Victory Day or День Победы
Monday May 9th
In Russia, Victory Day is celebrated on the 9th of May, what is so important about it is Russia's victory over Nazi Germany after World War II, or as it is known in Soviet Russia - The Great Patriotic War. People go home on this day to be with their family. They'll have picnics, maybe go to their dacha (Russian country house), drink to the victory and to those lost, and watch fireworks in the evening. In Red Square it is possible to see a large parade of military vehicles and soldiers marching. It is difficult to go and watch, because first of all, it's about as crowded as Time Square on New Year's. Secondly, the metro closes down until after the parade which makes getting there very difficult. Thirdly, both the president and the vice president go to the parade so security is very tight.
My friend Karen texted me the night before asking if I wanted to go with her and some of her friends at 8am, to go to Третяковская (Tretyakovskaya, is a metro station next to the Tretyakov gallery which is close to Red Square) to watch the parade. psh, I wasn't going to get up that early to watch the parade on my last day without classes. Instead, Rachel called me saying that she made 20 chicken legs at Oleg's apartment, and that we needed to go on a picnic. She put me in charge of buying drinks for everyone, and I met her, Oleg, and Whitney around 1pm. It was a beautiful day, I was able to go outside without a jacket on, the sun was shinning, the birds were chirping, and everything was green and flowering.
We had our picnic at Sparrow Hills on a nice little patch of green grass with a blanket provided by me. We hung around there and talked and enjoyed the weather for about 3 hours. Afterwards, Oleg had to go to work, so he drove us girls back to the dorm. There wasn't much else to do after that except to wait until it got dark to watch the fireworks. Around 9:20pm, it was still light out, but Rachel and I made our way down to Sparrow Hills once more to watch the fireworks. The amount of people that came was outstanding and unbelievable, it seemed like it was more popular than the 4th of July in America. Hordes of people were coming out of no where. They were very excited to be there.
Hearing Russians scream УРА!!! At the top of their lungs was quite strange, and Rachel and I were very confused as to WHY they were so excited. There was even a young man running around flinging his arms up and down, like he was on some sort of drugs. It was definitely an interesting evening. I had never seen Russia from that view point before.
The picture above I took before the fireworks started, it was just around 10pm at the time.
In Russia, Victory Day is celebrated on the 9th of May, what is so important about it is Russia's victory over Nazi Germany after World War II, or as it is known in Soviet Russia - The Great Patriotic War. People go home on this day to be with their family. They'll have picnics, maybe go to their dacha (Russian country house), drink to the victory and to those lost, and watch fireworks in the evening. In Red Square it is possible to see a large parade of military vehicles and soldiers marching. It is difficult to go and watch, because first of all, it's about as crowded as Time Square on New Year's. Secondly, the metro closes down until after the parade which makes getting there very difficult. Thirdly, both the president and the vice president go to the parade so security is very tight.
My friend Karen texted me the night before asking if I wanted to go with her and some of her friends at 8am, to go to Третяковская (Tretyakovskaya, is a metro station next to the Tretyakov gallery which is close to Red Square) to watch the parade. psh, I wasn't going to get up that early to watch the parade on my last day without classes. Instead, Rachel called me saying that she made 20 chicken legs at Oleg's apartment, and that we needed to go on a picnic. She put me in charge of buying drinks for everyone, and I met her, Oleg, and Whitney around 1pm. It was a beautiful day, I was able to go outside without a jacket on, the sun was shinning, the birds were chirping, and everything was green and flowering.
We had our picnic at Sparrow Hills on a nice little patch of green grass with a blanket provided by me. We hung around there and talked and enjoyed the weather for about 3 hours. Afterwards, Oleg had to go to work, so he drove us girls back to the dorm. There wasn't much else to do after that except to wait until it got dark to watch the fireworks. Around 9:20pm, it was still light out, but Rachel and I made our way down to Sparrow Hills once more to watch the fireworks. The amount of people that came was outstanding and unbelievable, it seemed like it was more popular than the 4th of July in America. Hordes of people were coming out of no where. They were very excited to be there.
Hearing Russians scream УРА!!! At the top of their lungs was quite strange, and Rachel and I were very confused as to WHY they were so excited. There was even a young man running around flinging his arms up and down, like he was on some sort of drugs. It was definitely an interesting evening. I had never seen Russia from that view point before.
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