Some Choice Photos

I realize I've been entirely negligent about putting up some photos of my new surroundings. To be honest, I haven't taken many so far, but here is a sampling of some of my favorites:

Here is my Soviet style dormitory. I live on the fifth-floor on the opposite side of the building.

Here a photo of my bedroom. At the foot

of my bed is my closet, which doesn't open all the way thanks to the bed. The mattress is just skinny enough to fit one person, and thin enough to ensure that you wake up with bedspring marks in your back. My desk (a table) is next to the bed.

This is the State Historical Museum which lies at one end of Red

Square directly across from St. Basil's Cathedral. It is a super impressive building, and the museum's collection is really impressive.

St. Basil's Cathedral. Likely the most recognizable symbol not only in Moscow, but in all of Russia. It is actually nine small churches inside of one cathedral, the grandest of which was built to commemorate Ivan the Terrible's capture of Kazan in 1552 from the Mongol Khanate.

On the left is one of the grand

pavilions in VDNKh, the park built to host all exhibitions and celebrations of Soviet agriculture and economics. The park is still used for such exhibitions, and when I visited there was a lot of tractor equipment there...

Here is one view from Ismailova Park, a gigantic bizarre of kitschy Russian and Soviet goods, mostly made just for souvenirs and therefore outrageously overpriced for their quality. It stands amongst these facades of medieval castles and such...not sure if these are replications of actual structures that stood here way back when or just for show. But nonetheless fun.

And finally...my favorite piece. This painting stood in one of the aisles of Ismailova Park. I only wish it had been for sale. I would have traded all the matroshka dolls in the world for this baby.