July 23: Moscow, Day 4

Dear Friends and Relatives,

9:30 am was our departure time today, which gave us more of a lie-in this morning, and was welcome.  Our first venue was a visit to the Cold War Museum.  It is also called the Secret Service Bunker 42.  A nondescript Neoclassical building on a quiet street in the center of the city looks quite ordinary.  It was only a shell and served as an entry to a secret space--an underground complex built in the 1950s as the result of a threat of nuclear war.  Stalin ordered it built in 1951, and it was finished in 1956 and soon became a secret communication bunker and a missile control center.  Each of us got a secret pass with his or her photo on it (though in a gas mask), and proceeded to the depth of the 18th floor beneath Moscow.  The facility operated as an emergency Command Post Headquarters and long-range aviation communications.  The Bunker 42 was fully equipped with everything needed for a nuclear attack--air recycling system, diesel generators, stocks of food, fuel, and artesian wells to provide clean drinking water.  Up to 30,000 people could live and work here for 30 days without assistance from the outside world.  

After a 20-minute film on the history of nuclear tests during the Cold War, the guide walked us through underground blocks, the secured tunnels where the lights were turned off and we heard raid sirens.  They sounded like what my mother had described, and I was reduced to shaking and crying.  A panic attack was not far behind, but Lena, our Moscow guide, put her arms around me and kindly waited till it was past.

It was a weird place, and I could not wait to be back in the sun again. 

Decommissioned in 2006 and sold off at auction, it is now not only a museum, but also a large entertainment center.  Some of the KGB rooms are used as a rehearsal space and concert halls for heavy metal bands.  They are also available for hire for functions, conferences, or as team-building centers for laser and paintball gaming.  The Museum has a restaurant, conference rooms, and a large banquet hall.  Some couples even get married there!  How bizarre!!!!

For lunch, we were at a Georgian restaurant for our farewell lunch.  The first course was three different vegetable patés; the second, a parsley crepe and Georgian cheese bread; the third, a veal cassoulet; and for dessert, a many-layered torte, like a Dobosh torte.  Members of the trip gave toasts, as did I, reciting Wordsworth's famous words from the "Ode": "...though nothing can bring back the hour/ of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower,/ we will grieve not/ rather find strength in what remains behind."  Again, I was very emotional and could hardly make it to the end of the line.  After dinner and before getting on the bus, group pictures were taken in the outstretched arms of a plaster Cossack chef, outside the premises of the restaurant.  

Our final stop was the Moscow Space Exploration Museum or the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, as it is called in Russia.  It is the only museum of its kind and is situated inside an enormous monument to the explorers of the cosmos.  One of its most striking features is a kind of ski jump of a tower surmounted by a rocket.  The displays trace the history of space exploration, including the first interplanetary flights, the first dogs in space, and man's journey to the cosmos.  It is a compelling reminder of the time when space exploration was still viewed as mankind's last great adventure.  We had an excellent guide, and a former Russian cosmonaut spoke to us concerning the space race and his part in it.  

Afterwards, we returned to the hotel by bus and said goodbye to our fantastic Moscow guide, Lena, and to Olga, our amazing St. Petersburg guide. Several of the group have gone to dinner independently, but I chose to stay, as I am not hungry and need to pack for tomorrow's odyssey:  Moscow to Vienna, Vienna to Chicago O'Hare, and Chicago to Dallas.  The first flight leaves at 6:30 am, so a van will come by at 2:30 am for those of us leaving that early.  Since that does not leave much time for sleep, I need to organize my time most fruitfully.

One more blog entry tomorrow, July 24, on one of the most memorable trips of my life!  The passport/visa debacle may have been vexing, but worth it in the end!  As ever, SV