Exploring Moscow

[mendeleyev]

You've heard that the largest city in Europe never sleeps, and there is a song "Moscow Never Sleeps" about this fact.

Perhaps one reason is that in winter the days are so short with daylight around 9:30 or 10am and nightfall arriving in what seems like just a few hours later between 3:30 and 4pm. The opposite is true in summer and my first year in Moscow was one of internal clock adjustments. In summer I eventually put blankets over the windows of my apartment so that it would feel dark even when it was light outside at Midnight, otherwise my body wanted to stay awake.

So what is Moscow like at night? Different people and different views. Take a look with this night tour of Moscow:

[mendeleyev]

We've referenced Gorky Park several times and should point out that this park becomes the largest skating rink in Europe by winter as a special area and some of the sidewalks are flooded with water and allowed to freeze.

[mendeleyev]

[mendeleyev]

Michael Jackson included "Stranger in Moscow" on two of his albums. Apparently he wrote the song in 1993, during his Dangerous World Tour in Moscow.

The similarities end there. He tried to tie in his own feelings of loneliness in the midst of child abuse charges to what Muscovites may having been feeling during that time of great upheaval in throwing off Communism and those trying days of "Wild West Capitalism."



It is a ballad and was filmed in Los Angeles. Producers claimed that they took great pains to simulate life in Russia. They failed even on the basics. Dead giveaways that it wasn't filmed in Russia are things like American cars, American parking meters, coffee as opposed to tea, and American styles newspaper vending machines.

Even the inclusion of a males who look not like African students or workers you might see on occasion in Moscow, but obvious African-Americans, leaves one wondering why the lack of authenticity. Even the white males don't look Russian. As he wanted to create a Russian feel for the song one can only wonder why he didn't return to Russia and make a realistic video shoot?

[mendeleyev]

Likely some recall the old style Soviet carbonated water dispensers that can still be found around Moscow and other cities.


(Old Soviet style carbonated water dispenser.)

Well, Moscow is rolling out machines which will provide FREE water in underground Metro stations. The first 17 free water machines will be installed at stations: Savelovskaya, Dmitrovskaya, Timiryazevskaya, Petrovsko-Razumovskaya, Sokol and Prospect Mira.


(photo: Moscow Municipal Programs)

According to Moscow Municipal Programs, in the near future machines will be installed at the stations: Tekstilschiki, Kuzminki, Ryazanskiy Prospect, Belyaevo, and Airport.

[Boethius]

Thanks, Mendy.  Will the new machines have automatic disposable cups, will patrons be expected to supply their own (my better half used to have a collapsible cup), or will there be a communal cup that will be stolen for vodka?

[mendeleyev]

Bo, I knew that you'd recall those old communal cups. It was a wonder that Russia wasn't smitten with all manner of plagues during some periods. 

I've been told that they will dispense disposable cups as one of the big reasons for the many Metro upgrades is the coming tourist influx for the Sochi Olympics and because Russia is becoming more of a tourist destination aside from the Games.

Of course the matter of servicing those machines, keeping cups in stock, removing clutter as the cups are moved around, etc, will be cause for lingering questions as to whether they become permanent fixtures.

[GQBlues]

....
It is a ballad and was filmed in Los Angeles. Producers claimed that they took great pains to simulate life in Russia. They failed even on the basics. Dead giveaways that it wasn't filmed in Russia are things like American cars, American parking meters, coffee as opposed to tea, and American styles newspaper vending machines.

Even the inclusion of a males who look not like African students or workers you might see on occasion in Moscow, but obvious African-Americans, leaves one wondering why the lack of authenticity. Even the white males don't look Russian. As he wanted to create a Russian feel for the song one can only wonder why he didn't return to Russia and make a realistic video shoot?

I just read this and it interest me (missing MJ), so I read about the number.

The title was used as a metaphor of what was originally a poem Jackson wrote to describe his feeling of loneliness during one of the worst section of his life in the early '90s (child sexual abuse scandal/allegation).

Jackson first heard of the charges just when he was in Moscow for his current world tour, hence the title name: 'Stranger in Moscow'. That sad and shocking news made him feel like a 'stranger in a foreign land' and it only happens to be that he was at the time in 'Moscow'. Thus Russiaesque contents in the lyrics...

"Kremlin's shadow belittlin' me, Stalin's tomb won't let me be".

At the end of the video, a KGB shown interrogating him ("KGB doggin' me") was his rendering of the western media's demonizing him because of the allegations of child sexual abuse case.

