This
post will actually be a combination of two days.
The
first was my first Wednesday afternoon of the new school year. I have
the same schedule as I did last year, meaning I have Monday mornings
and Wednesday afternoons off. I hope I continue to explore Moscow on
Wednesday afternoons.
My
goal this Wednesday afternoon was to see an exhibit of Bansky works
in a museum. Unfortunately, when I got there they told me the exhibit
had already finished. I was gutted, as I'm not likely to be able to
see Bansky works anytime soon.
Since
the weather was really nice, I decided to keep walking. For the first
time ever, I found the pedestrian bridge near Christ the Saviour
Cathedral. I'm not sure why it took me so long to find the bridge, as
it is well known, and regularly featured on social media. I crossed
the bridge, but didn't go in the church, as I've seen it previously
and didn't need to repeat it that day.
The
other day I'm writing about was the following Sunday. After a good
day trip on Saturday we all had a lay in on Sunday, not meeting up
until 1100 at a metro station. We walked from Kurskaya metro station
to a former warehouse district that has been redeveloped as a hip
place.
This
district seems to host various festivals, I'd heard about one this
weekend called Delhi Bazaar. It was supposed to be all things Indian,
but it wasn't very exciting at all. We found a booth with "Indian"
flavoured ice creams, which wasn't bad. Sadly, that was the highlight
of the festival.
After
the lameness of the festival, we took the metro over to a station
called Oktyabrskaya. This was the Sunday of the city's birthday
weekend, so there were special decorations and events all over
Moscow.
There
was a small kite festival taking place near the metro station, all
around the Lenin statue that stands not far from one of the exits.
I'm used to seeing Lenin statues around Russia, but I'm not used to
seeing daily life continuing around them. I imagine that used to be
different, but Lenin usually looks rather lonely these days.
We
walked down the street to Gorky Park, which was full of people. Great
weather and a birthday weekend meant we were sharing Moscow with
every resident. Claire and I both told Angela we weren't fans of
Gorky Park, but both felt as though there must be something we were
missing, as it is quite popular.
After this walk through, our
opinions hadn't changed, we still didn't know why the park is so
popular.
We
hopped back on the metro, riding north to get to a food court I'd
heard about. Last weekend Claire and I had joined Jeff at an upmarket
Indian restaurant, now we wanted to try a cheaper place in this food
court. The place was super busy, and it took us a while to find the
place we wanted, but it was worth it.
Finding
seating was definitely the most difficult part of that meal, the food
was great.
After
eating we opted to go see one more thing. More metro riding took us
out to Izmailovo Park. It is close to where Angela is living, and
though it is near Izmailovo market, I hadn't seen it previously.
There is a body of water around an 'island,' and I got lucky with a
photo that had a nice reflection.
The
island itself had a church, a statue, a museum of some kind, and a
lovely path along the water. We followed the path all the way to the
other end of the island, really enjoying the sunset behind Izmailovo
market. Now I know why people come out here :)
From
there Angela decided to walk home, while Claire and I hopped back on
the metro to go to our homes. A great first weekend back in Moscow!
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