Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio was a good movie.

Despite my propensity for unrelated tangents, no, that's not a random comment. I watched Pirate Radio for the first time on the flight to Moscow, and found it quite moving. Based on the true story of a radio station broadcasting rock and roll in the 1960's to a UK government that wanted them shut down, the movie catalogues a collection of experiences of men who stood in the way of those clinging to the past and fought for the future of their passion..

Stepping foot off the plane brought new wonder to the world. At first nothing was different. Same generic advertisements lining the walls of the unloading ramp; same slow bureaucratic passport control (they had the lane reserved only for diplomats open to the public, two lanes for a planeload of people); same annoying taxi drivers offering ripoff rates for a ride to town. But after we had shucked away the taxi vultures, and after we stopped gawking at the strange lettering (H is pronounced as an N, a B as a V, P is an R, 3 is a Z - yes a number is a letter), we were on a train bound for Moscow, and the world opened up.

The train ride was uneventful. 35 minutes long and surrounded by Soviet Bloc Housing. But when we stepped off the train we were greeted by an old friend, Slava.

My family hosted Slava twice in Westport, while he was serving as translator to several Russian architects on a culture-sharing mission. We couldn't miss an opportunity to see him in his element. Slava greeted us from the train platform and we began the hike to the hotel.

The first part of our walk consisted of my dad telling me how ugly all the buildings were, how soviet, how communist. But after we had dropped our bags off at the Marriott Grand (26 Tbepckaя Street, pronounced tvierskaya...) we were more central to town and my father insisted "this has the look, energy, and feel of Barcelona."

I agree and disagree with my dad simultaneously. On one hand, the remaining soviet buildings in Russia represent a troubled past, the new buildings, the more modern and well designed, point towards the future. The beauty of this city comes to me in the form of watching a recently communist country struggle between it's past, present, and future. Like the Pirates of Pirate Radio, it seems that progress cannot stop, and that the old soviet buildings will go the way of the cheap soviet cars - sure you'll see one now and again, but no one will occupy them.

We walked down to Red Square (only 15 min away), and Slava gave us a tour. St. Basil's basilica was right there, as was the Kremlin. We didn't go inside the basilica because Slava said there was nothing to see inside - hard to believe based on the outside, but we took his word for it. We are doing the Kremlin tomorrow, when we have a guide reserved.

After red square we explored Goom, (spelled Gamma Y M), a super expensive but beautiful department store.

From there, in the light rain, we walked to the subway. Moscow has probably the best, if not in the top 3, subway systems I've ever seen. Clean, beautiful, and unique, each station is different and painstakingly made to make a travel by train experience most enjoyable. Each track has a train stopping at it every two minutes at most, since almost 10 million people travel by subway per day in this city of 12,000,000 people.

We went next (and last, as it turned out) to the World War Two Memorial, commemorating the 27 million Russians who died during it. We toured the facility for far longer than our jetlagged legs could linger, hearing all Slava had to say. Next stop dinner.

I said goodbye to Slava, sadly for most likely the last time this trip. After a little hiccup with where to eat, we settled on a sushi place called Planet Sushi. It was quite good, but Russian food ain't all that different from other European food, so we ate happily.

At 9 we were dead tired. But it was only 9. And it was still full daylight. This summer light @ dark is weird to me.

In sum, Moscow is one big Pirate Radio. The government, the infrastructure, and the cars are the old ways - and the people are beginning to sing a different tune. This is a constantly changing city and I'm happy we landed in the middle of it.

Ps. I'm quickly learning to read this language. Next I gotta perfect speaking it.