Where Lenin was on view at Gorky after his death.
The Politbureau
Gorky - Neda's house that became Lenin's house/office
Lilacs blooming. They smelled devine.
Picture of Lenin's true love - not his wife.
Lenin's transportation while at Gorky in the winter. Rolls Royce on skis.
Detailed map of southern Russia used by the Politbureau.
Communication system at Gorky - now that is scary.
Room at Gorky "winter garden"
Where Stalin slept at Gorky the night after Lenin's death.
Picture taking at the circus. Would you want your daughter to sit next to an orangutang?
Hello Kitty!
I couldn't believe they would have a trained camel act - but they did.
One ring circus
Our last day in Russia was very special. First we traveled to Gorky via minivan. Diana promised that “you will love it”. We knew it was the place that Lenin lived the last years of his life but no more.
We arrived at a security gate about 10 am. Diana left the bus and talked to the upper-middle-aged security guard with quite a mid-belly paunch and their conversation got pretty agitated. She returned to the bus saying, “No problem”. But soon the guard came back out of his shed and motioned her back to talk to him. This time both of them got pretty agitated and vocal. He was gesturing and obviously angry. She returned to the bus again saying, “No problem he just wants to officially register the vehicle.” He was looking at the license plate and writing something down. He called another official out to discuss whatever the problem was. Finally Diana went back and talked with him again, this time he opened the gate and we went through. She told us she told him we “are all retired” and therefore incapable of walking any distance. This way our vehicle was able to drive close to where we were going.
We passed a very modern, not very attractive Soviet-style large building that Diana said was the museum where we would have lunch later. Then we drove into Gorky Park which was open forest with some old fruit orchards, along with quite a few very happy-looking grazing horses.
Diane had told us the following story during our drive.
This property belonged to a Russian woman named Zena. She had been the daughter of a merchant but longed to be an aristocrat. She was quite beautiful and very smart. She married an older man from a well-to-do family when she was quite young and moved to Moscow. I remember that part very well but now must admit many of the rest of the story I don’t remember well other than…
She met another man while she was still married and fell madly in love. She divorced the first husband shocking everyone including her family. Most shocking she and the second man married and he did very well in business and became very active in society. She loved nice things and acquired many of them.
Here is where I am a bit confused in the story. I think he may have died and she remarried, or he had mistresses and she left him, whatever I think she married again and this time to an aristocrat who ended up being the mayor of Moscow. At some point that husband was arrested for stealing money, or accepting bribes, or something like that. Zena was humiliated and needed to leave Moscow. So she found the Gorky property and bought it taking her children with her. even started a small farm raising crops.
She was very happy at Gorky. She had a beautiful home built and they had a good life. Apparently they had frequent visitors who enjoyed the property as well. She established it also as a farm raising crops and livestock.
After the revolution the Gorky property was taken over by the government. Zena moved to Moscow where she lived till her death at 80+. Even though she lost all her grand possessions and property, and had many opportunities to emigrate she stayed in Moscow, living in a small apartment, and earned a living as a seamstress.
After Lenin suffered his first, of many, strokes, he went to live with his wife and a small staff at Zena’s Gorky. Apparently he had a strong family history of cardiovascular disease (like everybody in his family died of it at a young age). He was paralyzed on one side of his body and had severe mobility and speech problems. He improved with much work but then would have another stroke. He remained in charge of the Soviet government and continued to make decisions despite his physical limitations.
We arrived at a security gate about 10 am. Diana left the bus and talked to the upper-middle-aged security guard with quite a mid-belly paunch and their conversation got pretty agitated. She returned to the bus saying, “No problem”. But soon the guard came back out of his shed and motioned her back to talk to him. This time both of them got pretty agitated and vocal. He was gesturing and obviously angry. She returned to the bus again saying, “No problem he just wants to officially register the vehicle.” He was looking at the license plate and writing something down. He called another official out to discuss whatever the problem was. Finally Diana went back and talked with him again, this time he opened the gate and we went through. She told us she told him we “are all retired” and therefore incapable of walking any distance. This way our vehicle was able to drive close to where we were going.
We passed a very modern, not very attractive Soviet-style large building that Diana said was the museum where we would have lunch later. Then we drove into Gorky Park which was open forest with some old fruit orchards, along with quite a few very happy-looking grazing horses.
Diane had told us the following story during our drive.
