Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia and with a population of over 13 million people it is by far the largest city in the country. What's interesting is attitudes. The relationship between St-Petersburg and Moscow is much like that between Montreal and Toronto: a person from one city will never admit to liking the other city. Moscow is the busy, fast-paced business city and St-Petersburg is smaller and seems to have a little more importance placed on art and culture.

I've made 2 trips to Moscow so far, and I'm sure there will be more to follow. Though St-Petersburg is an interesting city, I'll admit that I do like these little weekend trips from time to time - I guess I enjoy being able to play tourist openly!

We first set foot in Red Square at night back in October. Many of the travel guides recommend visiting this historical site at night for the first time, and I must admit that it is impressive. The buildings are all lit to emphasize the beautiful architecture of the various buildings. St-Basil's Cathedral sits at the far end, which is probably Russia's most recognized building, with the Lenin Mausoleum on one side by the Kremlin walls and GUM, the former general store now converted to high-end shopping, on the other.

Just outside the gates opposite St-Basil's is the "0 km" road marker. All distances are calculated from this point.

Our visit of the inside St-Basil's was interesting. This domed structure is a series of small chambers connected by passageways - no large central space as would normally be expected. Even the view of Red Square from inside the building was something worth seeing!

There are a lot of beautiful buildings sprinkled along the edges of the Moscow River. We were fortunate enough to have a clear sunny day to be able to enjoy the sights.

The charming difference in Moscow is that for a big city, there is still a lot of green space. There are a lot of tall buildings and busy streets, but there are still lots of smaller streets, narrow and winding as one would expect to find in Europe.

There were many pleasant surprises hidden around the city - I liked finding this little onion-domed church through this little alley.

There are some great fountains in the area just outside the Kremlin walls. Behind these horses is a walkway where the sprays are only on sometimes. It's funny to see the reaction of the poor victim walking by when the water gets turned on.

This is Petrovka street, where I stayed on the first trip. Right in the centre of town, and up the street from the Bolshoi Theatre.

A friend suggested visiting Arbart Street, which is a more bohemian part of the city. It's a street only for pedestrians and is lined with cafés, restaurants and gift shops.

We stumbled upon this little pub, which is actually a city bus that was converted. There was live music and it was a great place to enjoy a beer and get out of the cold.

To continue on the spontaneous musical theme, on our second trip, we came across this party in one of the underpasses. Underpasses are common because they let you cross busy intersections without having the interruptions of traffic lights. So instead of just having steps and concrete walkways, they have shops that sell everything from food to flowers and card to hosiery. And this being Russian, there is, of course, a shop that sells beer. So walking back to the hotel to hear loud rock music coming from this underpass, where the crowd was gathered to drink beer and listen to the line-up of bands was somewhat of a surprise!

Moscow is a busy city where the metro is a vital form of transportation. The stations are all decorated differently and the art is quite interesting.

I have yet to be there during rush hour, but I'm sure that the system must be very crowded. A wonderful find was this little park filled with sculptures. There was a great range in the types of work, which is what made it interesting to visit.

Where's Waldo? ; )

And what's this next one? A new, more visually appealing lock-out procedure? It's actually a Russian wedding tradition. On the day of the wedding, the bride and groom write their names on a lock, which is then fastened onto a bridge. The lock is to symbolize the union of the couple. Moscow has created tree structures for these locks to be placed all along one of the pedestrian bridges.

Of course this wouldn't be me if there wasn't some food pictures! I had to admit that I do prefer the restaurant scene in Moscow over St-Petersburg: there's so much more variety! Matvei and I had been craving good, spicy Asian food and we hadn't found much of it in St-Pete's. On our first visit, Elements Moscow (local free newspaper) made a few restaurant suggestions and we fell in love with Thai Thai, a little spot in "Chinatown" (even if there is no one Asian living in the area). The soup was almost too hot to eat - almost ; )

A local landmark is Café Pushkin, which seems to be the place to bring clients for brunch if you want to impress them. Four of us went on a Sunday morning and this long-standing establishment did not disappoint. The food was yummy and the presentations were beautiful.

The letter "P" in Russian is "pi", which makes the chocolate topping on the cappuchino kind of cute.

This was my omelet, served in a latté cup. And what makes this dish Russian? The sprinkle of caviar on the top.

This presentation of what looked like Christmas on a plate was interesting: reindeer carpaccio.

Matvei is still drooling over this blini-layered cake that we only saw once. He's been looking for it in all the pastry shops and cafés, but it doesn't seem to be common.

On the whole, Moscow was wonderful. I can't say that I would rather live there than here in St-Petersburg, but I certainly enjoy visiting Moscow!

December’s “WTR” Moment

In the fall there was the rain, and with December came the snow… and lots of it. The snow fell steadily last weekend and has kept on going. But this is Russia. They’re used to snow*, right? Apparently not…

We went to visit a friend who lives in the south end of St-Petersburg. It was something else to see how slow the traffic was due to the snow, which several days later was still unmoved from where it had accumulated! A pleasant winter day: sunny and cool without much wind – having to climb through the snowbanks that had overgrown the sidewalk proved to be true sport! Just when I think that Russia can’t surprise me, I turn the corner to find the latest WTR** moment. On Saturday, I was struggling to move forward down a side street when a young woman on a horse casually trotted past. Not something I would expect to find in the city!

