Well, this is our next to last day here in Mockva for the holidays. My wife’s school break starts the 16th and then we’re back to the US for about two before returning to Mockva.
Coming home it was the usual. Just before the turn-off to our neighborhood, coming back from my wife’s school, there was a long back-up. A large panel truck crushed into a car to its right trying to make the same turn I was. By the time I got around the accident the police were already on the scene taking pictures of the damage.
When you’re involved in an accident here you’re not supposed to move your vehicles (I don’t know what happens if you do) until the police arrive. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a side street or a major eight lane highway with car whooshing by you at 90 km/hr. This is pretty much a daily event as I’ve mentioned before. .
So that’s it from Mockva for a couple of weeks.
If you’re interested I’ve posted a slide show on my site (www.andrewmcdonoughphotography.com) of Christmas at the Kremlin and Red Square.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A Brief History of Stalin’s Seven Sisters
11 декабря 2011
After the Second World War Josef Stalin made plans to have seven skyscrapers constructed to show the world that Mockva would have a world presence in commerce, business and trade. He planned seven large buildings that would be dispersed throughout the city, one of which is now the Radisson Hotel (see the previous post on this blog). After much planning and initial rejection of architects’ plans a number of times, construction began in 1947. Along the way some buildings were partially constructed and then shelved for various reasons. The last building was constructed in 1953 after Stalin died of a stroke and Nikita Khrushchev became head of state of the Soviet Union.
All seven buildings became known as Stalin’s Сталинские высотки (High-Rises). Over the years the name has translated in English to: Stalin’s Seven Sisters.
While all are not identical they are similarly constructed with a high central spire surrounded by spired towers. The masonry has a similar appearance to that of the Empire State Building in New York City; not as tall, but multi-faceted with side buildings with towers, reminding me of various cathedrals I’ve seen throughout the world – ironic, considering Communism denied religion and religious symbols such as churches and cathedrals.
None-the-less they are towering and impressive structures, said to be over-built from steel and masonry. I often use them as landmarks to navigate around Mockva.
I’ve posted a slide show of shots taking of the Radisson Hotel, one of the Sisters, at night.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
All seven buildings became known as Stalin’s Сталинские высотки (High-Rises). Over the years the name has translated in English to: Stalin’s Seven Sisters.
While all are not identical they are similarly constructed with a high central spire surrounded by spired towers. The masonry has a similar appearance to that of the Empire State Building in New York City; not as tall, but multi-faceted with side buildings with towers, reminding me of various cathedrals I’ve seen throughout the world – ironic, considering Communism denied religion and religious symbols such as churches and cathedrals.
None-the-less they are towering and impressive structures, said to be over-built from steel and masonry. I often use them as landmarks to navigate around Mockva.
I’ve posted a slide show of shots taking of the Radisson Hotel, one of the Sisters, at night.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
One Advantage of a 10:00AM Sunrise
11 декабря 2011
I like to take night shots.. The problem is usually that you have to stay out late between 22:00 and midnight to get a really black sky or get up very early in the morning around 3:00-4:00. It’s OK in the late spring or summer but any other time of year it can get down-right cold. Cold enough that you start losing the feeling in the tips of your fingers and toes. I use special mittens that allow the top near your fingers to flip open so the rest of your hand can stay “warm” but even with special mittens it ain’t always a pleasant experience.
I mentioned in a previous post that the daylight window here in Mockva is very narrow. Sunrise at this time of year is at about 10:00 in the morning. So, at 7:00, a bit more civilized hour for being awake, the sky here is still pitch-black making it a much more comfortable time to go out shooting both physically and psychologically
The other day I went down to the Mockva River near the US Embassy and Russian White House and shot the Radisson Hotel on the other side of the river. The lights around Christmas time are bright and colorful and a great source of night shots. Right next to the Radisson is a bridge that’s also all decked out in Christmas colors, also a great resource. If you’re interested I posted a slide show on my site. The filename is: statlin_sister.exe.
