A Weekend in Москва
Visiting
cactus friends in Moscow
©
Wolfgang Borgmann, Elisabeth & Norbert
Sarnes
Short history:
We, i.e. Elisabeth & Norbert Sarnes and me, had met Natalia Shelkunova and Victor Gapon of the Kaktus-Klub Moscow
already at some cactus events before.
Through this contact, we were able to fly to Moscow in September 2018 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the association.
It was a cactus journey of a completely different kind:
A somewhat adventurous preparation (visa ...), relatively few plants, but fantastic impressions
and an overwhelming hospitality!
Under this dome of the Moscow
airport the entry control is carried
out.
No photography - but a nice security officer allowed me
to take this picture.
Victor welcomed us outside the
airport.
Too bad, that wasn't our car.
We're heading towards the
center.
Center of Metropolis?
In any case, the
bay windows are bright enough to take good care of
succulents.
Our destination was the highest
building in Europe, the Moscow
television tower.
And here our German-Russian
cactus group: Boris Protopotov, Elisabeth Sarnes,
Natalia Schelkunova,
Larisa Zaitseva, Victor Gapon,
my humble self (and Norbert
Sarnes behind the camera!)
Up at the revolving restaurant with nice people...
...good food and fantastic views.
The next morning we set off for the
anniversary event.
A lot of things in Moscow look
modern + ‘western’, but the
socialist motives of course especially catch my eye as a
Westerner.
This also applies to the metro station
Partisanskaja.
It was completed still during the
Second World War.
Guided by Boris, we have no
problem finding the right
connection.
And very quickly in between another
nice detail of another Metro
station.
Back up above ground level …
There it goes even higher...
The venue: The State
Biological Museum K.A. Timiryazev
The anniversary program.
Victor gives a short review of the history of the
Moscow Cactus Club.
An incredible
coincidence: The event took place in the Evolution Hall - we could not have
chosen more suitable topics for
our lectures.
First, some of the old members tell
special experiences.
Their energy and
enthusiasm is absolutely
impressive!
Cacti can apparently really
work as a fountain of youth.
Larisa took over the translation of
the lectures.
With many guests we also spoke
English and a little German in
between. An extremely cordial
atmosphere!
Here you see the really perfect combination:
Elisabeth presents pictures from the Galapagos Islands,
and Charles Darwin is watching
from above!
There was also a small exhibition.
Beautiful plants,
clearly labelled of course.
Not to be seen in the pictures: The
museum was visited by many young families,
who also liked to have a look at the
lectures. A nice open event!
In the evening we went back with the
Metro.
And I have already learned to read
the first words in Cyrillic...
Very practical: foreign words are written the way they are spoken.
Our hotel complex
And again an impressive metro station. We are on
the way to the sightseeing program on
Sunday morning.
Folk heroes are also depicted in
this station.
The dog's muzzle is particularly
popular: It's good luck to stroke it, that's
why it's so polished!
The next transfer station looks a little simpler at
first sight.
However, it is actually very elaborately
designed: Each dome is decorated with an individual
mosaic...
...again in praise of various national
heroes.
… decorative symbols included.
Back above ground again, the weather unfortunately does
not quite play along.
Larisa accompanies us on
a bus tour of the city. At some
stations everybody voluntarily
renounces to get off the bus.
There is no bad weather, only good
spirits!
After all, the colours of St.
Basil's Cathedral do not seem quite
so bright.
We’e both (at least) in the 9th month, but we expect to give
birth soon with some pictures as a
reminder of a great weekend ;-)
In the afternoon in Victor's garden it is
dry again.
His collection suffered greatly from a fire in the
summer.
However, there is still enough
material worthy of discussion.
Then we have a ‘very small’ dinner
together...
... everything homemade and simply delicious
(mmmh, the salty gherkins)!
The next morning another adventure
Elisabeth would have gladly
renounced: the return trip with a taxi driver who
was a fan of Michael
Schumacher ...
We appreciated Boris' chauffeur
services even more than before!
Finally, one last Cyrillic lesson.
A far too short
long weekend is over. It gave us
fantastic impressions, but most of all the
unbelievable warm hospitality of the
Russian cactus friends.
Thanks a lot!
Comments, questions and hints are welcome, either under wolfgang. borgmann(at)gmx.net
or in the DKG forum
(https://www.kuas-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=4555&p=33169&sid=c76a2575ca87d1b527dbf694bbe7322b#p33169).
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