The song was critically acclaimed by many as the best song he'd ever written.

The video wasn't to portray 'Moscow' but rather to illustrate Jackson's loneliness and his feeling of being alone through life - ('walking 'alone' on a busy city street on a rainy day waiting for the sun to shine my day'). There were supposed to be 6 characters in the video, in different walks of life, that shared the same sentiment he did.

Good piece, Mendy.

[mendeleyev]

Thanks for filling in the gaps, GQ.

He was a strange bird yet so multi-talented and one can't help but wonder how much the alleged abuse at the hand of his father contributed to his state in life, then death.

[mendeleyev]

If you've wondered when all Metro lines in Moscow will be wired with WiFi, the city says the middle of 2014 is when the upgrades should be completed. So far, it is supposed to be FREE.

[mendeleyev]

From the Moscow Times:

The first Russian Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, a franchise managed by restauranteur Arkady Novikov, will welcome its first customers on Thursday at a location on Nikolskaya Ulitsa, within walking distance from Red Square.



"My dream has come true. I first saw Krispy Kreme about 10 years ago and I fell in love with it. I used to bring doughnuts home from overseas trips. But then I thought, why can't I give people in Moscow an opportunity to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts?" Novikov said.

The 250-square-meter store allows customers to watch the entire doughnut making process and boasts the company's traditional signage in the window, which lights up when a new batch of doughnuts is prepared.

Novikov has been working on bringing a franchise to Russia for five years and said he hopes to represent the brand well. Krispy Kreme's international president Jeff Welch said that the company "found a perfect partner in Arkady Novikov," because he understands Russian customers and their tastes.

The Moscow shop will sell doughnut flavors not available anywhere else. "You'll see more and more varieties catered for the local taste and using local ingredients to celebrate local Russian holidays and Russian special occasions," Welch said.

Russia will become the 23rd country to welcome Krispy Kreme. There are five more shops scheduled to be opened in Moscow over the next few months.Read more at the Moscow Times.

[mendeleyev]

Yesterday we reported on the arrival of Krispy Kreme donuts to Moscow and if the chain is anywhere near successful as their operations in China, starting today Russians will be able to ingest donuts soaked in cooking oil for breakfast each morning.



The first of several in Russia's capital will be located on the newly converted pedestrian walkway just off Red Square at Nikolai Street (Никольской, 4/5).  The grand opening is tomorrow morning at 9:00 (12 September) and the first person in line will receive a year's supply of donuts and the next forty in line will receive a six month supply.




The Winston-Salem-based Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD) company has licensed the concept for forty stores in the Moscow region to LLC Doughnuts Cafe owned by Russian businessman Arkady Novikov. Read more about Novikov here.

[Shadow]

Unfortunately the doughnut business in Moscow will fail unless similar cooperation from law enforcement as in the USA can be obtained.

[mendeleyev]

Shadow, sorry I just "got it" and what you said is funny because the thought of how different our and their police are in relationship to donuts had crossed my mind a couple days ago on seeing where the first location will be--just steps from Red Square and GUM. 

[SANDRO43]

Donuts are supposed to be US police officers' favourites, at least as TV serials show. Are Russian police forces succumbing to the same enticements ?

[mendeleyev]

That was Shadow's point although it took my feeble mind a while to grasp the point. 

It's too early to tell if Moscow police will adopt the American tradition. When my Dad was alive in his latter years he'd fill small plastic sandwich baggies with Cheerios, and call them "donut seeds" as Christmas gifts for his other senior pals. He'd type planting instructions on a 3 x 5 index card that included the advice to "plant close to a police station and use sugar as fertilizer for fast results."

[SANDRO43]

That was Shadow's point although it took my feeble mind a while to grasp the point. ... When my Dad was alive in his latter years...

Jim, your grasp of grammar is also becoming a bit feeble, it's "in his later years" . "Latter" is a comparative adjective that requires a previous list of 2 or more alternatives to pick the last one (latter) from.

[mendeleyev]

Thank you, and of course you're right. Yes, I qualify for feeble status.

[mendeleyev]

One of the most revered Moscow Metro stops is the station named Plaza of the Revolution. Dedicated to the fighters of the Red Guard who fought during the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed, 76 bronze figures represent the Red Guard. This station was built in 1938 and remains one of the most beautiful today.

There is a tradition that promises good luck if you rub the nose of the dog depicted on one of the bronze figures. Rubbing its legs means you'll pass a test.

[mendeleyev]

This was taken under one of the covered porches of Saint Basil's Cathedral because of rain. You can see two of the Moscow Kremlin's twenty towers directly across from where we were photographing recently.



