We went to Red Square and the Kremlin yesterday and saw Lenin's preserved body in his mausoleum (which Kristen doesn't think is really his body because it looks pretty waxy). The night before, I also went for the walk to Red Square and snapped this picture of St Basil's Cathedral.
On Arbat Street, which is dominated by tourist shops, I picked up these Russian dolls. From left to right: Lenin, Stalin, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin.
Great that you have successfully completed the Trans Siberian-a milestone in travelling.Enjoy Moscow and St Petes-but take care, dodgy characters around!
ReplyDeleteDo the sizes of the dolls reflect the general view of the importance/success/esteem of the respective leaders? I hope not, since Putin seems not to have much of a sense of humour, and anyone not on message tends to flee to London if they have the means and to vanish if they don't.
ReplyDeleteDolls of Russian leaders seemed to come in all sorts of order. Some start with Putin and work their way backwards. Some leaders are there, some missing. I really wanted one with Brezhnev and Krushchov too but when i found dolls that included them, others were omitted like Yeltsin or Gorby.
ReplyDeleteThere are also dolls of US Presidents, Prime Ministers of UK, France, Italy. Football teams, both clubs and national teams, US sports teams, Cartoon characters - almost everything in popular culture is available.
What happened to good old grandma, she doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore as "the" doll to have?
ReplyDeleteStill plenty of babushka dolls available. In fact, they are still the most common.
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