On the way, we came out of the metro station and found a great spot to take pics of the Triumphal Arch that sets between six lanes of extremely busy and fast traffic. The under pass walkway allowed us to come up into the median and take pictures. Jeri is that little speck under the arch to the right.Jeri was going to take a picture of me under the arch, but just then, a man in very plain street clothes came up to me and said, "That's enough, no more photos! You've been here five minutes, enough!" We turned to go, very quickly, especially after hearing that police and soldiers sometimes confiscate cameras, especially if you happen to take one of them. I also removed the data card from the camera as we left, just in case.
We were both discussing the matter when Jeri noticed something very odd, and she realized why we were shooed away so abruptly. The busy traffic had suddenly disappeared. Six lanes lay in complete silence. We quickly descended into the underpass and came back up on the Victory Park side, where we were still being watched closely, this time by a different man. It remained silent at first, then, just as our friend Bill had described it, a small police call with a blue light came racing through, then another small black car, and then three identical black Mercedes SUVs. The men watching us were the equivalent of our Secret Service, protecting Vladimir Putin on his way to work. And we got to see it!
We toured Victory Park for the next hour, a large parade ground with impressive monuments to Soviet efforts in World War II, or The Great Patriotic War as it is know here.
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