Having read in a local weekly that there would be a Christmas bazaar every weekend in December at Gorky Park, we headed down there this morning.
I was a bit confused by the GAP-logo-emblazoned yarn-bombed lamp post. More on that in a minute. The sign - which is a bit GAP-like too, right? - says "Winter in the park." The bazaar itself was nothing too interesting - most of the kiosks were empty, and what vendors there were looked bored and cold. We bypassed them for a stroll over the ice rink. I didn't get any great photos of the entire rink, but it is pretty cool. It has all these offshoots that loop around the park. Too bad the kids are still too young for ice skating.
Then we headed inside for some hot chocolate. The air was only about 34 degrees, but it was also pretty windy. And I wasn't wearing my long johns.
Natasha loves hot chocolate. She's in for some disappointment back in the States, though, I tell you what. Russian hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate in a cup. They serve it with a spoon. And sometimes a glass of milk on the side. No flaccid Swiss Miss packets here, nyet! (Z totally missed out, having fallen asleep in the stroller not long after we arrived).
After we'd warmed up some, we started heading back out of the park when we ran across a sign telling us in clever Russian to connect with GAP (or knit - the verb used can mean either one), and pointing us to what is apparently the largest knitting installation in Russian.
So we walked over and found this:
Some subsequent Googling revealed that this was a public effort. I am still not entirely sure how the GAP ties in. I'm guessing there is some corporate sponsorship going on.
As we exited Gorky Park, once a symbol of all things Soviet, Bing Crosby crooned that most American of Christmas songs, Mele Kalikimaka, over the loud speaker. And somewhere under Red Square, I'm sure the father of the U.S.S.R. would have rolled over in his tomb, were it not for the fact that there's nothing left in him but sawdust and mummy juice.
I was a bit confused by the GAP-logo-emblazoned yarn-bombed lamp post. More on that in a minute. The sign - which is a bit GAP-like too, right? - says "Winter in the park." The bazaar itself was nothing too interesting - most of the kiosks were empty, and what vendors there were looked bored and cold. We bypassed them for a stroll over the ice rink. I didn't get any great photos of the entire rink, but it is pretty cool. It has all these offshoots that loop around the park. Too bad the kids are still too young for ice skating.
Then we headed inside for some hot chocolate. The air was only about 34 degrees, but it was also pretty windy. And I wasn't wearing my long johns.
Natasha loves hot chocolate. She's in for some disappointment back in the States, though, I tell you what. Russian hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate in a cup. They serve it with a spoon. And sometimes a glass of milk on the side. No flaccid Swiss Miss packets here, nyet! (Z totally missed out, having fallen asleep in the stroller not long after we arrived).
After we'd warmed up some, we started heading back out of the park when we ran across a sign telling us in clever Russian to connect with GAP (or knit - the verb used can mean either one), and pointing us to what is apparently the largest knitting installation in Russian.
So we walked over and found this:
Some subsequent Googling revealed that this was a public effort. I am still not entirely sure how the GAP ties in. I'm guessing there is some corporate sponsorship going on.
As we exited Gorky Park, once a symbol of all things Soviet, Bing Crosby crooned that most American of Christmas songs, Mele Kalikimaka, over the loud speaker. And somewhere under Red Square, I'm sure the father of the U.S.S.R. would have rolled over in his tomb, were it not for the fact that there's nothing left in him but sawdust and mummy juice.
Those sweater trees look so cool! What a weird random treat to discover.
ReplyDelete