A red balloon floats on the shimmering waters of Canal Griboedova
Yes, indeed, the canal is named after slaughtered statesman-author, Alexander Sergeyevich Griboedov, about whom we spoke quite a bit earlier this year. Griboedov rented a splendid flat here back in the day when it was called Catherine Canal in honor of the small-town German princess who transformed herself into one of Russia's most significant rulers -- Catherine the Great. After the 1917 Revolution, it was clear that one of the city's main waterways could not be respectably associated with the detested Tsarist regime, and the canal was rechristened in honor of Griboedov, who, as we have seen, had his own problems with the Tsarist police... in fact, Soviet historians deemed this artistic aristocrat to be an honorary Marxist. Such is life, such is fate!
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