it is still a chance to get away, within an hour or so of home. At many of these dachas, they will have small gardens for fresh herbs and vegetables, and some have banyas. A banya is a steam bath, but the Russian version is extremely hot, 210 degree F range. You just in for 5 to 7 minutes, and then out into the snow, a cold water bath or a shower. Get something to drink, a snack and do it again. Three, four, five times in a row. It’s interesting.

In contrast to that experience, we just got back from visiting a monastery close by. As part of the ablutions people make, they have set up a bath for the faithful to plunge into a bath filled with water from the mountain. The place itself is unheated, although it is covered, and the water is ice cold. They do this in honor of the monk that founded the monastery. He lived in a small cave and bathed in the spring. So, there you go. I passed when I was given the chance to try it myself.

Tomorrow, we are getting up early to visit Suzdal. This city is older than Moscow and is one of the best of the Golden Ring cities, but it is four hours away, so, probably no more posts until Wednesday..

There is something to be said for navigating around Moscow with a champion Russian rally race driver. Vadim, the host father, drove rally cars for 10 years and now owns a car and a race team, and you tell it when he navigates his way through Moscow traffic.

Yesterday was spent doing our best to bolster the Russian economy. We went shopping at Izmailovo. This is an enormous outdoor flea market/bazaar. I don’t know that it holds a world record for size, but it seems to go on for miles. There are sections that are for domestic products and housewares, but we were in the Russian souvenir section and that is plenty big enough.

Some beautiful handiwork there as always, along with basic tourist junk and military surplus. I’ve seen a little bit of everything there over the years from one visit to the next. I’ve even included a couple photos from the place in my exhibit. When I first visited there, it was very much just a flea market with people laying their goods on the ground and others with makeshift stalls that looked like they were cut from metal storage containers. Today, it has grown and evolved to include nice wooden, decorated stalls and asphalt paved streets.

Mom was busy talking to a seller about a purchase while I marveled at the young man’s excellent and nearly unaccented English. His response to my question was “I learned to speak English here in the market. Eight years of selling and you will learn to speak Russian, too.” I commented to mom later about just how incredibly smart he must be to have those sorts of language skills.

The shops were set to close around 5 pm and the day was winding down as we made a last purchase. It was something for my daughters, but mom was picking them out. The lady selling them (not saying what in case the girls read this) took an instant liking to mom. By the time we left, she was hugging her and kissing her on the cheek along with offering us meat pies and vodka. We declined. I have pictures with her on mom’s camera. Those will soon follow. She just hilarious, though. We all decided that the odds were high she had been trying to keep warm after standing outside on a cold Moscow day with a little vodka that probably led to her gregariousness. The young man booth next to her was dying laughing, too. Probably because he knew her antics and would be the subject of them himself later.

This was the first time, though I have ever had a chance to visit the Izmailovo Kremlin. This is one of the later additions to the facility and is pretty impressive. A kremlin simply means a fortress, usually stone walls to defend against invaders. In fact, there are 11 kremlins (I think) in Russia. This one, however, is built for the tourist trade and is made to look like an old village. There are shops and museums inside, including a vodka museum and a wedding chapel. We toured the vodka museum and I learned a couple things. Very fun. The place even has a website in English: http://kremlin-izmailovo.com/english.

It was extremely gratifying to see the heads begin to nod in understanding as I explained the reasons for my photography documentary project on the people of Russia. They seemed to understand that their own lives had been changing very quickly and maybe it was easier for someone who wasn’t intimately involved to make objective observations.

Due to traffic and a little time confusion, we got to the exhibit hall just as the opening for my exhibit was about to start, but we had called ahead and the event organizers were very flexible so it was not a problem. Within a few minutes of walking in the door, though, I was being interviewed by a crew with a video camera—with my favorite translator Nadia by my side. No idea who they worked for.

In the exhibit hall, they had set up the display running along a long wall, about 100 feet long with the photographs in pairs. It looked really nice. At one end, we had a table set up with chairs and a microphone. One of the event organizers introduced us and explained the program and then allowed me to speak to the crowd of 50-75 people for a few minutes before people wandered off to look at photographs or attend the next film screening. The hall where the photos are is the “event” room. Last night there was a musical concert there and it is also a café for the House of Cinema. So, there will be good foot traffic all week.

After we left, Vadim asked me if it was worth it to come all the way to Russia to have an opening of my photographs that lasted about an hour. From a purely practical standpoint, its not obviously. The expense of being here is not being offset by anything. I’m not selling the photographs, I’m not selling my books. This is all about the experience. As a writer, photographer and storyteller, it is all about the story. I can take all the photographs I want to take, but if I don’t show them to people—if I don’t tell a story with them—then they are more useless than if I had never taken the photos in the first place.

It’s fun and exciting to the “center of attention” for a minute, but the best part is to see the smiles on the faces of the people as they look at the photographs and remember the changes in their own lives over the last 15 years..