Cosmonauts, a television tower, and Russian Orthodox Easter

Hello, there

Saturday I went to the Cosmonaut Museum in Moscow. We conversation hour with Russians learning English. They told us about Cosmonauts day, which was April 12 (the day Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth) and they invited us to go to the Cosmonaut Museum. This is one of the things that I really, really wanted to go to. I'm fascinated with space and think the history behind Soviet space programs and the Space Race in general is very interesting. Yes, I'm a nerd.

One half of Cosmonaut Alley

Yuri Gagarin, so noble

Coolest thing ever!

 The outside of the museum is absolutely spectacular. There's a sculpture garden type thing outside called Cosmonaut Alley that is so cool. There's this monument called Monument to the Conquers of Space that is absolutely amazing. It's a rocket going off into space made of titanium. It's giant, and surrounding it are sculptures of cosmonauts like Yuri Gagarin (first man to orbit the earth) and Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space, and still alive), and rocket engineers. I want to go back to this place and troll around later, it's so cool.

Monument inside the museum

 I was more impressed with the outside than the inside. First of all, almost everything was in Russian. I can read Russian, but not technical shit. The inside didn't have Vostok 1, which Yuri Gagarin flew, or Vostok 6 which Valentina flew, or their original suits. In fact, they had almost nothing of Valentina's. All that shit is apparently at the RKK Energiya Museum for some reason (probably will make a trip there some weekend). It did have a copy of Sputnik 2, which flew Laika, (the first dog into space), and  Strelka and Belka, the first dogs that flew into space and lived. That was probably what I was most excited about. Fun fact about Strelka, she had pups and one named Pushinka was given to JFK's daughter Caroline as a gift. This dog mated with their other dog Charlie and they had 4 puppies. They were jokingly called pupniks by JFK.

Belka and Strelka in their taxidermied forms with
their rocket, Korabl-Sputnik-2

One of the only real things in the whole museum.

They also had an exhibit about the Apollo-Soyuz test mission where the US and USSR docked space ships in space. There was some commemorative bench about it(not cool) that I really wanted to sit on, but wasn't allowed. There was only one real thing in the entire museum and I really don't know what it was. They had many different suits the astronauts used, described the different tests they did in space, and had different mockups of different shuttles.

Traditional cosmonaut suit

and the hottest space suit ever.

Afterwards, we went to an authentic Ukranian restaurant. DELICIOUS. I was fed so much food. It is a Russian tradition to feed you as much as humanly possible, and then pay for it all. We were fed borsht, which is a Ukrainian soup very popular in Russia. It's made with beets, vegetables, and bacon. It's the most delicious soup I've ever eaten, and I hate soup. Then we made three different bowls of dumplings called varenyky. First an assortment filled with cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms, and fish. The next bowl was filled with various meats, and the next with various fruits. We also had kvass, which is kind of like a caramel apple in a cup. All this, along with pickled vegetables and three different kinds of bread, I was stuffed. 

Next we went to the tallest building in Europe called the Ostankino tower. It's 1,772 ft tall and has more security than an airport. Getting into this tower is so much harder than getting into Sears Tower. We had to get tickets, which required our passports. We got this little ID card and headed to security. We went through metal detectors and had our bags go through security. After this we got our passports scrutinized by an official and we were finally allowed inside. The view up top was pretty sweet, but with all the smog it was hard to see everything you should be able to see. They also have glass floors in one section, which scared the shit out of me. There's no way in hell you could get me to stand on that thing. 

After going socializing for so long, and having been up since 8 AM I finally got home at 8:15 PM. I bought my babushka roses along the way (giving flowers for any occasion is very Russian) and she loved them. Orthodox Easter (called пасха) services are held at midnight Sunday morning/Saturday night, but I was too tired to go and I fell asleep. This morning I awoke at nine and finally rolled out of bed around ten. My babushka gave me the traditional Easter greeting of Христос воскрес, meaning Christ has risen, and I replied with Воистину воскрес, meaning Indeed he has risen. She kissed me on the cheek three times and made me drink 'sand water'. She then took this water and began to bless the Easter food, her niece Dasha, herself, and I with it. Yay for wet food. Easter food consists of a cake called Kuhlich, and hard-boiled eggs. 

Kuhlich

Kuhlich is a delicious cake that's made to look like the shape of Golgotha. They put a candle in the center of the cake, light it and eat it. It has fruit in it and is very tasty. 

Traditional Russian Easter eggs are hard-boiled with onion skins in order to make them red. The color is supposed to represent the blood of Christ. There's also this game where you take the eggs and try to crack the other person's egg shell, but not your own. I've proven to be horrible at it, and mine broke the first try. We drank this special church wine and toasted. I asked them if they usually went to church, and they decided to take me to a traditional Russian Orthodox Church. I'm glad I went today instead of last night. Night services are absolutely packed with people and this church wasn't. We walked up to the simple church, which was made of logs with a golden onion dome on the top. I was a little surprised because I've never seen a log church before. We crossed ourselves before we went into the courtyard, where my babushka and Dasha bought candles, and some kind of plant with tufts of fluff on it. My babushka was trying to explain it to me and I think they're suppose to keep the plant for one year. Dasha wrote on a piece of paper her family members and friends names, and they will be read in church for good health. We crossed ourselves before entering the church, which was absolutely beautiful on the inside. The church was small and cozy with golden icons covering the walls. There are two rooms, a main room with the main icon of the church, and another room usually closed. My babushka explained how only on Easter do they open the door to show the altar and icons on the other side. She then explained most of the icons to me, and showed me the main icon of the church. She also took me to the icon of the Mary, let me light a candle, and put it in the candle holder. I'm so glad they took me, it was so nice to do something traditional with them. We exited the church and crossed ourselves again. Traditionally for Easter you're supposed to fast the week before and then stuff yourselves silly on Easter. I've never eaten so much food in my life. There was soup, fish salad, cucumber salad, chicken, potatoes, pickles, cheese and some kind of herb. Only THEN did we have ice cream and coffee for dessert. I definitely need to start taking the stairs to the ninth floor of my apartment with all this food I've been eating. They asked me later if I wanted dinner. Ladies, I could go a week without eating with the meal you just fed me! I said no thank you to the babushka (which is pretty rude) but Dasha came in and convinced me. I ate a little tvorog which is Russian cottage cheese. The best cheese ever, I wish they had it in the states. 

And now it's time for something I KNOW you've all been waiting for. 3D THOR!!!!!! (I finally remembered to stuff him in my satchel.)

Thor at the Space monument. He laughs at
human attempts to reach the Gods

"You silly humans can't reach the heights of the Gods!"

Until next time, Do svedanya bitches.