This morning (Saturday), Isaac and I took a Metro trip to the other side of Moscow to a famous location, Novodevichy “Maidens” Convent, founded in 1514. The cemetery at Novodevichy Convent is home to MANY famous Russians, including Boris Yeltsin (Flag headstone), Nikita Krushchev, writer Anton Chekhov, composer Dmitri Shostakovich, and writer Nikolai Gogol (author of “Dead Souls”).
I have to mention this one event that really tugged at my heartstrings. I was having difficulties finding the grave of the famous writer, Gogol. There was an elderly Russian lady cleaning the snow from one of the large sites (she was a worker there) and I went and asked her if she could point me to Gogol. She made a gesture that inferred that maybe she was deaf and implied to say it again. When I did, she then set her shovel down and started walking and gestured for me to follow her. This lady HAD to be in her 80s and she did not have to take this time to bother with me as that was not her job. She walked in a brisk fashion through the many inches of snow and cut a path (at least 100 yards) to a large fenced-in area and with her wool glove, she proceeded to gently uncover the snow from the top of the black granite vault so I could see the name "Gogol". I thanked her many times and she closed the fence back and made her way back to her job. I am sure that Isaac, who followed us over there, noticed how choked I was that she was so kind. One of my colleagues made a comment one time about Russians that bothers me, calling them "dour"... I wish he would have been with me today.
After Isaac and I visited the gravesites of some famous Russians, we made our way to the Convent. I hope the pictures do a better job describing the convent. However, you may find better details at the Wikipedia Web page about Novodevichy Convent.
After all of the walking, Isaac and I were hungry so we made our way to the center part of Moscow to a restaurant named “Yolky-Palky”. It was another very interesting day.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you making the most of your time in Moscow! You are getting more and more in tune with the rhythm of a big city with your every visit. I didn't know how much I really missed Moscow and the big city life until I started getting daily reminders about it via your blog. I miss you very much, but I am also glad that you are getting to experience the kindness of friends as well as strangers, to paraphrase Tennessee Williams's famous line.