A truly memorable visit to our third Moscow Circus. This one is called the Durov Animal Theatre: http://www.ugolokdurova.ru/
It's most famous for its mice train. You read that correctly. It mildly intrigued us, but the description didn't seem to compare to the Cat Circus we attended a few weeks back. We were just two parents looking for a way to amuse a 5-year-old.
We were wrong about the mice train. We can't make this stuff up. Sasha broke the camera yesteday so we can't send photos. You're going to have to believe us, or wonder what we're drinking.
The scene:
Mice on small train enter stage left.
Mice train meets up with hovering helicopter (on a rope), carrying one bored chubby cat. Ladder drops down from helicopter. Several white mice climb up rope ladder to their own cat-free compartment of helicopter, safe for now. Helicopter crosses stage.
A few minutes later, mice drop out of helicopter, wearing parachutes. They jump into nets held by cast members. Bored cat begins to wonder what he's been drinking.
Act ends.
Sure, just your average day at the circus. Also a sommersaulting bear, four tigers, a raccoon, a "fire" put out by a crew of poodles. And Pomeranians double Dutch rope jumping. Then we went home in a snowstorm. It's late April in Moscow.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Spring, continued
This has been one of the high points of our Moscow residency. First, Spring busted out at all once--the sun has been out for four days, the temps are in the low 60s, and the whole town is in a good mood, at least by Russian standards. We're seeing flower bulbs in the parks, and fountains there have been turned on. We've also had visitors from New York, and played tour guide the past three days. Highlights of their visit included visits to Red Square and the Kremlin, and walking across the Moscow River to the Old Arbat, where costumed drunk twentysomethings played guitars, drank beer, danced and sat in the sun. It's a whole different city when the snow is gone and the sun is shining and the smell of fresh paint is wafting through the air. Alison claims she can tell it's lead-based paint.
We started this morning at the Tretyakov Gallery, in a neighborhood of winding streets and Old World Charm. The Tretyakov shows Russian art up until the 20th century.
Then onto a much-anticipated lunch at Cafe Pushkin, considered to be the one of the best restaurants in Moscow. You'd think you were in a nineteenth century building. In one meal, the Pushkin can change your entire perception of Russian cuisine. Here's some of the things we ate: quail eggs, giblet pate, herring, borscht with goose livers, sauerkraut soup with veal, and almond ice cream.
Our visitors are returning on Saturday, and we're looking forward to more adventures with them. Sunday, we're taking Sasha to another circus, this one featuring a mice train.
We started this morning at the Tretyakov Gallery, in a neighborhood of winding streets and Old World Charm. The Tretyakov shows Russian art up until the 20th century.
Then onto a much-anticipated lunch at Cafe Pushkin, considered to be the one of the best restaurants in Moscow. You'd think you were in a nineteenth century building. In one meal, the Pushkin can change your entire perception of Russian cuisine. Here's some of the things we ate: quail eggs, giblet pate, herring, borscht with goose livers, sauerkraut soup with veal, and almond ice cream.
Our visitors are returning on Saturday, and we're looking forward to more adventures with them. Sunday, we're taking Sasha to another circus, this one featuring a mice train.