Seems Bishop Cyril invented the Cyrillic alphabet as he translated the Bible for the Russian people. He based it on the Greek alphabet, presumably as the existing text was in Greek. He just seems to have substituted the closest looking Roman letter, then made a few extras up when there wasn't a close one. The end result is rather like a letter substitution puzzle you used to do as kids. If you learn the substitution code, you can make out a lot of Russian words. Why he just didn't use the proper Roman alphabet is beyond me - laziness I'm speculating, to save him some time in the translation, but its confused the world, and set back world peace by decades.
But enough whinging. In an effort to educate the world, and advance the cause of international understanding, see if you can work out the following things we did today. Mid morning we had каппучино at МакДоналдсе, lunch we had at пицца хат.
We took the metro south of the Kremlin to the Tretyakov Gallery, arriving before most of the weekend crowds. Hired an audio guide to help us make sense of it all. They were available in German, Spanish, English and a few others. We chose 'Philistine'. Three major areas over several floors. A very large and comprehensive display of paintings by Russian masters over hundreds of years, some galleries of sculptures, and the world's largest gallery of religious icons (so we are told). Utilised the audio guide especially in the icon area to learn a bit more about them.
After morning tea, a long walk down to Paveletskaya Station, looking at churches on the way, with the hope of seeing Lenin's funeral train which is supposedly next to the station. Found the park, but alas no train.
Back to Red Square for a late lunch, then a tour of the State History Museum. This one covers Russia from prehistoric times to the revolution, and is the companion to the Modern History Museum we went to on Thursday. Very comprehensive and large, but alas the English guidesheets were missing so we didn't get the full story for lots of it.
Late afternoon we just sat in the sun in Red Square, and took in the sights of the Kremlin, St Basils, and lots of people enjoying their weekend.
As it got colder, we returned by the metro to the apartment, and after some tea we headed off to catch the night train to St Petersburg.
Did you pass?
каппучино is cappaccino
МакДоналдсе is McDonalds
пицца хат is pizza hut
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