This property belonged to a Russian woman named Zena. She had been the daughter of a merchant but longed to be an aristocrat. She was quite beautiful and very smart. She married an older man from a well-to-do family when she was quite young and moved to Moscow. I remember that part very well but now must admit many of the rest of the story I don’t remember well other than…
She met another man while she was still married and fell madly in love. She divorced the first husband shocking everyone including her family. Most shocking she and the second man married and he did very well in business and became very active in society. She loved nice things and acquired many of them.
Here is where I am a bit confused in the story. I think he may have died and she remarried, or he had mistresses and she left him, whatever I think she married again and this time to an aristocrat who ended up being the mayor of Moscow. At some point that husband was arrested for stealing money, or accepting bribes, or something like that. Zena was humiliated and needed to leave Moscow. So she found the Gorky property and bought it taking her children with her. even started a small farm raising crops.
She was very happy at Gorky. She had a beautiful home built and they had a good life. Apparently they had frequent visitors who enjoyed the property as well. She established it also as a farm raising crops and livestock.
After the revolution the Gorky property was taken over by the government. Zena moved to Moscow where she lived till her death at 80+. Even though she lost all her grand possessions and property, and had many opportunities to emigrate she stayed in Moscow, living in a small apartment, and earned a living as a seamstress.
After Lenin suffered his first, of many, strokes, he went to live with his wife and a small staff at Zena’s Gorky. Apparently he had a strong family history of cardiovascular disease (like everybody in his family died of it at a young age). He was paralyzed on one side of his body and had severe mobility and speech problems. He improved with much work but then would have another stroke. He remained in charge of the Soviet government and continued to make decisions despite his physical limitations.
At this location they have built a separate small building to show what Lenin's apartment at the Kremlin looked like. They have furnished it with everything that was at that apartment.
There are a number of theories about Lenin's death. One is that he was poisoned. One is that Stalin had him poisoned. I suspect he just had another stroke since he had already had several. Of course since he had retained power even in his debilitated condition, the Soviets may have just gotten anxious and finished him off. There was competition as to who would lead after Lenin – Trotsky and some others. Lenin had picked Stalin to be his successor.
One thing that does seem evident from all we heard and saw during the visit – he was extremely intelligent, probably was motivated by trying to make things better for the Russian people, and was obviously well loved by them.
After Gorky we drove back to Moscow and dropped off some of our group by Red Square. As we did so we noticed a very large demonstration of people with pink balloons and wearing pink. It seemed unlikely that this was a "March for the Cure" for breast cancer. Afterwards we learned that this was a demonstration of gay folks. Apparently the gay demonstration was being held in the square simultaneously with a convention of ex-paratroopers – not a good mix. Apparently there was some sort of confrontation and violence.
Mike, Judy, Sybil, and I attended the Moscow Circus later that night. It was terrific. Although it is in a fixed location – big building – it is a very traditional circus with roustabouts, clowns, high wire acts, and animals. Other than the chimpanzee-in- silly-costumes act, I loved it. We were unable to take pictures during the actual circus but did take pictures on the way in. There we saw “up close and personal” a tiger, chimpanzee, bear, leopard, and a camel. Pretty unbelievable.
There are a number of theories about Lenin's death. One is that he was poisoned. One is that Stalin had him poisoned. I suspect he just had another stroke since he had already had several. Of course since he had retained power even in his debilitated condition, the Soviets may have just gotten anxious and finished him off. There was competition as to who would lead after Lenin – Trotsky and some others. Lenin had picked Stalin to be his successor.
One thing that does seem evident from all we heard and saw during the visit – he was extremely intelligent, probably was motivated by trying to make things better for the Russian people, and was obviously well loved by them.
After Gorky we drove back to Moscow and dropped off some of our group by Red Square. As we did so we noticed a very large demonstration of people with pink balloons and wearing pink. It seemed unlikely that this was a "March for the Cure" for breast cancer. Afterwards we learned that this was a demonstration of gay folks. Apparently the gay demonstration was being held in the square simultaneously with a convention of ex-paratroopers – not a good mix. Apparently there was some sort of confrontation and violence.
Mike, Judy, Sybil, and I attended the Moscow Circus later that night. It was terrific. Although it is in a fixed location – big building – it is a very traditional circus with roustabouts, clowns, high wire acts, and animals. Other than the chimpanzee-in- silly-costumes act, I loved it. We were unable to take pictures during the actual circus but did take pictures on the way in. There we saw “up close and personal” a tiger, chimpanzee, bear, leopard, and a camel. Pretty unbelievable.
