Russia 2013

 Among the Russians , ColonThubron

     The trouble with us Russians is that we're hopelessly religious. Of course Communism's a religion.  It's never existed , in any country, as anything else. It has its own dogma, it's own prophets, and even-ugh-it's  own embalmed saint. What else is that Lenin mausoleum? It's pure paganism, or a throw back to the relic/worship of early Christians. 

    The Russian is like an onion: the more you peel him , the more you weep. 

   Why don't they smile? It would be frivolous.  

     This time in Moscow there was ice cream on every block, last time in 1991, when it came, it was gone. Now it is foreign made and the familiar-Magnum. GUM department store is full of very expensive brands. Last time-hardly anything. English AA meetings. New section of Moscow is where the skyscrapers live. That is a different sight. Still not able to see the mummy of Lenin, have missed all of the modern mummies, they all have been in restoration. 

     At the Hermitage the, very boring guide who also would not answer questions, marched us by a Carravagio show to look at 200 paintings of Soviet military men. Screw that. This is what I went back to see:  The Lute Player and St. Jerome. No contest. 

     Finally I have been inside The Church Of Spilled Blood. This is beyond my descriptive words. Soaring interior, open, totally covered with mosaics. Years of restoration and so worth it. My mouth dropped open and stayed there. A truly magnificent tribute to Christianity and artistic endeavor. I am so lucky to have come back to see it. Worth the long journey from Beijing. 

    Спасена