Travelog for: Mr Carrot

Hi, mom!
Today we decided to visit the well-known and beautiful churches of Moscow to familiarize with its architecture better. They are absolutely different - big, small, grandiose, modest, multi-colored, bright. It was unforgettable walk! My host is the big fan of the Moscow churches; she considers that they give pleasure and piece to those who admires them. Unfortunately, in orthodox churches it is impossible to photograph inside therefore we will be limited to appearance. 
The first church which we met on our way - the temple of an icon of the Theotokos «Joy of all who Sorrow». This icon is widely known as wonder-creating since 1688. This year it cured for the first time a sister of the Moscow patriarch - Efimiya Papina. This girl had had a serious illness for more than a year and already prepared for death. She constantly prayed to the Theotokos for healing. And once Mary came to the girl in a dream and ordered to bring in the house the icon which has recently appeared in the temple nearby. After the icon was established in the house, Efimiya was wonderfully recovered. 



The Resurrection Church in Kadashi Sloboda is a major Naryshkin Baroque church in Moscow, formerly the tallest building in Zamoskvorechye, which may still be seen from Red Square.
A wooden church on this site was documented as early as 1493. The elongated five-domed church with an elegantly "laced" belfry was constructed between 1687 and 1695. Napoleon's soldiers desecrated the church, turning it into stables. In the 19th century, the icon screen was restored, the galleries and apses were expanded, and several outsize domed porches were added. The church was closed by the Soviets in 1934 and was adapted for accommodation of a KGB archive. It was not returned to the Russian Orthodox Church until December 2006.
There was much media focus on the Kadashi Church in 2010 when Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov ordered the demolition of several old buildings near the church, including a deacon's house from 1813, in order to replace them with an elite apartment complex. The decision was viewed as Luzhkov's latest attack on Moscow's architectural heritage in the interests of building companies and sparked a resistance campaign labelled the "battle of Kadashi" by the Russian media. 





Especially I like this photo - the set of posters around cries - "Go away from church in Kadashi!", and here it is simply shown, that Moscow was so beautiful town before, without skyscrapers. And what a considerable influence churches had – if you lifted your head you always saw a spike with a cross! 

The following church which we visited has Saint Clement’s name. Clement (d. c.100) was pope and martyr. Bishop of Rome after Peter, Linus, and Cletus, Clement is known today mainly for his Epistle to the Corinthians. Clement was exiled to the Crimea for the skill and extent of his apostolic activities in Rome. While in exile he was compelled to work in the mines, he opened a miraculous supply of water, he preached with such effect that again he made innumerable converts so that there was need for seventy-five churches. He was killed by being thrown into the sea with an anchor round his neck: angels were said to have made him a tomb on the sea-bed, which was uncovered once a year by an exceptionally low tide.
Seven centuries later, the missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius, who were apostles of the Slav countries, ‘miraculously recovered’, they claimed, the body of Clement, piece by piece, together with the anchor. These relics were translated to Rome and buried in the fine church of San Clemente.





And the last church I will discribe to you today - Saint Nikolay's Church. It is one of the most esteemed in Russia sacred man and he has many interesting and instructive stories about his life.
One legend tells how a terrible famine struck the island and a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he slaughtered and butchered them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Saint Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, not only saw through the butcher's horrific crime but also resurrected the three boys from the barrel by his prayers. 
In his most famous exploit, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment, would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him, but being too modest to help the man in public (or to save the man the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the man's house. The third time the father lies in wait, trying to discover the identity of their benefactor. The father confronts the saint, only to have Saint Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone.




About other beautiful churches I'll tell you next time! 

Hi, mom! Let me continue my story about wonderful Moscow churches.
At first this unusual Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. It was founded in 1908 by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (sister of Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Empress of Russia—both of whom are counted among the Russian New Martyrs) to assist sick, wounded, and maimed soldiers in their recovery, and to provide for the needs of the poor and orphans. 





Grand Duchess Elizabeth (you can see her statue) was the widow of Grand Duke Sergeii Alexandrovich, who had been assassinated by terrorists in 1905. After her husband's death, she gave away her magnificent collection of jewels, including her wedding ring, and sold her other possessions. With the proceeds, she opened the Convent of Ss Martha and Mary and became its abbess. Her vision was to begin a religious community, made up of women from all social strata, that would merge the ideals of saints Martha and Mary, dedicated both to prayer and to serving the needs of the poor. She purchased a tract of land in Moscow and constructed a hospital, an orphanage for girls, and quarters for the nuns. Working in conjunction with church authorities she developed the monastic rule and habit—which differed somewhat from the traditional habit of Orthodox nuns—that would be used at the convent. At its peak, the convent housed 97 sisters and served 300 meals daily to the poor. 

