Moscow day 3. Lenin and more

I saw Lenin today. Seriously. He is on display in a mausoleum in Red Square, and on view there. It was kinda weird, but also fascinating. The line forms about a block away, an hour before opening. You cannot take any bags or cameras inside. Our guide told us that is cost about $1 million a year to keep him in this viewable state. Wow. What is also interesting is that Lenin faces the GUM shopping mall , with Louis Vitton right out front. We've heard of East meets west, this is Communism meets Capitalism.

After seeing Lenin, we went to an amazing art museum, and then spent the afternoon walking around the city. Here are some of the interesting sites. The yellow house is now the Russian writers association. It is the house that was the location of War and Peace. The statue in front is Tolstoy. He based the story and location on this house and its residents.

The very tall building with the spire is one of Stalin's "Seven Sisters". There were suppose to be 8 of these, but only 7 were built. One housed the foreign ministry and one the Moscow University. The others were apartments for members of his government and the KGB. He liked to keep his supporters close. (and enemies closer). Six of the seven have a star on the top. The last one built was finished after his death, and the star was not added.

Had a wonderful dinner in a Ukrainian restaurant.

Moscow Day 2

This is Red Square below! My only mental images of this is tanks and soldiers. Today it is full of tourists. (and smoke, ugh). The smallish building in the forefront is Lenin's tomb. We hope to visit it this morning, as it was closed yesterday.

Kremlin means fortress. Most every city in Russia has a Kremlin wall, which surrounds the oldest part of the city, where the nobility and soldiers lived. Today, only the Kremlin guards live inside the Kremlin walls. There are government office buildings and the buildings where official state affairs are held, but the Duma (congress) is housed in a building outside. The major museum of the history of Russia are in the Kremlin. Yesterday we saw the Armory which has a great collection of artifacts of the pre-Soviet history of Russia, including coronation gowns of Catherine the Great and clothing of Peter the Great. We also saw an amazing collection of diamonds.

St. Basil's cathedral is in Red Square. It is perhaps one of the most familiar icons of Moscow. It is a beautiful building, and houses eleven 'churches' inside. Some are tiny, but in theory, eleven separate services could go on at the same time.

We had lunch in a cafeteria inside the GUM shopping mall. This is a huge mall that was built around 1900. Six stories high, with 3 linked sections. It is a beautiful building, and today is filled with all the stores we see throughout the world.

In the afternoon we visited Old Arbat, which is the oldest street in Moscow, Today it is a walking mall, full of stores and street vendors, mostly for tourists and youth. Even stopped at Starbucks. But there is some great old architecture, as there is throughout the city.

We then went on a tour of the Metro. Odd, but apparently a standard part of most tours. Actually, the metro stations are quite beautiful, each with its own decorative them. One, build in 1946 is full of bronze statues of works and soldiers. Several of the statues have dogs in them, and it is considered lucky to rub the dog's nose. I saw a dozen people do this in the short time we were there. The noses are polished golden with the touching. One station has stained glass throughout. That is where this picture is from.

Last night we saw the Russian National Ballet performance of Swan Lake. It was stunning. The young woman danced Odette was brilliant. One interesting note. Air conditioning is rare in Moscow. Hotel rooms and some restaurants have it. Most homes do not. Nor did the theater where we saw the ballet. With temperatures running close to 100 right now, it is stiffling inside. It must have been in the high 80s inside the theater.

Most Moscovites live in high rise apartment buildings, with no AC. Our guides tell us it is unbearable inside. Makes me appreciate my central AC all the more.

Off to the Vodka Museum today!

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!

Recent rains compate the heat

We have had horrible heat, but recent thunder storms (one really bad one last Thursday night) have made the garden grow.

I have found the perfect place for Elephant Ears! This one I planted last year, and it came back. I was very surprised, because in Zone 7b they are not suppose to be winter hardy, and this past winter was unusually cold. But, here it is.

We are leaving for Russia in four days. I plant to post garden pictures from there. I am particularly excited about seeing the gardens at Peterholf, outside of St. Petersburg.

Hot, dry and wild

We have had several weeks of extremely hot weather, with the last week hovering around 100. Too little rain as well. I've kept most things waters, but the heat is stressing everything too much. I may have nothing pretty left by August.

I have seen hawks in the area, but just this afternoon I saw an amazing sight. A hawk was sitting on a bench in our back yard, next to the pond, having his supper. There was a pile of gray feathers around him. Hawks are very territorial, so I imagine that I will see this bird much more often.

I am gardening

I have been much more active in the garden than I have been with this blog. Although it has been a very hot, dry summer so far. Sometimes it is awfully hard to get out in this heat.
I was given these cleomes this year. They are beautiful, with their purple, pink and white flowers. They are an annual, re-seeder, so I expect to have plenty to share next year. The knifofia or 'red hot pokers' were beautiful in June. They are finished for now, but might bloom later in the year.

Today we pruned our two gardenia bushes way back, and cut back some of the lugustrum bushes, which are huge. We have also added four more rain barrels, these on the south side of the house. That give me a total of 9, or about 450 gallons of rain water. With nearly an inch of rain this weekend, with thunder storms, all the barrels are nearly full!

I am growing basil for the first time this summer. Today I cut a bunch to dry. I've tied the bunch, and hung it upside down in the attic. This is a traditional drying method, so in a few weeks I should have a nice size container of dried basil. I'll report back on that. My cucumbers are nearly spent, but we are still getting squash.

Sometime wet is good

We have had over four inches of rain during the last week or so. Everything is growing like crazy, since there has been enough sun interspersed with the rain.

I've weeded and mulched most of my beds, so I am almost on top of the weeds. But a tour of the yard this morning let me know there is always plenty of weeding ahead.

I just put together my first vase of cut flowers. Yarrow, lavender, beebalm (purple and red) purple salvia, purple coneflower and black-eyed susans. I also cut four sprigs of rosemary. I like the added fragrance. The liatris are close, but not quite read for cutting. I also have daisies budding, but also not ready for cutting.

Several of my white crinum lilies are blooming now. I hope to mark all white and red ones this year.