{"id":1744,"date":"2016-05-06T09:32:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T09:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=1744"},"modified":"2016-08-21T01:22:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T01:22:47","slug":"sunday-may-1-labor-day-parade-and-kazan-cathedral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=1744","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, May 1, Labor Day Parade and Kazan Cathedral"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was crazy in the best possible way. My plan had been to walk to the Kazan Cathedral, \u00a0Uber over\u00a0the shop in\u00a0Loft Project Etazhi<\/a>\u00a0and buy that perfect flowy-yet-structured\u00a0blouse for Robin, and end the day visiting\u00a0the Benois wing of the Russian Museum.<\/p>\n

I walked to the corner and grabbed a flat white double shot and an almond croissant. Started\u00a0toward Kazan, looked up from my iPhone map and realized the intersection with Nevsky Prospekt was empty. What the what? This is the 5th Avenue and Broadway of St. Petersburg, thronging with humanity and bumper to bumper cars\u00a024\/7.<\/p>\n

I turned onto Nevsky Prospekt to find\u00a0police and\u00a0soldiers lining the curbs, one\u00a0\u00a0every ten or 12 feet. They looked\u00a0really young, in their teens and early twenties. A\u00a0parade was coming\u00a0in 15 minutes. I’d been told the Victory Day Parade\u00a0was on the 9th, but this was the Labor Day Parade, International Workers Day.<\/p>\n

I changed my plans instantly.\u00a0Not missing this\u00a0once in a lifetime experience. Turns out, though it looked like they were braced for riots, the parade was as mellow\u00a0as the Inman the Park Festival, even without my funky favorites,\u00a0the\u00a0Seed and Feed Abominable Marching Band<\/a>.\u00a0Balloons galore,\u00a0babies in strollers, girls in short skirts with pompoms, and homemade floats in the back of pickup trucks. It was an entirely peaceful crowd, and most of the people walking\u00a0in the\u00a0parade looked like\u00a0they were doing a 5K for charity.\u00a0Ambling along, smiling at\u00a0the blue sky, babies on shoulders.<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/happyparade.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n
\"Happy<\/a>
Happy Labor Day! I’d bet cash money they’d all vote for Bernie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were occasional synchronized\u00a0cheers, but for what, I have no clue. A\u00a0proud Putin supporter on the sidelines waved his flag. Everybody got along.<\/p>\n

\"{"focusMode":0,"deviceTilt":-0.01308710972336335,"whiteBalanceProgram":0,"macroEnabled":false,"qualityMode":3}\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cops were mostly there to keep\u00a0people from swarming the streets with their\u00a0iPhone cameras, and from crossing in front of the marchers. A lost cause, that. The babushkas did it anyway, and the boy soldiers got\u00a0red-faced, and looked like they wanted to cry.\u00a0I posted a\u00a0clip on FaceBook of a lady\u00a0drum line – adorable and so perky. May 9th is when the tanks roll down the streets and I was told that, from now until then everybody takes time off, like our\u00a0unofficial Christmas to New Year’s break.<\/p>\n

After an hour of happy Russian people on parade goodness, I walked up the street to the Kazan Cathedral. Outside, a choir sang in celebration of Orthodox Easter.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Kazan-chorus.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Inside, I lit candles for my family and friends.\"kazan<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote a prayer request list too and the lady who took it and my ruble donation sternly demanded, ‘Orthodox?’ ‘No,’ I admitted. ‘Catholic?’ she asked. ‘Yes.’ Turns out that got my prayers in the right slot of the box at her side. I didn’t ask if the two slots were for the sheep and the goats. I’ll wait on Judgement day for that. I thought the Kazan was officially a museum, not a place of worship, but people were lined up to touch this particular icon, and press their foreheads or lips to\u00a0the lower right side of it. \"kazan<\/a>Nuns patrolled the aisles, plucking out candle stubs and swiping the glass framed icons\u00a0with rags that I hoped\u00a0were soaked in\u00a0disinfectant. The touching and kissing of icons is something I witnessed\u00a0in every church I ventured in.*<\/p>\n

Urbered to the Etazhi market\u00a0to buy that blouse for Robin. Alas, the shop was closed and no days\/times posted. \u00a0A kind woman on the register in a nearby shop tried to call them, but the number posted was defunct. Strike one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wandered\u00a0around\u00a0the Benois wing of the Russian museum, 20th century art that, to my prejudiced eye, was mostly lame, but a few things stood out in a good way \u00a0A\u00a0portrait of women\u00a0mill\u00a0workers.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/a>
Alexander Dieneka, 1927, Textile Workers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It remindedme of the movie\u00a0Norma Rae<\/a>, and this portrait of three oncologists in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

\"Scottish<\/a>
Scottish National Portrait Gallery:<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This elegant small watercolor of an African woman.<\/p>\n

\"black<\/a><\/p>\n

This, mostly because the the delicious light on her toes.\"bright<\/a><\/p>\n

And this\u00a0happy go lucky duo.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
I imagine it’s a comment on the global climate crisis. “Does it feel hot to you? I’m burning up.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had another great dinner at Fruktovaya Lavka<\/b>. They brought\u00a0me a special plate of Russian Easter treats, on the house. A\u00a0stollen type\u00a0bread, cubes of ricotta cheese, nut, and\u00a0fruit\u00a0spread, and\u00a0a colored hardboiled egg. \"easter<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time I walked back to the Astoria, I had racked up 5.75 miles. Sleepily making plans for tomorrow, since the Hermitage is closed on\u00a0Mondays.<\/p>\n

*Still thinking about what separates\u00a0spiritual\u00a0from superstition, and what part ritual plays in\u00a0a spiritual life. I light candles to direct and focus my intentions, not to\u00a0solicit\u00a0divine intervention. I believe in a power greater than myself, I just don’t expect to\u00a0have any\u00a0control over it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was crazy in the best possible way. My plan had been to walk to the Kazan Cathedral, \u00a0Uber over\u00a0the shop in\u00a0Loft Project Etazhi\u00a0and buy that perfect flowy-yet-structured\u00a0blouse for Robin, and end the day visiting\u00a0the Benois wing of the Russian Museum. I walked to the corner and grabbed a flat white double shot and an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21],"tags":[38,37,194,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-1744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-kazan-cathedral","9":"tag-loft-project-etazhi","10":"tag-restaurant","11":"tag-russian-museum","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/va-Kazan.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OBxc-s8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1744"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1799,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions\/1799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}