Next church is known by its famous icon - the Panagia Portaitissa or the Iveron Theotokos. The original of this image is found in the Georgian Iviron monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, where it is believed to have been since the year 999.
A unique characteristic of this icon is what appears to be a scar on the Virgin Mary's right cheek or her chin. A number of different traditions exist to explain this, but the one most commonly held by Orthodox Christians is that the icon was stabbed by a soldier in Nicaea during the period of Byzantine iconoclasm under the Emperor Theophilus (829–842). According to tradition, when the icon was stabbed, blood miraculously flowed out of the wound.

According to the Orthodox Church's Sacred Tradition, the icon was at one time in the possession of a widow in Nicea. Not wanting the icon to be seized and destroyed by the iconoclasts, she spent all night in prayer and then cast the icon into the Mediterranean Sea. The widow's son later went to Mount Athos, where he became a monk and recounted the miracle of the bleeding wound, and how the icon had been placed in the sea. Much later, (ca. 1004) the icon was recovered from the sea by a Georgian monk named Gabriel (later canonized a saint in the Orthodox Church), who was laboring at the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. This occurred on Tuesday of Bright Week (Easter Week), and is commemorated annually on that day (as well as the fixed date of March 31). The icon was taken to the katholikon (main church) of the monastery from which the icon gets its name. 

The tradition goes on to say that the following day, when the monks entered the church they could not find the icon. After searching they discovered the icon hanging on the gates of the monastery. This occurrence was repeated several times, until St. Gabriel reported that he had seen a vision of the Theotokos, wherein she revealed that she did not want her icon to be guarded by the monks, but rather she intended to be their Protectress. After this, the icon was permanently installed above the monastery gates, where it remains to this day. Because of this, the icon came to be called Portaitissa or "Gate-Keeper". This title was not new for the Virgin Mary, but comes from a verse of the Akathist to the Mother of God: "Rejoice, O Blessed Gate-Keeper who opens the gates of Paradise to the righteous." Orthodox monks and nuns throughout the world will often place an icon of the Theotokos Iverskaya on the monastery gates. 

And the last church has name is a Holy Trinity Church.
It was built, probably, in the 1630th in connection with settling of the southern suburbs of the city by the Streltsy covering the defensive line of the shaft. The first documentary certificate on new church is dated 1642; Last name "Veshnyaka" or "Vishnyaka" is also connected with streletsky commander Matvei Vishnyakov. The first stone temple was built in memory of Fight under Chigirin. The belltower was taken out to the red line of Pyatnitskaya Street which was considerably more narrow, than today.

In 1804 consecutive replacement of constructions of the old temple began.  During a fire of 1812 the temple burned and was restored roughly in 1815, completely — to 1824. In 1826 Pyatnitskaya Street was expanded, and the old belltower disturbing to journey, took down. The church at the time when Zamoskvorechye was wooden, was the largest town-planning vertical of the Pyatnitsky part.

The church was closed not earlier than 1929, and again opened in 1994 at Sacred Tikhonovskiy orthodox institute.

Hi, mom!
Hi, mom! This weekend we are going to see Kremlin!

Wow, I think, I should come to Moscow again, because it is such a wonderful place and has such an interesting history! My host thought that I should know everything about it, but of course, now I can remember only a small part. 
You can see, first we were standing in a small queue near the white Kutafja Tower (from the word “fat clumsy woman”) and had a chance to take photos on the swallows’ tail – they are situated on each access road of Kremlin.

And the Troitskaya Tower - the tallest tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Its current height on the side of the Alexander Garden together with the star is 80 m. Today, the gate of the tower is the main visitors' entrance into the Kremlin. And the view is so beautiful!

Here you can see the Kremlin Senate, a building within the grounds of the Kremlin. Initially constructed from 1776–1787, it originally housed the Moscow branch of the Governing Senate, the highest judiciary and legislative office of Imperial Russia. Currently, it houses the Russian presidential administration and is a highly secured and restricted area closed to the public. At present, only the southern corner façade, opposite the Tsar Cannon can be viewed.

