City playground

Were you missing playgrounds in this blog? Well, there is one for you!
Quiet place nested among multistored appartment buildings. It's nearly empty because late afternoons are not very popular for going out.

Junction

This is the junction of two very busy highways of Moscow: the Third Ring Road and Leningradskiy Prospect. I was always fascinated by the curves such junction make. How do they build such thing?!

Green Corner

The term 'green corner' is generally used to indicate a section within the office where a number of pot plants are organised to provide some kind of the rest area. At least, it was so during Soviet Era. Or am I mistaken in my memory?
Anyway, I liked that green bench among the green (yet!) foliage of bushes and trees. This is not a park but a boulevard that goes along one of the busiest streets of Moscow - Leningradskiy Prospect.

Gossips

On fine days the benches by apartment buildings are usually occupied by elderly ladies. Who make their best of local talks, of course.

Last warm days of leaving summer are quiet and peaceful in Moscow outskirts.

Moscow metro: Park Cultury

Just another sample of Moscow metro. This time it's Park Culture station, on of the first built. It looks very much like Sokolniki and some other station in that line.

Easter

Today Russion Orthodox Church celebrates Easter. In Russian tradition there is no chocolates or bunny things, but people colour eggs and bake special kind of cakes - kulich (something mean of sweet bread and muffin). Also, those coloured eggs can be distributed among friends and family.

The photo has nothing to do with Easter, it's just one of the few wooden houses left in Moscow streets.

Daily life of the city

Just an ordinary situation: traffic police is pulling over a car.

Cinema: view behind

That miracle of cinema 'backstage', if it can be called so, always fascinated me. Yesterday I sat near enough to the last row to catch an opportunity of taking photo there.

As you might know, Earth Hour took place yesterday. Moscow city participated this year, and I meant to take part in turning off lights myself (which I actually did by going out last night :)).

And today Russia switched to summer-saving time which means we had 1 hour less to sleep :) But, as a reward, we'll get later sunsets and, consequently, later nightfall, which mean longer days. Not bad, I should say.

In the supermarket

I guess, supermarkets are rather the same all over the world, though some minor details might be peculiar. I really don't know what can attract your attention but I'd like to learn about anything you find strange in this picture.

Metro fastfood

To use the metro you pay for entrance only, so once you got in (in fact, enter any station) you can go as far and as many time as you wish. Moscow metro is a huge system, and you easily can spend hours roaming through its enormous facilities. That is why it sounds reasonable to have some eatery within the ticket barriers, though the idea wasn't realized till lately. Nevertheless, some year back fastfood spots were introduced at several metro stations (most popular ones, I believe). The one of them is presented in this picture. The quality of food is questionable, of course, but at least it's always within your grasp and you don't have to pay extra money for re-entering the station.

Landscape with chimnies

This far from scenic view or its variety have to observe most residents of my neighbourhood. Those chimnies are nearly 250(!) meters high and belong to Heat and Power plane located nearby. That plant is one of the biggest in Europe, it provides with electricity and warmth the north-east part of the city and really is something to be proud of. But in the meantime the plant have a noticable negative effect on local ecology, and people living nearby suffer from everpresent dust and terrible humidity. It's great to have such a monster to supply all your needs but why not move it away from the people?

Rush hour

Unthinkable matter-of-fact: Under ground

Recently I realized I haven't post any picture of Moscow Metro yet while it's the major type of public transportation within the city. In fact, this is the only way to get to any spot relatively fast during rush-hours, unless your destination is in a walk distance. I have to cross Moscow (which means to cover 50km through extremely busy streets) twice a day, as well as millions other residents and visitors, so metro is vitally important to Moscow, literally.
Some facts: Moscow metro was open in 1935, now it consists of 12 lines and over 190 stations (including connections). More information can found here.

Previous photos of 'Unthinkable matter-of-fact' series: Street, Road Signs, Phonebooth.

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.

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.

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.