The Radisson is one of seven similar buildings that are known in English as Stalin’s Seven Sisters. If you’re interested see the next post on this blog for a brief history of the Seven Sisters.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
I mentioned in a previous post that the daylight window here in Mockva is very narrow. Sunrise at this time of year is at about 10:00 in the morning. So, at 7:00, a bit more civilized hour for being awake, the sky here is still pitch-black making it a much more comfortable time to go out shooting both physically and psychologically
The other day I went down to the Mockva River near the US Embassy and Russian White House and shot the Radisson Hotel on the other side of the river. The lights around Christmas time are bright and colorful and a great source of night shots. Right next to the Radisson is a bridge that’s also all decked out in Christmas colors, also a great resource. If you’re interested I posted a slide show on my site. The filename is: statlin_sister.exe.
The Radisson is one of seven similar buildings that are known in English as Stalin’s Seven Sisters. If you’re interested see the next post on this blog for a brief history of the Seven Sisters.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Graffiti (граффити) on the Arbat , Mockva
8 декабря 2011
Gwenn since you are a devote of graffiti as am I, I made a special show for you. I've mentioned in my blog that there is a section of Mockva called the Arbat which is a pedestrian mall that feels somewhat like a cross betrween Times Square and the Village. There are always musicians playing and hawking their latest CDs and artists selling their paintings and sketches. And, when it's warmer there are street performers, although not quite as good as you'll see in Central Park or Washington Square Park.
Yesterday, I took another walk down and around the Arbat actually looking for Christmas scenes when I shifted my focus and started looking for and shooting graffiti. The more I ducked into side streets and alleyways, the more I found.
There is very good graffiti on the Arbat itself and even better stuff on building walls a block or two off the Artbat, often near playgrounds, of which there are many. These guys are really good artists. The colors they use are vibrant and rival and sometimes surpass New York City graffiti. These aren't drive-by, hit-and-run paintings. In some cases there is background prep that by itself, must have taken hours to do, presumably under cover of darkness, which is in ample supply here in Moscow. So if you're interested download it from my site. The filename is: arbat_graffiti.exe. It's currently the last entry as of December 8th. Remember to download it first to your PC and then click on it.
Since others might like to take a look I'm going to post this message on my blog.
Hope you like the show.
Andy aka Борис
Yesterday, I took another walk down and around the Arbat actually looking for Christmas scenes when I shifted my focus and started looking for and shooting graffiti. The more I ducked into side streets and alleyways, the more I found.
There is very good graffiti on the Arbat itself and even better stuff on building walls a block or two off the Artbat, often near playgrounds, of which there are many. These guys are really good artists. The colors they use are vibrant and rival and sometimes surpass New York City graffiti. These aren't drive-by, hit-and-run paintings. In some cases there is background prep that by itself, must have taken hours to do, presumably under cover of darkness, which is in ample supply here in Moscow. So if you're interested download it from my site. The filename is: arbat_graffiti.exe. It's currently the last entry as of December 8th. Remember to download it first to your PC and then click on it.
Since others might like to take a look I'm going to post this message on my blog.
Hope you like the show.
Andy aka Борис
Friday, December 2, 2011
Driving in Mockva – Limerick
2 декабря 2011
Bruce Nelson, a member of the faculty at the Anglo-American School of Moscow, gave me permission to share his limerick concerning driving in Mockva. It encapsulates the experience beautifully and for those of you who’ve been reading my posts and are saying to yourselves “He must be exaggerating – it can’t be that bad” Bruce’s limerick corroborates all I’ve been saying:
Thank you Bruce.
DRIVING IN MOSCOW ©Bruce Nelson,
Since driving in Moscow's insane,
I let my barbaric side reign
and always resist
those cars which persist
in taking the on-coming lane.
I drive straight at them without fear
of ending my life or career.