I would also like to take this chance to wish everyone very happy holidays and all the best for the New Year! May 2010 find you healthy and happy and may the year be filled with joy and adventure!

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*The link is to an article published in the St-Petersburg Times, which explains how this is the worst snowfall the city has seen in over 100 years! Thousands of soldiers and civilians were hired to help clear the roads and the sidewalks.

**WTR = Welcome to Russia. Our phrase when dealing with unusual things or frustrating moments that you have to hope of changing, much like the ocean’s tide

A weekend in the Russian countryside

The majority of city-dwelling Russians live in small apartments – small enough to compare with Parisian standards. As a result, they take advantage of the weekend to escape to the countryside. When one of our colleagues, Artëm (pronounced Ar-ti-um), invited us to visit the Vologda region where he is from, we jumped at the chance. A fishing museum would be opened in one of the neighbouring towns that weekend, which was the deciding factor for the timing of this trip. The adventure actually started straight from work: from the office we headed to Artëm’s so he could get a few things, we then went to pick-up some food for our overnight ride on the train (and the mini-bus actually broke down on our way there – WTR!!) and then it was off to the train station. The station (Ladozhsky Vokzal) is new and modern, very different from our fist trip out of the city from Ploshad Lenina. Artëm, Nataly, Matvei and I had a 4-person sleeper cabin, so we had a great time on the 9+ hour ride. We shared a cooked chicken, some raw veggies, and washed it all down with a mix of cognac and cherry juice, which is apparently quite popular in Russia. We arrive at the train station in Шексна (sh-ek-sna) at 7am. From this point onward, the only English-speaking Russians are our two travel companions. We wanted an “authentic” experience, and this was certainly it! We were greeted by Artëm’s parents: Alexander and Irma. Alexander was the one who took us around town – a hilarious man (even if all his jokes had to be translated for us). Irna is a doctor whose passion is music – so there would be much singing and dancing on this trip! That day was spent exploring the country fairs. Neither city has more than 30 000 inhabitants, and were not used to getting visitors from as far away as Canada! First stop: Сизьма (siz-ma), where we spent most of the day. The fishing museum was opening here. Sadly, we couldn’t gain access to the museum since the official unveiling was being held up as they waited for the mayor of St-Petersburg and other public officials to arrive. It was a wonderful place: lots of small stands with traditional Russian food and artisans practicing their different crafts, from metal forging and wood carving, to pottery and hand embroidery. There were also singers and folk dancers. The Russians love to dance (in restaurants, in bars, in house parties, etc.), so it did not surprise me to be taken by the hand to dance to a traditional folk song (the song was actually about a beautiful girl named Nadiehzda, which is Nadia in the short form). It was only appropriate. We wandered around for a bit and finally sampled some of the local fair. This is where we would be introduced to the first of many “Russian traditions”. There was supposed to be a traditional (Russian tradition #1) fish soup, Уха (pronounced uk-ha), but they had run out of bowls to serve it in so we couldn’t have any. (Irma would right this wrong the next night at supper). In France it’s common to drink wine with meals, here is it vodka. The “traditional” way is to have 100g, which is close to 2 oz (Russian tradition #2). A member of the group will offer a toast, and the whole 100g are drunk in one shot. This is fine if you are only having one drink, but the Russians seem to have a lot to toast to!

The second stop was a relatively brief visit to the Шексна fair. There was techno music that could be heard pounding as we walked towards the site. We were all disappointed once we got to the first area to find the DJ spinning for a handful of kids that were jumping around to the music. We made our way to the main stage, where there was a group performing. The highlights came from the crowd: Artëm who decided that he would go on a horseback ride around the site and the female police officers walking around in the “standard” uniform. How can you tell if the uniform is for a Russian female police officer? Because the navy blue skirt is worn with calf-high boots that have 3-4” heels. Stylish? Yes. Practical? C’mon! How are they supposed to run after people if they have to??? (this certainly has to count as Russian tradition #3, because I haven't heard of female police officers incorporating anything other than sensible shoes into their uniform anywhere else.)

We stayed in for supper that night. We were staying at a place that roughly translates to the Hunter’s Lodge. There was wood paneling everywhere and actual bear and lynx hides decorating the walls of the central dining area, which was also graced with a brick fireplace. We had smoked duck, bread and red caviar (I did mention that I like this place, right?) and some colbassa (Russian dried meets) in front of the fireplace. That’s where a few more of the “Russian traditions” were revealed. #4 - You never leave an empty bottle on the table – it’s bad luck. Once the bottle of wine or vodka is finished, the empty bottle is placed on the floor.

#5 - Only the man of the house, who in our case was Alexander, can pour the drinks. It is the man’s responsibility to ensure that everyone is looked after. Pouring in his place is almost an insult.

