Tanya was more intent on lamenting the tough life of Russians under perestroika. Certainly, hardship lines the faces of the greater population. Daily newscasts had shown troops arresting them. Moscow branches out like spokes of a cartwheel from ring roads encircling the Kremlin. The great charm of the Russian Era is found on broad boulevards fringed with neo-classical mansions of the old aristocracy, narrow alleys from Tolstoy's days, the Kremlin's Aleksandrovskiy Sad Gardens, built in 1821 for Tsar Alexander I, and the rambling country estates of Kolomenskoye and Tzaritzino.
Culture is a sore point in budget-riddled Moscow.
An exquisite ballet at the Stanislavsky Theatre suffered little without a backdrop. At the circus, Russians clapped wildly while we stared, dumbfounded, at inexperienced horseback-riders failing at dangerous antics. Vladimir Vassiliev, chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Ballet, supports a full suite of dancers with a choir. If posture and facial expressions talk, Russians speak volumes in silence. The New Russians are the clever entrepreneurs of the New Russia.