Odinary arbiters

Yesterday I stopped by McCafe to have a cup of coffee and suddenly found myself surrounded by curious individuals. The trio on my left (in the photo) was discussing a scenario for the movie they were intending to make. The discourse was hot, and once in a while all three participants were shouting at each other, though next moment calmed them down. The small group on my right was talking about the dance and was detailing particular steps of it.
It's always absolutely fascinating to be a bystander of such conversations. Who knows, may be I witnessed the initiation of a new masterpiece?..

St. Basil's Cathedral

Today I present you a 'postcard' photograph. St. Basil's cathedral was built in 1550s, and is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world till now. St. Basil's is also one of the main tourist attracions in Moscow, and here you can read more about it.

Black Saturday

In USSR there was a 'custom' to work for free few days a year. As a rule, these non-paid's were Saturdays before most important Soviet holidays, such as Revolution Day. People nicknamed them 'Black Saturdays'.
Nowadays government doesn't make individuals work on a 'volunteer basis' but once in a while we come to our offices on weekends. This occurs when public holiday happens to be on Thursday or Tuesday. In that case a business day between weekend and holiday is beeing 'transfered' to Saturday or Sunday, so that people get 3 (or more) free days in a row. For some reason we keep calling them Black Saturdays (or Sundays).

Today is one of the case because May, 1st is a public holiday in Russia. I'm at work right now but you enjoy your weekend!

Update: this tree in the picture is some kind of maple or ash, I guess.

Sunny imitation

For those of you who're suffering without sunshine, I present this little sun AKA dandelion as a temporary replacement. And, by the way, observing my version of sun will not harm your eyes, like the real one, so enjoy its light!

This is the first dandelion I met this year.

Out of office

After a fortnight of cold, the weather again pleases Moscow with warmth and sunshine. It is so wonderful outdoors that I couldn't resist a temptation to have a little walk during my lunchtime. I walked relatively traffic-less streets in the neighbourhood and enjoyed the celebration to Life, which can be seen in the spring only.

In the picture: one of the streets I walked today, in the background you can see Ostankino TV tower, which is observable from almost every spot in the north part of the city.

Tranquillity in pink

Another quiet evening for busy city. However, I guess it wouldn't be so quite but for tremendous traffic jam. But when you're stuck among thousand cars, you're better to stay calm because otherwise you're at risk of running absolutely mad. So try to find something pleasant in the situation and enjoy beautiful colours, for example :)

Some of you asked me about coping with Boris Yeltsin's death. Well, de mortuis aut bene aut male, so I choose to keep silence, if you don't mind.

Back in USSR

Remember, I posted a photo of Moscow University last week? Now compare that to Triumph Palace presented in this picture. Same Empire style, isn't it? Well, you might be suprised to find out that Triumph Palace was built in last few years (I believe, some construction works are still going on), so it's a 'brend new' one. What made architects imitate Stalin's Era, I don't have a slightest clue. May be, some kind of nostalgia for Soviet Union?

Rainy day

It was raining and snowing in the morning - definitely the worst day ever for going out! But there was work waiting for me in the office, so I had to get myself into that cold,wet and windy air to make my way across the city.
Anyway, I hope none of you has a Case of Monday's today. Good luck and have a nice day!

Where the city ends

Here is one more example of urban nature. This park is located at the very edge of Moscow, and ther is no building (yet) behind it. It's a kind of 'wild' park since city services neither clean nor refine it, which is sad enough. Unfortunately, many of such recreation areas get deforested nowadays, so it's a good luck that this one, whatever it looks like, is still alive. At least, it provides some oxigen for the neighbourhood.

My home is my castle

Springtime moves all the living creatures to settle down. This mother-to-be has already built her 'house' and waits for her offspings to join her in that cozy nest. As a rule, younglings hatch out by the end of april.

Unthinkable matter-of-fact: a street

We are so used to the look of streets we see every day, that we don't notice it's specific appearance or any striking details. This is an ordinary street in a quiet and relatively old (1930s-1950s) block of the city. I love being there, and as my office is not far away I walk this street on my way to the metro station. Although it lies but a hundred meters away from a busy highway, it's surprisingly noiseless and restful. You will hardly pass a dozen people whilst walking this street so it's a good place to find a peace of mind on crazy days.

P.S. I forgot to mention that this street is quite different to new blocks, as well as to central avenues.

Photo on demand: Moscow University

A few days back Lavenderlady asked for a photo of Moscow University buildings. Well, here it is. I need to apologize for the quality, though - I found this picture in my archive and believe it's rather sick angle of view, but I didn't yet have a chance to take another shot, although I definitely will.
As for now, let me introduce you to the Main Building of the University of Moscow, as it looks from south view. It was built on the high bank of Moscow River during Stalin era and represents a grand specimen of Soviet Empire style. The tower shown in this picture is but a small section of that huge and beautiful building.

P.S. If you would like to see any particular part of the city or scene of Moscow life, please let me know :)

A minute break

Spring and summer are such a busy time! So many fascinating things are waiting for us outdoors - bicycle and roller-blades, swing and parallel bars, sandbox and flowers. So those bicycle and swing have only a few minutes to take a rest because the next moment they will again be busy with entertaining kids.