Then we saw the most interesting exhibits of this museum – the Tsar-Bell and the Tsar-Cannon. 
The Tsar-Bell was made of bronze and it is currently the largest bell in the world, weighing 201,924 kilograms, with a height of 6.14 metres and diameter of 6.6 metres, and thickness of up to 61 centimetres. The bell is decorated with relief images of baroque angels, plants, oval medallions with saints, and nearly life-size images of Empress Anna and Tsar Alexey. Unfortunately, before the last ornamentation was completed, a major fire broke out at the Kremlin in May 1737. The fire spread to the temporary wooden support structure for the bell, and fearing damage, guards threw cold water on it, causing eleven cracks, and a huge (11.5 tons) slab to crack off. The broken piece weighs 11,500 kilograms, you can compare it with the crowd around – it’s as tall as a man! Some people believe that on Judgement Day, it will be miraculously repaired and lifted up to heaven, where it will ring the blagovest (call to prayer). 

The Tsar-Cannon was cast in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov. Mostly of symbolic impact, it was never fired in war. Per the Guinness Book of Records it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world. The very low ratio between its calibre and the length of its barrel makes it technically not a cannon, but a stylized mortar. The Tsar Cannon weighs 39.312 tones and has a length of 5.34 m. Its bronze-cast barrel has a diameter of 890 mm, and an external diameter of 1,200 mm. The spherical cast-iron projectiles located in front of the cannon - each of which weighs 1.97 tons, were produced in 1834 as a decoration. 

Then you can see The Ivan the Great Bell Tower - the tallest of the towers in the Moscow Kremlin complex, with a total height of 81 metres. It was built in 1508 for the Russian Orthodox cathedrals in Cathedral Square, which do not have their own belfries, and is said to mark Moscow's precise geographic centre. The Ivan the Great Bell Tower today contains 22. Of these, 18 small bells hang in the base and in the middle of the bell tower. Of the four large bells, one is named the Upsenskij Bell, and weighs 65.5 tons. It rings traditionally among the largest religious festivals such as Easter, and was made in the early 16th century.

Next building with great triangle golden roof and domes is The Cathedral of the Annunciation (Blagoveschensky sobor). It was originally the personal chapel for the Muscovite tsars, and its abbot remained a personal confessor of the Russian royal family until the early 20th century. Compared with the other major Kremlin cathedrals, the Annunciation Cathedral has slightly smaller dimensions. It is also built in a more traditional style, as it was created by local architects from Pskov, rather than Italian expatriate architects. The most characteristic feature of the building is its nine golden domes, and roof with rich kokoshnik ornamentation in an ogive form. 

This beautiful cathedral with frescos is The Cathedral of the Dormition (Uspensky sobor). The Cathedral is regarded as the mother church of Muscovite Russia. In its present form it was 1475-79 at the behest of the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III by the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti. From 1547 to 1896 it is where the Coronation of the Russian monarch was held. In addition, it is the burial place for most of the Moscow Metropolitans and Patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, one of the most important cult images of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Theotokos of Vladimir kept at the Cathedral from 1395-1919 is now at the Tretyakov Gallery. Near the south entrance to the Cathedral is the Monomach Throne of Ivan IV (1551).



Verkhospassky Cathedral with eleven small golden domes was constructed by tsar Michael Fedorovichem in 1635-1636. From this temple the ladder conducted to a seigniorial platform where decrees, orders of the tsar were read to boyars, and the tsar presented boyars and near people birthday pies. Divine services in it aren't made.

The Cathedral of the Archangel is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It was the main necropolis for members of the Tsars of Russia until the relocation of the capital to St. Petersburg. It was constructed between 1505 and 1508 under the supervision of an Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin Noviy on the spot of an older cathedral, built in 1333.

The Grand Kremlin Palace was built from 1837 to 1849 on the site of the estate of the Grand Princes, which had been established in the 14th century on Borovitsky Hill. Designed by a team of architects under the management of Konstantin Thon, it was intended to emphasize the greatness of Russian autocracy. The Grand Kremlin Palace was formerly the tsar's Moscow residence. Thon's palace is 125 meters long, 47 meters high, and has a total area of about 25,000 square meters. It includes the earlier Terem Palace, nine churches from the 14th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the Holy Vestibule, and over 700 rooms. Now it carries out a role of smart president residence of Russia. Important nation-wide ceremonials pass in its halls, such as delivery of the state awards or credentials. You can see that big national flag is lowered on the spike. It means that Russian president is out now, but he could come back every minute! 

Hi, mom! As it’s my last day in Russia, my host advised me to see something special!

Today we decided to visit one of the most well-known church of Russia - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour! With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox church in the world. 

