russia: moscow in the cold

I've been a happy camper all week. Temperatures have plummeted, and there has been plenty of snow. It truly feels like winter, I finally need to wear a proper winter coat, hat, and mittens or gloves.

On Wednesday evening I went out to a spot called Rechnoy Vokzal, which has had renovations finished in the past year or so. It has been on my list of places to go in Moscow, and stays on the list even after this visit. I had planned to wait until summer, or at least late spring to visit, but then I saw a photo showing holiday lights in the surrounding park.

I enjoyed the lights, and due to the cold there weren't many other people out walking around. I didn't have to wait long for people to get out of my photos, yay. I wonder if there are lights in this park every year, or if this is just a special year.

The weekend did not go the way I originally planned. Not at all. I had train tickets booked to go out of town, and a booking for accomodation as well, but when Friday evening rolled around I just didn't want to go. I cancelled both, and stayed in Moscow all weekend instead.

Unlike last year, this winter in Moscow has actually been cold. This weekend the temperatures stayed around -18C/0F, with one day of wind and snow and one day of blue skies. I'm a huge fan of winter, so I was generally thrilled.

On both days it took me too long to get dressed and walk out of my flat, but that's normal for me. My first sight on both days was a statue of Lenin. There are so many in this city, I wonder if I'll ever see all of them. I think a few are behind fences and closed gates, so probably not.

By the time I got to my second sight on Saturday evening, it was after dark, but that was the plan. Every year an area in Moscow called VDNKh builds a giant ice skating track/rink. I had no real desire to get out on the ice, particularly with the wind and continuing snow, but there were plenty of folks out there having a grand ol' time.

There is a bridge built over the middle of the track, giving a great view of the entire territory. This is where I wanted to be, as it gave me a slightly elevated view of all the holiday lights. Very pretty. I took a few phtos, then started walking back to the metro because my fingers were SO COLD.

On Sunday, I walked to Lenin, then walked to my second sight as well. The temperatures on Sunday were colder (-21C/-6F) and the sky was blue. While walking in the sun I wasn't cold, but as soon as I had to walk in the shade I got chilly very quickly, particularly my fingers and toes.

The second sight on Sunday was a park I've visited before, but not in winter. Park Dubky is beautiful in fall, as there are plenty of trees with heaps of brightly coloured leaves. I wanted to see the seasonal contrast. Everything felt crisp and clean, if that makes sense.

It was wonderful to walk around and take photos, right up until my phone froze, and I realized I didn't know how to get to the closest metro station. Whoops. I walked out of the park and was fortunate to see a supermarket almost straightaway. I walked in without intention of buying anything, but with the intention of warming up. It worked, woo hoo.

russia: moscow: VDNKh ekowalk

This was a quick Saturday outing on a day when I had almost no motivation to do anything, or go anywhere. I'm not sure why, as I usually want to see everything and everywhere on a weekend, but that definitely didn't happen this weekend.

Social media had showed me photos of a newly opened 'ekowalk' in VDNKh. It's basically a raised wooden walkway in one corner of the property of the entire complex.

Getting there took a fair amount of walking, after a metro ride. Lucky me decided to go out there on a day with gray skies and some rain, but there were still plenty of people out and about. I'll admit I'd hoped the crappy weather would keep people at home, and out of my photos, but no such luck.

The photos I got without many people were after a lot of waiting, as it seemed everyone and their mother wanted an Instagram worthy photo on this new walkway. I guess that's how social media works these days.

I knew almost immediately that I'd have to come back another day for that kind of photo for myself, and it would probably have to be a weekday.

After walking the full length of the walkway I walked through the main part of VDNKh, seeing a few buildings I hadn't seen before. I'm glad Moscow was one of the host cities for the World Cup tournament 18 months ago, as some of these buildings had finally been updated, after being covered by scaffolding for quite a while.

russia: moscow assorted

I know I've said it before, but Moscow has a lot to see and do. Since the three of us had only done a day trip the day before, we decided to meet up again on Sunday to get out and explore. During the first year Claire and I were in Moscow, the city was preparing for hosting the World Cup, which meant that there was a lot of construction, which was not pretty.

One of the places we wanted to see when it was finished is called the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy. The English acronym is VDNkh, or VDNH. 

Even in Russian everyone calls it by the acronym. It's basically a permanent place for trade shows and an amusement park, and goodness knows what else.

There are a whole bunch of buildings on the property, many of them were decorated in the styles of various republics of the former Soviet Union. In winter, an ice skating rink is set up; in summer there are several fountains and the landscaping is well done.

