mixed day 31 December 2008
Yesterday was an extraordinary mix. We visited the Great War Museum which is supposed to be the largest display in the world devoted to WW2. Even though it was all in Russian there was no need for translations for some of the startling images shown. One section showed black and white photos of the hanging of partisans by the German occupying forces and they were most disturbing – each frame showed the end of a the life of a very beautiful woman and two male counterparts – clearly the photographer simply wound on his film and took another shot so it was a remarkable record of their deaths, recording even their last breaths, surely. Shocking and incredibly moving. The museum was totally worth the entire visit to Minsk. The museum guards on each room were very helpful, with one older man at the end of the tour explaining all about new and improved planes and the various heroes under his particular guard who flew them. He told us everything in Russian and Richard got more than I did but I could understand a lot of what he was telling us by referring to the photos etc all around and recognising some words. Powerful stuff. The people here are very friendly in an understated way and seem delighted to help us when we need it.
We almost got to return the favour when Richard was asked direction last night and had to say ‘sorry, I’m not from round here, I’m Irish’. The lady repeated the word Irish and laughed hard at the thought that she could meet such a person on a Minsk street.
This was after a show called ‘Russian Phantom’ at the musical theatre – for 6 euro it was more bang for my buck than any other show I have seen in my life. I don’t go to much musical theatre but I guess this was along the lines of Les Mis or Cats or whatever. They threw everythign at it – splendid costumes, lights and set and of course singing. Afterwards during the bow the leading man made a speech about how it had been a tough year for the company but they were all still here and looking forward to the challenge of 2009. Great stuff altogether!