I just flash my light,
which seems to incite
their fury as closer we near.
Eventually they always choose
to not make the next morning's news
in lists of who died
when they did collide
with someone with nothing to lose
Thank you Bruce.
DRIVING IN MOSCOW ©Bruce Nelson,
Since driving in Moscow's insane,
I let my barbaric side reign
and always resist
those cars which persist
in taking the on-coming lane.
I drive straight at them without fear
of ending my life or career.
I just flash my light,
which seems to incite
their fury as closer we near.
Eventually they always choose
to not make the next morning's news
in lists of who died
when they did collide
with someone with nothing to lose
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
On Christmas Tree Lights and I Must Be Getting Used to Driving Here
29 ноября 2011
If you’ve ever gone to a drag race in the US you’re familiar with the Christmas Tree Lights. At the starting line the racer looks at a series of colored lights that light up sequentially from top to bottom. When the top light lights the driver gets ready and starts to rev his engine. When the last light at the bottom lights up, that’s the signal to go. It takes no more than two seconds for each light to light up the Christmas Tree. Here on Mockva we have something similar. The orange/amber light in the middle of a three-light traffic light (they look the same as the ones in the US) lights up when there’s a stop coming and does the same when you’re stopped and ready to receive a go signal. The only difference is for both stops and starts the amber light only blinks twice before the red or green light lights up. As I was driving home today it occurred to me that traffic lights on Mockva roads are like the Christmas Tree at a drag race.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that driving in Mockva is the Wild West: What rules exist are usually ignored; people think nothing of cutting you off even if you’re driving 90km/hr (about 60 mph); and jack-rabbit starts when the light turns green are pretty much standard procedure.
So here you are poised at a stop light. You are looking at the red light then the amber (middle) light blinks twice and then the green light lights just like the Christmas Tree at a drag race. Off you go trying to beat out the guy next to you lest he gets a head start. The only thing that’s missing are the smoking “slick” tires; in Mockva since it’s usually cloudy and the road surface is wet from rain or snow (I noticed that there was about two inches of slushy, wet snow on the road when I got into my car this afternoon) your tires don’t tend to smoke when your car jumps off the start line. Otherwise, it feels just like a US drag race…
I must be getting used to driving here. During the first few weeks it was hard not to get really pissed off when someone cut you off, pulled out in front of you without signaling; or started beeping his horn at you for no apparent reason. I just seemed to take it all personally.
Most of that has changed by now 3+ months into my Mockva driving experience. Today, just after I got onto the highway leading to our apartment I was driving along when the guy three lanes to my right decided he needed to get into the left-hand turn lane two lanes to my left all within about 100 meters. Naturally, he pulled in front of me without a turn signal. We were going about 40km/hr. He swerved in front of me changing all five lanes (three to my right; two to my left) in about two seconds. I thought nothing of it. I just leaned on my horn, hard and swerved a bit to my right to avoid running up his rear bumper, probably making the guy behind me swerve to his right and thought nothing of it. My blood pressure and pulse remained the same, I didn’t get pissed off and just took the whole maneuver in stride.
Then, right before the turn off for our neighborhood there is a major three lane merge into the three lanes of the road I’m on. The guy to my right jutted out in front of me cutting me off without a signal. I tried to pull the nose of my car ahead of his. This is the usual game of chicken you play at these merges and this time I blinked and he got in front of me where-upon he darted across two more lanes to the left cutting off everyone else he got in front of. No sweat; steady as she goes. I just took it for granted and wiggled my way in front of three other cars that were also doing the blind merge maneuver. I wasn’t upset and just took it in stride – another day at the office…no problem…
There are a lot of well-to-do people here in Mockva and there are many, many expensive Mercedes, BMWs and even Cadillacs on the road. As I think I’ve mentioned our car is a 2000 Nissan Almera with several dents and a good bit of rust. Washing the car only reveals new rust spots so we usually drive it dirty. I feel I have an advantage when playing chicken with those high-end merging cars. I figure I can get a bit closer when trying to outdo a blindly merging Mercedes – even if I scraped his fender I’ve got a lot less to lose than he does.