Angela hadn't seen the area at all, so it seemed like a good plan for the three of us to walk around. We met up at the metro station, then started walking. This was November, so construction of the skating rink hadn't yet begun, but it was coming soon. This was November, so the weather was crappy, but that's life.

I wanted to take a team photo with the Lenin statue, but Claire and Angela vetoed that idea. Apparently they'd had their fill of Lenin the day before, when we explored Gorky Leninskie. Even so, I asked Angela to take my photo with the main man.

It was nice to see most of the buildings fully renovated, I loved seeing the design styles of each former Soviet republic. I'd like to go back in better weather to take photos with each building.

At the back end of the property are several museums. One is an aquarium, another is a space museum. I'd already visited the cosmonaut museum, which is about the history of space in Russia. It's about the people, and the program. The museum in VDNH is about the science of space.

As seems so common in museums around Russia, there were several ticket options, none of which seemed obvious as the one we wanted. 

We didn't know which was best for us, so when the lady asked, I spoke in English and said "we want to see the museum." She understood, told us a price, we paid, and that was it.

The museum had a lot of models and detailed descriptions, and was well organized. I'm not much of a science person, so most of the information went right over my head, but I appreciated the work that went into the curation of the whole thing. 

Even though I didn't understand a lot of what I was seeing, I still took plenty of photos.

At the back of the museum there is a beautiful stained glass dome, with a huge 'globe' hanging down. Beautiful and photogenic.

After the museum Claire and I showed Angela the joy of the grilled cheese cafe we'd discovered the year before. So good.

The following Wednesday I went for my afternoon walkabout, to see a building mentioned on social media. Called Dominion Tower, it's an office building. The outside of the building doesn't indicate that the inside is of any interest.

When I got there I realized it wasn't a tower at all, that was just the name. It was several stories tall, but it was wider than it was tall. 

There is a photo to be taken of the escalators and open atrium in the middle of the building. Very photogenic, but not interesting in any other way.

On Friday, my kids had a field trip to the oceanarium on one edge of the city. I absolutely loved the penguins, though I hated their living conditions. There were a whole bunch of aquariums in the building, most of which were too small for the fish they held. I love that my kids got to see something they don't get to see every day, but I hated those living conditions.

russia: june in Moscow

June was a short month for me in Moscow, as I left before the month was out to go back to the States for the summer.

The first weekend of the month I met up with Claire and Caroline, we wanted to go see VDNKh. Since the World Cup was starting so soon, we figured all the construction and renovation would be finished. It turned out to be mostly finished, but not quite.

I finally got to see the main fountain, which looked quite nice. It was surrounded by statues of women, I think there are supposed to be enough that each one represents one of the countries of the former Soviet Union.

When we'd visited during winter the whole thing had been surrounded by fences. The water wasn't running in any of the fountains, I'm sure they would've looked better with moving water. The colour of this main fountain was that of rust, so I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not.

We walked around the whole complex and got to see more completed buildings than we'd seen previously. A few of them still weren't finished, they didn't look like they'd be ready any time soon. When they are finished, I wonder how they'll be used. It was fun to see traditional patterns of each country of the former Soviet Union.

The gardens in the middle of all the buildings were nicely landscaped. The fountain at the other end of the complex was decorated with mosaics, quite pretty. That being said, it looked as if it could use a good cleaning.

After leaving VDNKh we stopped at a grocery store because I realized I was dehydrated. It was really sunny and warm, and I had no water with me. You'd think I would be aware of such things by now. Sigh.

We took the metro to Sokolniki Park, in the northeast part of Moscow. It's a big park, and the last time any of us had been there it had been winter. It didn't turn out to be anything special, but we had fun watching people.

There were a LOT of people to watch, as the weather was good. There was an area with music playing and people dancing, so much fun to watch for a few minutes. We also found a statue of the mascot of the upcoming World Cup, of course we took a photo with him.

Later in the month I took an evening after school was finished to go out to see a church on the north side of Moscow. The church itself wasn't stunning or particularly memorable, but I liked the way it reflected in the water of the pond next door. The only downside of this outing was all the cotton stuff flying everywhere. I'm glad I don't have allergies!

The World Cup football tournament started mid June, the official fan zone of Moscow was in front of Moscow State University. This meant that each time games were played in Moscow or another city in the country, I could hear cheering when a team scored.

The first weekend I met up with some friends, we tried to go to a game in the fan zone. It turned out to be a really popular game to watch, the zone was already full by the time we got there. We went to dinner instead, then came back to watch a later game.

The fan zone experience was entertaining, and full of fan fanatics. Costumes, lots of drinking, dancing, etc... I'm glad we went, but I don't think I'll be traveling to any World Cup tournaments around the world just to be there in person.

That sums up my June in Moscow!