Note: all of the photos were taken with a cell phone. Forgive the poor quality.
My sister has a student whose father is spending some time in Russia; we figured that the student would be curious how Moscow looks during the year. It'll probably be beautiful soon, but for now it's pretty grey, wet, and dirty. The following is a shot from the back window of a shopping mall. It looks out onto a relatively open part of the city.
And here's the same window, but looking the other way. Not that interesting, huh? But it's the best skyline that I can give you for now. I'll try and get higher soon. Actually, about three days ago, I tried taking some pictures out of a high-rise building that I work in now because I wanted that Moscow skyline. I was tackled by a stapler-wielding secretary who was screaming about privacy issues and maybe even something about Russian borsch. I don't remember exactly, but I still have two staples in my arm...
I'm really curious who makes these playground kits. I can see the advertising slogan in my mind...
"Turn abandoned factory steel tubing into fun for your kids! Call now, and you'll receive a limited-edition copy of "How to make your playground stand out amidst the other 6,000,000 steel-pipe playgrounds in Moscow!" and our pamphlet, "Starting Smoking Young: Keys to Cancer Success." Act quickly!"
This was my street behind the old apartment.
And this was the insulation that workers were tearing down from inside the building somewhere. I don't think it's asbestos... I did some research on it, and this stuff didn't quite have the "fibre" look to it. Honestly, though, most of the asbestos photos look pretty normal to me. Any ideas what this is?
Here's the new insulation they were using on the building. They covered it later with a different, harder surface material. Later, they'll cover that with a thin coat of Russian pessimism, determination, and a bit of spit.
I tried to get a picture of a park on one of the sunny days in Moscow. I only wish this photo communicated the joy I was feeling at receiving Vitamin D and seeing blue.
The following picture is some famous author. Probably. As far as I remember, his name is Block. I accidentally cut off part of his head in the pic because I was startled by some kids snickering behind me. Apparently no one takes Block's picture.
The next one is the street that my office is on. Some fairly interesting-looking buildings are nearby, but I haven't explored them yet.
In the next shot, you can tell that this picture wasn't taken during rush hour (7am to 9am, 4pm - 6pm) and, most probably, was taken very late at night. Normally, there is a huge crowd of people waiting to get on the metro.
I actually got shoved a little bit while I was waiting for the next train and I thought to myself, what would happen if I fell on the track directly in front of a train? So for about 30 minutes that day, I entertained visions in my head of gruesome deaths: Chris splattered on the metro window, Chris cut into pieces on the ground, Chris almost getting up back onto the track only to be pulverized by a train at the very last second... but I also spent some time thinking about saving myself. So, take a look at the photo, right between the rails. You see that depression? Definitely big enough for a person, and the train stays above it.
If you fall into the metro in Moscow, and you can't get out in time, lie down between the rails. Death shall pass over, people shall board, and thou willst have one more chance to climb back up to the platform when it departs.
Feel free to click here to see a crazy example of foot traffic in the metro system. This example is probably taken after a concert, but the normal amount of people in the metro isn't too far off.
This was the first Moscow sunset I saw. I'm in a north moscow suburb, on my way to work.
You can get a feel for what most streets look like: the architecture lining them, the amount of traffic... They even have a site that monitors each street and route times so that you can plan driving to work. Actually, I can walk from the metro station to my apartment faster than a bus can drive there. Going TO the metro is a different story, but still.
This next picture is for Forrest. Our office is opposite this building, and I wish I could tell you exactly what it was. All I know is that it has a gigantic menorah in the window and that people call it the "Jewish Building." And lots of people go there.
Also, I had one question. There was an older guy in the building who was talking with some younger people, and he had some sort of bright green wig and this long robe on. Can anyone think of a Jewish holiday or festival or something that would involve a 50-something-year-old guy to wear such a get-up?
Two things about this. Snickers recently started using their own language (see the NYtimes article) and I'm not sure what I think about it. Secondly, it's already in Moscow.
Translation: "If you don't catch up, you're going to be hungry." (the picture is some wolf thing chasing a man on a steel horse who's holding a Snickers bar). Then at the bottom, it says, "Don't hesitate - Snickers!" Only here, they made Snickers into a verb. So maybe it'd be like Snickerize! Either way, I'm seeing a lame picture followed by an even lamer tagline, unless someone can explain to me the significance of the steel horse.
8 March. Women's Day. The day when men take up the responsibilities of the women, give them flowers, and try to make up for the other 364 days of inequality.
I love that this gigantic housing and business park is done in pink. Really, you couldn't even say, "Dude, yeah, I live in the huge pink building on the corner - super easy to find" because every building is huge and pink. They even changed the red part of traffic lights to a pink hue.
I think this is Leningradskii Prospekt. Maybe.
The famous МГУ! The Moscow State University building. In America, we build campuses out. In Moscow, they build them up.
We went to go see the "Eastern World Cup of Snowboarding" put on near the university. It was a great show until it started snowing like crazy. It was really cold, but they were selling a version of Red Bull with hot tea and cinnamon or something. Not bad, though a small 0.3 litre cup was 4 bucks.
Sven, you should know that one of the major electronics brands sold here is called Sven. It's a pretty crappy company, as far as I can tell. But expensive. Big speakers, though, as I recall. Really big.
"Svetlana! What did I tell you about smoking in the car!"
"You were the one spilling vodka on the seats, Sergei. Back off."
"This is not a door." You sure?
