Moscow

For the next two weeks I will be doing more travel blog than garden blog here, although I will visit and talk about Russian gardens. We arrived in Moscow yesterday morning. Getting through customs was surprisingly easy.

Unfortunately the intense heat wave here, and the related bog fires have left a nasty, smoky haze over the city. It is a bit hard to breathe. We do have masks to wear. Fewer than half the people we see are wearing them, although they are advised. I did not wear one yesterday, but may have to resort to it today.

Yesterday we had a driving tour of the city. Visibility is not good, but this is a fascinating place. There is great collection of buildings from the 19th C to present day. Much of the city was burned in 1812. I did not realize that Stalin was very interested in Classical Roman architecture, so much of the building of the era is in the Roman style.

We visited the Pushkin Museum of fine art. What a fabulous museum. Amazing collection, particular of impressionism and post impressionism. After the museum we went to VDNKh. This was built in the 1930s as a huge exhibition park to celebrate the workers and the states of the USSR. Each of the states had its own exhibition building. Our guide told us that during "Soviet times" there were great exhibits in each building and a beautiful botanical garden. Today it is much as our NC Fair Grounds is. The buildings hold stalls selling everything under the sun. The grounds too have vendors and an amusement park of rides. The park was full of bikers, skaters, Segways and people. Because of the heat, the fountain was full of folks.

More museums today, and ballet tonight!