Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

23 On our final day in St Petersburg, the Drama students got a break from learning about the riveting and incredible history of the city as we went on a tour of the Mariinsky Theatre. It is so blue! We did manage to experience some history with a tour of the Museum of the Siege of Leningrad however, the highlight was most definitely the theatre and the ballet. In the evening, we were privileged to be able to watch the Mariinsky ballet company perform Don Quixote and I can surely say that even those in our group who had never seen ballet before, were transfixed by the skill of the dancers. For those of us who are avid ballet fans, it was a dream come true. It was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to Irina and boarded the night train to Moscow. Our hearts grew slightly lighter at the revelation that the train was very nice, and we had almost an entire carriage to ourselves. We arrived in Moscow bleary- eyed but keen to see what another incredible city had to offer. Moscow had all of the hustle and bustle that we expected but with a few unforeseen twists; our tour guide was again called Irina; you do not actually cross the road you travel underneath it and there are very few benches. We visited the Bolshoi Theatre and were able to have a descriptive tour from a local guide. We travelled all over the city, seeking out the best points from which to understand and view such a complex place. We saw a production of Peter Pan which used interactive theatre and showed how a well-known fairytale can be adapted to portray a more modern and political message. After our amazing experience in St Petersburg the museums in Moscow had a lot to live up to. The Great Patriotic War Museum was unlike any other war museum I have been to and showed an enlightening insight into the Russian perspective of the war. It was incredible to experience how another culture views and treats such a horrible time in history. The Museum of Modern History contained many incredible artifacts including a replica of the bomb used to kill Alexander II which was made by the man who crafted the original bomb. We saw a bust of Pavlov, mammoth teeth and many of Stalin’s 70th birthday presents; being British we got him a pipe made from cornflakes. A highlight of the trip