Although our schedule keeps us very busy, we do have some
free time. Some of us use that time to rest, catch up on work, or explore new
places in Moscow. On Sunday my roommate, Lisa, and I decided to go to the Gulag
Museum. It was a bit difficult to find, but that meant that we were able to explore the area. I was interested in going to the museum, especially after taking
Soviet History this fall semester. I was surprised to find that the museum
included artwork inspired by the topic. The museum highlighted the experience of
about a dozen people in the Gulag, including some video interviews on the
bottom floor. The bottom floor was so cold that I started shivering. We were
shocked to learn that there were labor camps everywhere, even very close to
Moscow.
This is a map of the Gulags of the USSR:
This is a sculpture titled "The Regime's Orphans":
Today some of us decided to go to Gorky Park for
ice-skating! It’s outdoor skating, and it’s in such a big area (not a rink)
that there are even "street" signs. After skating for about an hour, we decided
to skate up to one of the restaurants to get dinner. These are restaurants that
you can only get to by skating. There were colored lights under the ice, lights
decorating the trees, and fire pits (although they didn’t seem very warm in
today’s weather). We really enjoyed our evening skating!
Lisa and I in front of the skating entrance:
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And a bonus picture--at the beginning of our trip, back in Rostov, some of us decided to play dress up:
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