A Weekend in Москва

Visiting

cactus friends in Moscow

©

Wolfgang Borgmann, Elisabeth & Norbert

Sarnes

Short history:

We, i.e. Elisabeth & Norbert Sarnes and me, had met Natalia Shelkunova and Victor Gapon of the Kaktus-Klub Moscow

already at some cactus events before.

Through this contact, we were able to fly to Moscow in September 2018 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the association.

It was a cactus journey of a completely different kind:

A somewhat adventurous preparation (visa ...), relatively few plants, but fantastic impressions

and an overwhelming hospitality!

Under this dome of the Moscow

airport the entry control is carried

out.

No photography - but a nice security officer allowed me

to take this picture.

Victor welcomed us outside the

airport.

Too bad, that wasn't our car.

We're heading towards the

center.

Center of Metropolis?

In any case, the

bay windows are bright enough to take good care of

succulents.

Our destination was the highest

building in Europe, the Moscow

television tower.

And here our German-Russian

cactus group: Boris Protopotov, Elisabeth Sarnes,

Natalia Schelkunova,

Larisa Zaitseva, Victor Gapon,

my humble self (and Norbert

Sarnes behind the camera!)

Up at the revolving restaurant with nice people...

...good food and fantastic views.

The next morning we set off for the

anniversary event.

A lot of things in Moscow look

modern + ‘western’, but the

socialist motives of course especially catch my eye as a

Westerner.

This also applies to the metro station

Partisanskaja.

It was completed still during the

Second World War.

Guided by Boris, we have no

problem finding the right

connection.

And very quickly in between another

nice detail of another Metro

station.

Back up above ground level …

There it goes even higher...

The venue: The State

Biological Museum K.A. Timiryazev

The anniversary program.

Victor gives a short review of the history of the

Moscow Cactus Club.

An incredible

coincidence: The event took place in the Evolution Hall - we could not have

chosen more suitable topics for

our lectures.

First, some of the old members tell

special experiences.

Their energy and

enthusiasm is absolutely

impressive!

Cacti can apparently really

work as a fountain of youth.

Larisa took over the translation of

the lectures.

With many guests we also spoke

English and a little German in

between. An extremely cordial

atmosphere!

Here you see the really perfect combination:

Elisabeth presents pictures from the Galapagos Islands,

and Charles Darwin is watching

from above!

There was also a small exhibition.

Beautiful plants,

clearly labelled of course.

Not to be seen in the pictures: The

museum was visited by many young families,

who also liked to have a look at the

lectures. A nice open event!

In the evening we went back with the

Metro.

And I have already learned to read

the first words in Cyrillic...

Very practical: foreign words are written the way they are spoken.

Our hotel complex

And again an impressive metro station. We are on

the way to the sightseeing program on

Sunday morning.

Folk heroes are also depicted in

this station.

The dog's muzzle is particularly

popular: It's good luck to stroke it, that's

why it's so polished!

The next transfer station looks a little simpler at

first sight.

However, it is actually very elaborately

designed: Each dome is decorated with an individual

mosaic...

...again in praise of various national

heroes.

… decorative symbols included.

Back above ground again, the weather unfortunately does

not quite play along.

Larisa accompanies us on

a bus tour of the city. At some

stations everybody voluntarily

renounces to get off the bus.

There is no bad weather, only good

spirits!

After all, the colours of St.

Basil's Cathedral do not seem quite

so bright.

We’e both (at least) in the 9th month, but we expect to give

birth soon with some pictures as a

reminder of a great weekend ;-)

In the afternoon in Victor's garden it is

dry again.

His collection suffered greatly from a fire in the

summer.

However, there is still enough

material worthy of discussion.

Then we have a ‘very small’ dinner

together...

... everything homemade and simply delicious

(mmmh, the salty gherkins)!

The next morning another adventure

Elisabeth would have gladly

renounced: the return trip with a taxi driver who

was a fan of Michael

Schumacher ...

We appreciated Boris' chauffeur

services even more than before!

Finally, one last Cyrillic lesson.

A far too short

long weekend is over. It gave us

fantastic impressions, but most of all the

unbelievable warm hospitality of the

Russian cactus friends.

Thanks a lot!

Comments, questions and hints are welcome, either under wolfgang. borgmann(at)gmx.net

or in the DKG forum

(https://www.kuas-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=4555&p=33169&sid=c76a2575ca87d1b527dbf694bbe7322b#p33169).