On Saturday, we went to Peredelkino, a small place just 30 minutes by electrichka outside of Moscow. It was originally granted by the Soviet government to the Writers' Union for the building of dachas, summer cottages, for its members. Many famous writers lived here, including Anna Akhmatova and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who recently died. Most importantly, it was here that Boris Pasternak wrote Dr. Zhivago. That one, at least, must ring some bells. Being that Pasternak is like Petr's favorite Russian author, we had to go see his dacha and grave.
Russian cemeteries are interesting places. They have this tradition of putting up fences around each family's site, which is intimate and all, but often they are so close together that there is no room to walk between the fences. I got stuck in dead ends several times here and even had to hop a fence (or three) to get out. Who knows how relatives manage it. They also love to stick fake flowers of unworldly hues into the ground as decoration. Sometimes, even the fences are decked out like Christmas trees. Really a world apart from the cleanly manicured lawns and solitary headstones in American graveyards!
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| Sparkly... |
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| The fences. Here there is actually a path. |
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| Pasternak's grave. It was really hard to find and not very impressive. |
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| This is supposed to be his profile, but it looks like an amateur 's work. I mean, he wasn't the most attractive guy, but that is simply cro-magnid. |
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| This is very typical, with the pictures of the people included on the headstone. Konstantin and Domna Bronzos. |
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| A blurred me in Pasternak's salon |
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| The main room in his home |
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| My favorite place, where they'd have tea. Maybe you can see the samovar on the table. |
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| Pasternak's dacha. |
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| This is a typical Moscow road- 5 lanes. Sometimes it's empty, and other times in gridlock. And that can be any time during the day or night. There is no "rush hour". |
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