(photo: Mendeleyev)

Click on the photo for a larger/nicer view.

The forecast for this weekend says the rain will turn to sleet and result in icy road conditions. Does winter really need to arrive so soon?

[SANDRO43]

There is a tradition that promises good luck if you rub the nose of the dog depicted on one of the bronze figures. Rubbing its legs means you'll pass a test.

It's fortunate they are made of bronze, and only rubbed . The centre of our Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is paved with 4 mosaics depicting the shields of Milan and of the 3 successive Italian capitals: Torino (Turin), Firenze (Florence) and Roma (Rome). The Torino (meaning small bull in Italian) shield naturally shows a bull - Turin was first a Roman army camp (Castra Taurinorum) and the subsequent city inherited its typical grid structure, acquiring the name of Augusta Taurinorum. Its region (Piedmont) was, and still is, renowned for its cattle breed.

A bull of Razza Piemontese (Piedmont breed)

Originally, it was considered lucky to place one's right heel on the bull's balls, close one's eyes and make three 360° counter-clockwise rotations on them at midnight of New Year's Eve, but eventually the superstition grew to cover the whole year . 

Needless to say, the mosaic needs to be repaired VERY frequently .

[mendeleyev]

Older Moscow: One can't help but love these old sections of this great city. This building is not far around the corner from the Mendeleyev Journal and the bottom floor is occupied with things like shops and post offices and here on this corner of an apartment house is a market.

The signs: продукты = products, a common term for small grocery market. мясо = meat and the further explanation of куры = chickens and рыба = fish. Russians don't each as much beef as Westerners and fish and chicken are perhaps the most consumed meats followed by pork, lamb and goat.



 
(Photo: Mendeleyev.) Click on photo for a larger view.

рыба, is fish, pronounced sort of like "Reba" and one of the first Russian words this writer learned at in an early college language class in Arizona. It was classic word association as wast to instantly put "fish" (Reba) together with Reba McIntire whose music might strike some ears as a little "fishy" and hence the term stuck. LOL
 
 This market is open and the apartments in the floors above still in use. These older apartments are normally more roomy than newer but more compact flats.

[mendeleyev]

The programme Moscow Out on RT television has produced a nice video about eating places near the Kremlin:

[mendeleyev]

[mendeleyev]

At one time I lived just behind Kutuzovsky Prospekt, in a maze of apartment houses near Metro Studencheskaya (Студенческая). Kutuzovsky is one of the main avenues of Moscow and named after General Kutuzov who led Russia's forces against the midget from France. Kutuzovsky is your gateway to Victory Park and the Triumphal Arch but one of the most famous addresses is a building I walked past every day when returning home by bus: Kutuzovsky prospekt, 26. That was the address where Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov lived.

There are curved arches there leading from Kutuzovsky to side streets where I lived. Oh, and there was one more famous address, Kutuzovsky prospekt, 25.

The first few times I noticed the signs for the Moscow Cats Theatre it struck me as curious. I'd chuckle, thinking that I likely understood what kind of pussy frequented there and the feline sort wasn't my first guess. Of sure, there were photos of cats, but wink, wink, we know what that is all about, right? My prognosis was bolstered by the fact that it seemed that adults were the only ones who went inside when I was in the vicinity.

As RWD member Larry would later take great delight in announcing, Mendeleyev lived behind a cathouse!

One weekend I noticed a group of children being ushered inside. Hmm...

The term "Google it" was still a ways in the future so I decided to inquire. The next time I walked by was early morning to catch a bus and upon arrival at Radio Mayak I asked several staffers if they'd heard of the Cats Theatre? нет (no) and Не знаю (don't know) were the quick responses. The Theatre was still new then so their responses were understandable.

So I did the next best thing: I called the theatre to ask.

They weren't open yet. Darn. Now I was really curious.

I should mention that this was a time when it didn't matter what you asked about over the telephone; the answer was always going to be whatever you wanted to hear no matter the reality. You could call a car mechanic and ask if he sold sour cream or call a photo shop and inquire if they had Kodak 800 ISO film in stock. The answer was going to be whatever you needed to hear in order to get your buttocks on a Metro train and riding across town to seek out their shop. Whether they really had the item you needed just didn't matter. You were now in their store, one more potential customer for the day.

To the point, they're really a cat theatre, as opposed to a cathouse.

Not long ago they remodeled and the facility is very comfortable making it enjoyable for both children and adults. If you are a cat lover, this is the show!