Izmaylovskaya Market 9.15

On Saturday another courier and I took the Metro to the northwestern part of town to visit the Izmaylovskaya Flea Market. We successfully navigated the labyrinth stations of the subway system, but accidentally exited at the station just past the one we needed. So we decided to walk back through a nice, forested park. The concrete trails soon gave way to dirt, which had turned to mud as a result of all the recent rain. We continued alongside the railway, and eventually made it out of the woods safely. We found the market and entered. Just inside what I took to be the main gate, an animal keeper tended to his three Russian bears. The market was populated by stall after stall of coats, boots, shoes, hats, jeans, suits, etc. Miles and miles of stalls in a seemingly infinite number of directions, lining narrow and narrow walkways thronged—and I mean thronged—with people jostling to push ahead. On top of all the people pushing and shoving, stevedores, in the truest sense of the word—pushed and pulled carts brimming with boxed goods of all sorts—scarves, shoes, whatever. And added to these pushy, boisterous workingmen, there were a number of food vendors hawking their wares from pushcarts that too populated the angry lanes.

With the push and pull, there were few places to actually stop moving, but we managed to find a couple of places to step aside and take a breath of air. Food stands populated busy corners, and offered a range of pies, turnovers, and knish-looking buns, all filled with various kinds of mystery meat. Several of these stands also offered döner kabobs. Of course, we steered clear of most of this, but finally settled on a couple of meat-free turnovers and a couple of beers.

Around the time that we had had enough of the market, we found the section we had originally sought filled with stands selling Soviet-era kitsch—posters, figures of Lenin and Stalin, military pins and regalia, religious icons, and tons of flea market type paintings of all sorts: landscapes, genre scenes, marine paintings, abstractions, nudes, and portraits. We wandered through these stalls for an hour or so, and then decided we were finished. We took the subway back to the hotel, and rested before heading back out for an exquisite Italian dinner. I had a great octopus and potato salad and then pasta with clams and some wine. Then back to the room where I watched Blade Runner, one of several dvds I brought along for the trip.