Victory Day Parade (May 9th)

Victory Day, May 9th, is when Russians have a huge parade in every city, plus picnics and night fireworks, to celebrate their victory in WWII, or what the Russians call "Great Patriotic War" (or the "Great War of the Fatherland" might be another translation).  For a long time Soviet leaders used this victory as a justification of the Soviet regime, so for over 60 years, Russians have seen the holiday as a very nationalistic, patriotic event.  Even the most liberal, cosmopolitan Russians can wax highly jingoistic and openly xenophobic on May 9th.

So, as obvious Americans, we stayed home.  We watched the parade on TV.  It is strictly a military parade, not communal or social at all.  Military bands, military units, tanks, lots of parade marching.  No high school bands, no floats, no mayors waving from the back seat of cars.

But the best part was the military plane fly over at the end of the parade.  And, the best part of that, is that our apartment building was directly under the flight path from the air base to Red Square (the center of the festivities and origin of the parade).

So, the concierge of our building opened up the trap door to the roof of the building, where no one is usually allowed except maintenance guys, and we stood on the roof and watched the planes fly over.

Totally awesome.