I have no idea what I was expecting from Russia. Frankly, I'm not sure I thought all that much about it. I had every intention of bringing myself up to date on the history and current climate of the former center of the Soviet Union, but time just got away from me, and before I knew it, I was touching down at Sheremetyevo airport, 12 kilometers and 2 hours from the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski. Besides, how important could the history of the nation that co-dominated the geopolitical landscape for the better part of the last century be?
Hotel Baltschug Kempinski on a cold, cloudy day.
The truth is, Moscow is mind-blowing, even if you don't know all the historical details. It's both progressive and backwards. It's European, Asian, and Middle Eastern. It's fashionable and pedestrian. I suppose then it's not surprising that I was a bit disoriented the whole time I was there. I mean, what do you expect? After decades of images on American television and ominous footage of tanks and missiles on parade in Red Square, what was I to think as I strolled casually inside the walls of the dreaded Kremlin? Or looked dumbly at the Cyrillic lettering spelling out L-E-N-I-N on the country's most famous mausoleum?
Lenin's totally creepy tomb.
This is weird. That's what I was supposed to think. Normally I hate that word. Too vague. But sometimes it just hits the mark. It was nothing if not weird.
I spent most of my time in Moscow interviewing Muscovites about how they perceived the U.S. during the cold war, what life was like before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and what were the first things they did after Communism failed (some picked up once-forbidden British invasion rock records). We had dinner in some throwback, 1950's era place across from the old KGB headquarters with an old jazz band and an aging lounge singer (again, weird).
But perhaps the most interesting bit from my stay in Moscow was the sense that this is a country still very much in search of its identity. After nearly a century of being told what to do, where to work, and how to think, it's bound to take a country some time to recover. And the Russians are trying on everything, from fashion to ethics. They're desperately looking to find something that fits. No one is sure what is cool, or what is acceptable, and what is not. And they are most assuredly unclear about what it means to be Russian.
St. Basil's Cathedral, the future home of Disney Russia.
Ican only tell you what I think it means. It means you smoke too many cigarettes and wear your hair like a 1980's hockey player. Other than that, the jury is still out.