So, my driving experience here has seemed to have matured lately I just take everything in stride – they’re going to cut you off anyway so why fight it…go with the flow…this is the Wild West…you make up your own rules as you drive along…
Доследующегораза,
Борис
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that driving in Mockva is the Wild West: What rules exist are usually ignored; people think nothing of cutting you off even if you’re driving 90km/hr (about 60 mph); and jack-rabbit starts when the light turns green are pretty much standard procedure.
So here you are poised at a stop light. You are looking at the red light then the amber (middle) light blinks twice and then the green light lights just like the Christmas Tree at a drag race. Off you go trying to beat out the guy next to you lest he gets a head start. The only thing that’s missing are the smoking “slick” tires; in Mockva since it’s usually cloudy and the road surface is wet from rain or snow (I noticed that there was about two inches of slushy, wet snow on the road when I got into my car this afternoon) your tires don’t tend to smoke when your car jumps off the start line. Otherwise, it feels just like a US drag race…
I must be getting used to driving here. During the first few weeks it was hard not to get really pissed off when someone cut you off, pulled out in front of you without signaling; or started beeping his horn at you for no apparent reason. I just seemed to take it all personally.
Most of that has changed by now 3+ months into my Mockva driving experience. Today, just after I got onto the highway leading to our apartment I was driving along when the guy three lanes to my right decided he needed to get into the left-hand turn lane two lanes to my left all within about 100 meters. Naturally, he pulled in front of me without a turn signal. We were going about 40km/hr. He swerved in front of me changing all five lanes (three to my right; two to my left) in about two seconds. I thought nothing of it. I just leaned on my horn, hard and swerved a bit to my right to avoid running up his rear bumper, probably making the guy behind me swerve to his right and thought nothing of it. My blood pressure and pulse remained the same, I didn’t get pissed off and just took the whole maneuver in stride.
Then, right before the turn off for our neighborhood there is a major three lane merge into the three lanes of the road I’m on. The guy to my right jutted out in front of me cutting me off without a signal. I tried to pull the nose of my car ahead of his. This is the usual game of chicken you play at these merges and this time I blinked and he got in front of me where-upon he darted across two more lanes to the left cutting off everyone else he got in front of. No sweat; steady as she goes. I just took it for granted and wiggled my way in front of three other cars that were also doing the blind merge maneuver. I wasn’t upset and just took it in stride – another day at the office…no problem…
There are a lot of well-to-do people here in Mockva and there are many, many expensive Mercedes, BMWs and even Cadillacs on the road. As I think I’ve mentioned our car is a 2000 Nissan Almera with several dents and a good bit of rust. Washing the car only reveals new rust spots so we usually drive it dirty. I feel I have an advantage when playing chicken with those high-end merging cars. I figure I can get a bit closer when trying to outdo a blindly merging Mercedes – even if I scraped his fender I’ve got a lot less to lose than he does.
So, my driving experience here has seemed to have matured lately I just take everything in stride – they’re going to cut you off anyway so why fight it…go with the flow…this is the Wild West…you make up your own rules as you drive along…
Доследующегораза,
Борис
Sunday, November 27, 2011
On Hitchhiking in Mockba
28 ноября 2011
Hitchhiking in Mockva occurs frequently. In Cyrillic hitchhiking is “автостопом”, I think. Both men and woman use автостопом to get around. And it doesn’t seem to be just kids. I’ve seen men my age trying to get a ride on city streets and even along major highways автостопом.
When I was in my teens автостопом in the US you’d stand in a spot you think you’d be seen, stick out your thumb in the direction you wanted to go, looked unassuming and pathetic and hoped you get a ride. Some would move their thumbs in the direction they were going, I guess for added emphasis that they could really use a ride. Most of the time I was successful but there were times, usually late at night, that I ended up doing a lot of walking. Here is Mockba the posture is slightly different. People автостопом stick out their arms in a downward position and extend one or several fingers like you might when you were hailing a cab or bus.