#6 - The ritual of the toast speech before each drink is taken quite seriously. I have to say that I enjoyed this one the most. It is a time to give thanks for the good things in one’s life, to welcome guests around the table and to be able to tell stories of the past. It can go on for some time or it can be a few well thoughout words. (say it together please: kak jahrkim!) We had a long supper that night, sprinkled with an occasional song by Artëm and Irma, and it was wonderful. I was already fond of the Russian people beforehand, but meeting this family certainly sealed the deal. They are very down-to-earth, caring and friendly people. We spoke a mish-mash of Russian and English that night, naturally being helped by Nataly and Artëm for

translation more often than not.

We drove to Vologda on the Sunday morning and would spend the day visiting Artëm’s hometown. We started with a tour of the Vologda Monastery. The majority of Russians are Orthodox and they have maintained strong traditions around religion. Because this is a working monastery, the women must wear skirts and cover their heads when entering. In order to ensure that the dress code is followed, there are 2 bins at the entrance, one with wrap skirts (one size fits all) and the other with head scarves. The boys laughed at us so much! They called us the cute grandmothers for the rest of the visit. The grounds are quite beautiful. One of the buildings was mage entirely of wood – no nails. Get 4 engineers together looking at this - you that were were fascinated by this construction method!

The next stop was Vologda’s main square. The principle attractions are the Belfry Cathedral (which has stairs all the way up to the top, offering 360 deg. views of the city) and St-Sophia’s Cathedral, which has some rather impressive frescoes in its interior. The Vologda River, which runs through the town bearing its name, is home to over a dozen cathedrals and monasteries, several of which are being reconstructed. The climb up the constantly narrowing wooden staircase of the Belfry Cathedral was daunting at times, but certainly worth the effort. Strangely enough some of us weren’t entirely comfortable with the idea of leaning against the wrought iron balcony… A visit of old was followed by a little bit of modern: there was a travelling carnival in town, so we spent some time playing on the bumper cars and going on the rides (even if the flying boat got the best of me and I was a bit green afterwards…). It was funny to see our companions try their hand at the firing range. Many of the men here have served in the military, so we had to encourage the father-son rivalry between Alexander and Artëm to prove who was the better shot. It was Nataly who surprised me when she walked away with a teddy bear. We named him “y a rien là”, which was only appropriate since she was the one that taught us the equivalent Russian expression (не за что, pronounced nyé-ze-shta).

In the meantime, Irma had decided that we could not possibly go back to St-Petersburg without having tried this famous fish soup (Уха) that we had been promised, so she prepared a lovely supper for us. Alexander and Irma live in a very modest one-bedroom flat, and I was asking myself how 8 of us were supposed to fit around the small kitchen table for supper. I was even more surprised to see how easy it seemed for Irma to prepare a lovely supper for the 10 people that finally sat around her beautiful table – as a lot of Artëm friends hadn’t seen him in a while and stopped in to say hello. It’s easy to say, but one has to have such a supper to understand how important family life is in the Russian culture. It reminded me of a supper around my nonni’s table, where 4 people could stop in at the last minute and my grandmother had some magical way of making sure that we would still have enough (if not too much) food for everyone (Russian tradition #7). The non-city Russians are some of the most down to earth people I've met. It was so touched that everyone did their best to try to talk to us in what little English they knew – and they were patient enough to let us stumble with our “survival” level Russian. Ivan, who is the husband of one of Artëm’s long time friends (Anna), was really fun. Once he got comfortable enough with us he had us in stitches laughing! He kept saying how he couldn’t wait to tell everyone that he’d been out drinking with a couple of Canadians – apparently there aren’t many that make their way through Vologda. Such a shame because we certainly had a great time there!

What could have been a never-ending evening around the table was brought to a close when it was time to go to the station to catch our train. I was getting ready to say goodbye to everyone, but they kept telling me that they were coming to the station with us. Ok… So the 10 of us piled into a few cars and off we went. Artëm, Matvei and I hopped into a cab – even that was an adventure! The cabbie was this young guy who was doing 100 km/h on the residential streets and had some heavy techno music blaring so loud that we couldn’t hear each other speak. No problem – why swim against the stream? We made sure that our seatbelts were securely fasted and rocked out to the music on our ride to the train station.

I guess that the security officials at the Vologda train station are used to seeing families come to say goodbye to their children as they head back to the bigger cities for school or work, because they didn’t bat an eyelid when everyone got ONTO the train with us. They came into our 4-person sleeper cabin for one final toast before me left. It was great! We apparently were adopted: we now having a standing invitation to return to see Alexander and Irma anytime, with or without Artëm!

Our trip to Vologda was our first weekend outside of St-Petersburg and it was wonderful up until the very last minute. Some wise advice from a friend back home comes to mind often: “never turn down an invitation”. This little weekend off the beaten path was a perfect example of why you should say yes to such invitations – it has certainly been one of my favourite Russian moments so far. Спасибо за всë, Артëм и Наталию!!