Some pictures....

Yesterday I took a working excursion to Novodevichii cemetery and monastery.
The cemetery, which has a very interesting history, which I will explain to you later, will feature prominently in my dissertation if I can actually find documentary evidence for it.

Suffice it to say that the Bolsheviks decided that a city cemetery adjacent to a 15th century convent would make an ideal resting place for their nearest and dearest (minus those who ranked Kremlin wall status).

I've included some general scenic pictures of the cemetery, and some photos of specific graves. Most are not famous people in our world, but I'm slowly building a base of these markers from a particular time period (1920s and 1930s) to help with my research.

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAM2TVm4bOGzuA

And I went into the monastery itself and walked around. I don't have names of the specifc churches for you right now....

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAM2TVm4bOGzx4

And for the record, at the monastery, I successfully talked myself out of the "special foreigner price" of about $7 admission. The woman looked at my money and tried to tell me that it was going to cost me more, but I said [in Russian] "but I'm not a tourist, I live and work here in Moscow." She seemed a bit taken aback, and gave me the Russian price, saying she never knows who lives here. I mean, she still knew I was a foreigner, but I think if you live here, they give you some slack, if you're willing to stick up for yourself! So I got in and paid for the right to take pictures for about $3.5o instead.

I'm going to bed. I'm tired.....my eyes are tired......