Saturday, October 19, 2013

I went to Russia in 1978





                                                                     RUSSIA


          My mom and step-dad invited me to go with them to Russia.

           My step-dad was on the board of Regents at Utah State University. Seventy people and

friends from Utah State signed up for the tour. Stalin had died and the new chairman Nikita

Khrushchev allowed Americans to come. We were the first tourist group from the U.S. to enter.

           We met at the S.L.C. International Airport, flew to NY, Amsterdam and finally Helsinki,

Finland. A train took us to Moscow where we stayed a week. We visited Red Square, and

watched the changing of the Guard.

         We saw St. Basil’s Cathedral. It was in a state of restoration and closed to the public, the

Cathedral stands asMoscow’s most famous artistic work of architecture. St. Basil’s is Russia’s most 

recognizable building, and gives to the Russian people the same sort of symbol of romantic pride as 

the Eiffel Tower provides to the French. Legend says that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architect after 

he was finished to prevent him from building another cathedral as magnificent. Originally, its sides

were wooden, but during the reign of Catherine II the Great, the walls were reconstructed in the

same stone seen today, and covered in swirling colors and designs. There are more than 400

Icons painted between the 14th and 19th centuries by the most famous schools of Novgorod and  

Moscow hanging on the walls. A narrow pathway leads you from one altar to another, passing

through a wooden spiral staircase so well hidden in a wall that it was only found during the 1970

restoration of the Cathedral. Taking in the medieval aura and mystical spirituality of St. Basil’s

 imbues visitors

     We also walked through the “Gum”. Department store, which was the world’s largest at that time. 

          The underground train transportation with tiled walls was the world’s most beautiful

subway I was told.  The subway is a nuclear bunker, and the world’s largest Stalinist art gallery.

This sophisticated 300-kilometer underground railway network presently transports Moscow

commuters -in style. With 12 separate lines that connect 186 stations, the Metro carries an

average of 6.7 million people each day, more than half of the population of the city. The system

 was designed to operate at a faster pace than the New York Subway.

To be continued…

DR.KARL WALLACE D.D.S.

To read more about my trip to Russia go to:       w.w.w.karlwallaceblog.blog.com

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