Gorodnya River

Perhaps, 'river' is too strong a word for such a little creek but it used to be a decent river, as far as I'm aware. However, it shrank significantly by now, since it nourish a number of city punds. Although Gorodnya is nothing more than a stinky urban stream, there is a kind of riverside park and dozens of ducks occupy the banks.

Changeable

In spring the sun is remarkably deceptive, as well as weather itself. You hope for clear sky - and you see endless clouds, but the next moment you turn back - and find a beautiful bundle of rays caught in the tree.

Unthinkable matter-of-fact: road signs

Another photo in the seria represents road signs. You get so used to them that don't realise how surprising they could be. I remember my astonishment when I saw yellow and even brown signs on my first visit to US. It seemed next to impossible to accept the fact of their existance! In Russia signs are blue, red or white, with black figures. And there is no words on them except for localities names.

Quiet evening

Do you really think this photo requires any comments?

False Autumn

If you read 'A movable fiest' by Hemingway, you might remember the chapter named 'False spring'. I thought of it when I saw that picture: in fact, it's a nice spring evening but for some reason it feels like September, doesn't it? May be, it's because of soft shades which always appear before sunset?..

Unthinkable matter-of-fact - Phone Booth

It always amused me to realise the fact that many objects in our daily may seem commonplace to local people and absolutly fascinating to visitors. Look around! Everything - street signs, road curbs, traffic lights, pavements and even park benches! - may puzzle and look rather unusual to a person who lives far away from your place.
So I start a series of 'Unthinkable matter-of-fact' : details of city life which widely varies throughout the world. My first photo of this theme shows a phonebooth, very typical for Moscow area. I believe I saw the same type of pay phones in Spain, by the way.

Dark side of the ...

I like walking Moscow streets in the night. There is something misterious in that contrast of darkness and city lights: a billion lamps shine like local stars creating fantastic shadows and sharp silhouettes. Cars are passing you so fast that you're not able to catch their colour - thousands upon thousands. Your eyes notice someone's stoplights, someone's headlights, and the very next moment you are hundred meters aways. Do you know anyone taking ride? Have they noticed you? A strange feeling of crowd and lonelyness at once...

Geometry in blue

Every spring, after it finally got rid of snow, the city starts its 'Post-winter Rehabilitation' program. Fixing roads, trimming trees and bushes, removing litter from streets, refreshing paint on curbs... Regarding the latter: when I was a child, curbs used to be white only. Well, they were snow-white in May and faded to dirty grey by the end of August. Nowadays you can see side curbs of every possible colour: most common combination is black and white, in my neighbourhood it's green&yellow, I even saw pink&cian! But from my point of view, white and blue are the best for such a thing 'cause there something marine-like in this colour match.

What are curbs like in your area?

Bush&Bird

Even though we had heavy snow during this weekend, I still believe in spring! Well, at least leaves are not turning yellow so far which is a good luck, I suppose. People say that final battle between winter and spring is always severe. So all we have to do is be patient :)

Bon Appetit!

Lazy Sunday morning withing the loving family - what can be better? Perhaps, a little addition of strong coffee and fresh croissant - a French styled breakfast that takes be back to my wonderful vacation in Paris last September.

And chocolate eggs as a reminder of Easter being bcelebrated by Russian Orthodox today. I'm far from being religious myself but I like chocolate :)

Can you smell my breakfast? What is yours like?

Sunset over city

What I like about spring time is that you suddenly find yourself capable of catching a sunset. Of course, this city never sleep but in the last beams of fading light you can easily imagine all those people heading home to there families, pets, TVs and computers.

The picture shows one of the busiest streets of Moscow - Leningradsky Prospect (Avenue).

Green Mist Day

It's beeen snowing the whole day through but I thought it would be a way too depressive picture to post here. So I chose another photo which I took yesterday: this is one of very few quiet streets in the city, the building on the background is aparts house - typical for 1950s.
Can you see the mist of fisrt leaves on the tree? In a few days it will morph into thick cloud greens so we should hurry to celebrate unofficial holiday of The Green Mist.

Chilly morning

After few days of heavy clouds the sun has finally shown up, but the air is still far from comfortable for the temperature is not higher than +2C (about 36-37F) in the morning. Nevertheless, I love its brightness and .. should I say 'sharpness'?

I took this photo in one of the numerous tiny parks - Petrovsky, in the northwest part of Moscow.

P.S. Many thanks to you all for your warm greetings! I'm happy I can be one out of DPs family!

The spring is unbelievably warm this year. First leaves, which usually show up by the end of April, hatched out nearly a week back! Isn't it amaizing? Let's greet those gentle messengers of Spring!

I'm fond of flowers, especially if they are the first ones after an endless winter. Although last winter was kind of short and not as severe as it had to be, I'm still absolutely happy to see those bright spots on the bare ground.

It's a typical playground in a typical Moscow outskirt. When I feel sad I come to the nearest tot lot and watch children playing around, the peculiar noise of such a place revives me perfectly :)

Public Mail Box - The Theme Day

This is the 'small version' of public mailboxes and, to tell you the truth, I had to make a good search before I found any mailbox at all! But here you are: if you would ever come to Moscow, you may be so lucky as to observe such blue metal boxes here and there. I wonder, thought, why is it so hard to find one of them nowadays? May be they are not as popular now as they used to be? Frankly saying, I just realised that the last paper letter I wrote was sent several years ago!