Novodevichy Cemetery is the final resting place of some of Russia’s most famous, much like Père Lachaise in Paris.
The problem is, they might be Russia famous, but they’re not US famous. Plus all the names are in Russian.
I found Boris Yeltsin’s (it really stands out), I saw Khrushchev’s but did not transliterate the name, at the time.
Author Anton Chekhov and Mikhail Gorbachev are also are buried there.
Next door is a convent. I was uncertain whether I could enter, but after seeing a couple of men exiting, I decided to go ahead.
It was very lovely, the buildings were painted nicely. The lawn was not mown, but it looked “kept up.” There were workers laying down a new stone walkway.
I felt wrong taking photos, but I saw others doing it too, so I suppose it was okay.
I’m uncertain if it was a working convent or not, so many churches were closed during the revolution. Being Sunday morning, I suppose any nuns would have been in service while I was there.
Next I headed to the art district.
There is a small plaza with a bunch of galleries, all were closed, being Sunday. The buildings are designed and made up to look unique. Not only do they allow graffiti, but they probably encourage it, if it is artistic.
I had nothing else planned in this area, so I see a small park on the map. It shows a toilet, not that I need it, but always good to be near.
I cross a small river, yellow from pollen, and climb a steep hill. I followed the googled directions, but it led me to a construction tunnel. They have these 2×4 and corrugated steel protective walkways around all sorts of construction sites, meant to be a safe passage. Problem is, this one doesn’t go anywhere but to a locked gate.
Being daring, I push open the construction wall a bit and pass through. It should be okay, there is a gap between the fence and storage containers.
Oh crap, I stepped in it. I will presume it was an animal’s.
Then the only way out was to climb a very thin, hand made ladder, over a concrete barrier, onto the road. I don’t mean onto a space next to the road, but into one of the lanes.
It had rained last night, so there were some puddles that I could walk through, hoping to remove some of the mess off my shoe.
Climbing another hill, I reached the small park. Then I see the sign for the building next to it. It was a monastery.
I went in and browsed around.The convent was way better looking, but this had a fat, lazy cat.
They had a display of “pieces” of tombstones. I guess they were damaged in the revolution or perhaps some war.
People were going into one of the chapels, but I was not going in with dirty shoes. I was hoping that the crushed granite walkways were working it clean.
OK, I didn’t actually see any nuns or monks, but I did see a priest walking outside the convent.
I walked to the next station to head back for lunch.
I went to the supermarket and had a fairly hefty bag of food. But I can’t cross the road because there is a freakin bike race going down the street between me and my room.
I’ve been crossing roads with really fast cars for decades, I think a few bikes is no danger at all.
Normally I would just walk through, but there are police all along the road. I don’t think there is a tunnel cross walk anywhere close, so I just go for it. As I reach the other side, I’m facing 3 officers, they don’t say anything, so I just go around.
I cook and eat then head to my room to charge the pad. Alright, my roommates have both left, I’m solo. Maybe I can get sleep tonight without the snoring.
