« delays once again | Main | europe, at last »
June 14, 2005
boat cruise
Okay, here are the photos of the boat cruise we Fulbrighters took on the Moskva river with various officials visiting Moscow for the 2nd Annual US-Russia Exchanges Symposium.
First, though, a shot I took while on Kaluzhskaya Square of Comrade Lenin flanked by Coca-Cola:
So, first of all I felt obligated to take a few pictures of Tsereteli's statue of Peter the Great. Rumor has it that it was supposed to be a statue of Christopher Columbus for somewhere in the US, and when he couldn't find a taker for it, he gave it to Moscow. It's universally considered an eyesore—one so large it has a flashing red light on top to warn away airplanes and helicopters at night.
That's the problem with Tsereteli: he gives away all his work, and nobody knows how to say no. Apparently he did recently succeed in giving the U.N. a piece of artwork that's now in New York.
Next, also on the right, we have the House on the Quay/Embankment (pick your translation), famous for housing Stalin's apparatchiks. It is now adorned with a giant spinning Mercedes logo. At least it doesn't flash like most other advertisements in Moscow.
On your left you'll see we're approaching the Kremlin:
A close-up of some Kremlin churches:
St. Basil's from the river side:
One of the seven skyscrapers built under Stalin. The main building of Moscow State University is the largest of them, and you also saw a second one behind some snowmen on the street. So this is a third.
I think it's the Ministry of Defense. Very Soviet:
Moscow State viewed from the river:
Posted by kshawkin at June 14, 2005 08:00 PM