Автостопом is how I got around in the US when I was a kid until I was old enough to drive a car. Back in the 60s is was very common for boys to автостопом. You almost never saw girls doing it. The longest trip I ever made автостопом was from Gettysburg, PA to Watchung, NJ. Ironically it was to pick up a car I had just bought which would end my автостопом days. It took me most of the day and I did it in four rides: a clergyman, a truck driver, a businessman (I guess) and oddly one of my father’s friends during the last leg of the journey which was close to home.
I автостопом enough that I had many experiences some of which included: getting rides from some of my friends’ drunken brothers; a pimp who wanted to know if I wanted a date; a gay guy (although he wouldn’t have been called gay back then) asking me the size of my…and did I want to have a good time; a van load of drunk people who reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillies (I’m talking about the Klampet’s) who offered me a beer as I was trying to get from Princeton University where I saw a pre-season Giants game, to the Jersey shore And there were many, many other interesting people – mostly friendly but occasionally pretty scary.
I never mentioned any of these rides to my parents. In those days it was quite common – it was just how a kid got around but I’ll bet they wouldn’t have been happy about some of my experiences.
Today, of course, автостопом is almost unheard of in the US. In fact I can recall TV ads warning kids about accepting a ride from a stranger. Parents would be horrified to hear that their child was автостопом and probably for good reason. How many times do you hear in the US news the story of a kid who was abducted and killed or molested after accepting a ride from a stranger?
But here in Mockba thinks seem to be different. Trying to get a ride by автостопом is quite common. There must be more trust here. We seemed to have lost it in the US.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
When I was in my teens автостопом in the US you’d stand in a spot you think you’d be seen, stick out your thumb in the direction you wanted to go, looked unassuming and pathetic and hoped you get a ride. Some would move their thumbs in the direction they were going, I guess for added emphasis that they could really use a ride. Most of the time I was successful but there were times, usually late at night, that I ended up doing a lot of walking. Here is Mockba the posture is slightly different. People автостопом stick out their arms in a downward position and extend one or several fingers like you might when you were hailing a cab or bus.
Автостопом is how I got around in the US when I was a kid until I was old enough to drive a car. Back in the 60s is was very common for boys to автостопом. You almost never saw girls doing it. The longest trip I ever made автостопом was from Gettysburg, PA to Watchung, NJ. Ironically it was to pick up a car I had just bought which would end my автостопом days. It took me most of the day and I did it in four rides: a clergyman, a truck driver, a businessman (I guess) and oddly one of my father’s friends during the last leg of the journey which was close to home.
I автостопом enough that I had many experiences some of which included: getting rides from some of my friends’ drunken brothers; a pimp who wanted to know if I wanted a date; a gay guy (although he wouldn’t have been called gay back then) asking me the size of my…and did I want to have a good time; a van load of drunk people who reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillies (I’m talking about the Klampet’s) who offered me a beer as I was trying to get from Princeton University where I saw a pre-season Giants game, to the Jersey shore And there were many, many other interesting people – mostly friendly but occasionally pretty scary.
I never mentioned any of these rides to my parents. In those days it was quite common – it was just how a kid got around but I’ll bet they wouldn’t have been happy about some of my experiences.
Today, of course, автостопом is almost unheard of in the US. In fact I can recall TV ads warning kids about accepting a ride from a stranger. Parents would be horrified to hear that their child was автостопом and probably for good reason. How many times do you hear in the US news the story of a kid who was abducted and killed or molested after accepting a ride from a stranger?
But here in Mockba thinks seem to be different. Trying to get a ride by автостопом is quite common. There must be more trust here. We seemed to have lost it in the US.
Доследующегораза,
Борис
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