When Napoleon Bonaparte retreated from Moscow, Emperor Alexander I signed a manifest, 25 December 1812, declaring his intention to build a cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people. 

The cathedral took many years to build and did not emerge from its scaffolding until 1860. The painting were overseen by Evgraf Sorokin and thereafter some of the best Russian painters continued to embellish the interior for another twenty years. The cathedral was consecrated on the very day Alexander III was crowned, 26 May 1883.

After the Revolution and, more specifically, the death of Lenin, the prominent site of the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. This monument was to rise in modernistic, buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin perched on top of a dome with his arm raised in the air.
On December 5th 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site. Some of the marble from the walls and marble benches from the cathedral were used in nearby Moscow Metro stations. For a long time, these were the only reminders of the largest Orthodox church ever built. 
The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted owing to a lack of funds, problems with flooding from the nearby Moskva River, and the outbreak of war. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Mr%20Carrot Khrushchev, it was transformed into the world's largest open air swimming pool, named Moskva Pool.
Finally, in February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The restorer Aleksey Denisov was called upon to design a replica of extraordinary accuracy.
A construction fund was initiated in 1992 and funds began to pour in from ordinary citizens in the autumn of 1994. In this year the pool was demolished and the cathedral reconstruction commenced. About one million Muscovites donated money for the project. 

The monument is located in the city center therefore you can enjoy such beautiful views of the old, not reconstructed quarters of Moscow around! 

Especially I like this bridge - very popular place for wedding ceremonies and simply walks. 

On the right you can see one of the chocolate factories oldest in Moscow, and also Peter the Great notorious statue on a ship. So many people consider that it is ugly, but it can't be demolished. The designer Zurab Tsereteli is known as a friend and favorite of Moscow's former Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, and the artist has received many municipal art commissions in recent years, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The Peter the Great Statue in Moscow was designed by the Georgian designer Zurab Tsereteli to commemorate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which was started by Peter I of Russia. At 94 metres, it is the eighth tallest statue in the world.

And at the left - a view which is often printed on postcards - the Kremlin ashore. Do I need to say anything else? Fantastic!

And the monument to emperor Alexander II the Liberator of Russia from a serfdom, in fact, from slavery, is located near the temple. Alexander is represented in a military uniform and with an imperial cloak.
The five-meter bronze figure is placed on a stone pedestal with a graceful colonnade. Behind the back of the emperor two bronze lions sit. They, as a plan of author Alexander Rukavishnikov, symbolize old traditional Russia.

Heeeey!

I'm back in Germany!
I had a good journey, Wayne was with me.
Well, Mommy you movved and i have to take a look at the new house!
But i think i like it

It's getting hot (not as hot as in Thailand), but the summer is coming. So i put out my pretty pullover and hat. i'll wear it in winter again

I also met another TV, her name is Niiskuneiti. Shes soo pretty. She helped us out of the envelope.

HelgaHH and i are on our way to France! See you soon!

Hello!

Today we started our journey to Ars-sur-Formans.
It's a small place near Lyon.
We'll travel with the bus and our other host will be a priest!!
So God is on our side and the trip will be nice!




We talked and have fun. The time passes quickly and before we knows it, we reached France.

VIVE LA FRANCE!

We were invited to dinner.
We ate typical french food and of course we drank wine and ate baguette




Our hosts shows us that pretty picture of two monkeys

See what we got!
We're a Prince and Princess





And we took a ride on the carrousel. That was really funny!!

Today we took a long, long walk!



Good night, HelgaHH!


Good night, Mr Carrot!

Now it's time to say good bye to France and hello to Germany!

Hello Mommy!

Well, today was the day.. i went to a date with Niiskuneiti!
We met at 7pm and i had the idea to took her to the movies.
Which movie? Hahaha for sure the Moomins movie!





She is soo pretty, don't you think that too?

After the movie i helped her to fullfill a lifemission. Mom, i hope it's ok that i used your soap bubbles :P



Oh Mom, it was great. She smiled alot!

We went outside to see the garden. And i showed her dandelion.


And she kissed me!!!
It was so awesome


I thought about it last night. We're traveller and won't see so often, but i think whenever we meet, we'll have a great time together.

Love,
Mr Carrot

I'm now on my way to Taiwan, to Mommys good friend Joanne!

YAY!
I've finally arrived at Joanne's house
Joanne said, the Dragon Boat Festival, a Chinese festival, is arround the corner! And on this festival, they will eat Zongzi (Glutinous Rice Dumpling). Joanne's mom bought a Zongzi for me!
YUMMY!!