victory day

Today is Victory Day, and dang do Russians know how to celebrate holidays! I went out to run errands today and all the buses had little flags on them like during the previous holidays. There was a guy carrying a huge Russian flag and waving it like mad as he crossed the street near the metro stop. And outside Ramstore, there was a military band playing!

Just now, about 20 minutes ago, there were fireworks VERY close by, the entire main building was shaking and resonating. I looked out my window but unfortunately it doesn't face in the proper direction. So, I ventured outside to get a better view of the fireworks, and saw they were coming from at least two places - one probably near Victory Park and the other RIGHT on the other side of the main building! It was a little chilly and I didn't have time to walk all the way to the other side of the main building before the show stopped (remember this building is HUGE, it's probably at least a mile to walk around the whole thing). Still, the sound was amazing, and I could see some fireworks over the top of the building and from the other direction.

The streets I can see are still wall to wall with traffic, honking, and people are shouting excitedly. On hindsight this makes sense since the university is relatively close to Victory Park and I guess all 15+ million people decided to go there tonight. Dang. The US seriously needs to step it up a notch when it comes to holidays.