Swan Lake

As mentioned in a previous post I recently acquired a 12 month multiple entry visa to Russia. As RG’s passport and visas had expired this was the only way to see her. So I took a Friday off and booked a trip to Moscow. For the first time in a long time I didn’t have any site seeing plans or really any agenda beyond going to see my wife and doing what ever she wanted to do. However, it was a pretty packed weekend. RG knowing my interest, well in just about everything, put together and amazing weekend, she really did put out do herself. She arranged for us to go to a very nice dinner, the ballet, and to some sites I had never heard about. On top of that she put up with me making her go to the tourist souvenir market to find my grandma a birthday gift. I had a spectacular trip and am much recharged from it. And the even better news is that I will get to see her again in just over 3 weeks when I take a weeks vacation.

So the day I arrived in Moscow my flight came just after sunrise. I took what is basically a redeye from London to Moscow. So when we got to the apartment is was basically time to go to bed. Though we did chat for a couple hours first. I couldn’t believe how much I slept. We didn’t get up until after 3pm. Now that is noon London time but still. At that point it was time to get ready for dinner. Dinner was at a very nice Georgian Restaurant and quite good. The restaurant is located on Arbat street toward the center of Moscow. This street is where a lot of nicer shops are, tourist attractions, and artists shops and galleries. The building is amazing, Done up to look like a building from Georgia (the country mind you not the US State) with a giant wine pitcher next to it on it’s side for the entrance. There are white Christmas lights to add some more affect.

The weather was very nice and we had to try a lot of different things. I had a Russian beer, we had a cheese and mushroom appetizer that I picked around the mushrooms, we had great entrees, and RG ordered a strange but wonderful desert that I stole half of. Georgian food is mostly chicken, mutton, or pork, cooked with peppers, vegetables, and greens, in either very tasty yet mild spices or chili like sauce along with some doey/cheese bread with a similar consistency to cornbread but needing no sweat butter. I had mutton RG and KB had some kinds of stew. The desert was some sort of candied fruit with powdered sugar and was also amazing. We sat on the balcony and spend at least two and a half hours at this place. While we ate, and between course, I took a lot of funny photos and a video of the girls being the wonderful goofy selves.

The next night I was further cultured when we went to the theater to see the famous ballet Swan Lake. We did not go to the Bolshoi theater as it is under renovations currently. The theater we did go to was just reopened after being renovated and did not disappoint. It had all new or redone wood floors, decadent chandeliers, tall think and intricately carved doors, great woodworking, and great old styled brad hardware everywhere. Even the theater chairs were nicely upholstered with think finned wood frames. The theater was painted a deep purple inside with bright white trim and was quite striking. Our seats were in the best section and we had a perfect view of the entire stage. The show was amazing too. The company has been around for a long time and parts of the choreography go back several decades to the early part of soviet rule in Russia. The stage furnishings were also amazing, better than any play I have been to consisting of three complete scene changes.

I certainly enjoyed the night. The dancing was amazing actually. I always wondered if I would get board at the ballet. The entire story is of course told with only the use of dance and music. The music in this case was provided by a decent sized orchestra and was entanting to listen too. The movement of the dancers though was certainly, and rightly so, the highlight of the performance. I do not know how they bend there bodies, twirl on their toes, leap in to the air, or do any of the other amazing things they do. Graceful would be an understatement of the way they moved. It was captivating. The 3 hour show seemed to fly by. I am certainly glad my first exposure to the art was in a country known to have the best performers in the world they certainly live up to the reputation.

One other thing that I noticed and was amazed by was the diversity of the crowd. It was certainly not just upper middle class and above. It was all walks of life. It is amazing that Russia can provide such opportunity to see such art to the wide range of citizens from all walks of life. I think it is amazing because it means that 1 it is affordable to everyone and B that everyone is taught an appreciation for art, at least ballet. Now the draw back to this that many people I felt were underdressed. It is one thing to own the fanciest clothes it is another to wear jeans to a nice evening out. Plus some people took flash photography during the show even after the announcements were made to please not record the show. But that didn’t detract from the experience it was just something I found interesting.

Of course this only brings us through Saturday night, but this blog is already getting a bit long so I think I can recount the rest of the weekend in another post.