Certainly, as I again understand of Goethe in his necessary journey to Rome (cf. eg Goethe and the Classical Ideal), Moscow allowed me the needed inner change in encounter which I myself barely knew I needed.
(If this is in fact a photo from that particular day, then I would be in this crowd, probably in front or two the left.)
Whereas Goethe traveled from northern cold to Italian warm, from cloud to sun, I did the reverse: from sunny California to cold wintry Moscow.
Stephen Lapeyrouse . . . Notes Dropped Along the Way 