Yes, I’ve been travelling again, lucky me. Although I do intend to have four and a half months at home from mid-November until late March, because I’m getting rather tired of airports and stuff. However, there are compensations, like this, one of the world’s great views, surely. Russia is a vast country but this is its absolute centre.
This place is located near the Arbat in Moscow. I have eaten here once in the past and the food is very good, they do say that the Georgians do the best cuisine of all the former Soviet republics. What is more apparent about the place is the crazy nature of the building, it’s impossible to capture in one shot, really, but the fact that you enter it through a gigantic clay urn gives you some sense of what we’re talking about here. Inside it is full of bridges and little cubbyholes, it’s very surreal.
Last day in Moscow, and I won’t now be back until June. Unfortunately I have also to report the loss of my personal diary, the whole of 2012 disappeared last night somewhere in Domodedovo airport. I have kept a diary for 29 years now; but the year’s just gone. I have been trying to track it down, to see if anyone might have handed it in (as it can have no value to anyone else other than me – for whom it is irreplaceable), but no luck.
This is Alexander, stood in an office that he is making look his own – but is not his own.
Not an inspiring day in any way but this shot isn’t bad. I like the red of the carpet and the enigmatic figure in the background framed by the near-monochrome of the stairwell itself. (The white balance could do with attention, however.) The ANE is the host of my hosts, the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, and incidentally is one of the largest higher education institutions in Europe, ranked by number of students.
The view from my hotel room. This is my last night in Moscow…. until next time.
When you see Russians like this you can’t help but wonder what they were doing 50 years ago (around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis). He looks quite well-to-do: I suspect he may very likely have been the sort of chap who would have had a key role to play in, say, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Yes, I’m stereotyping, but not without some justification, I feel.
Hardy chap, at least, particularly to be out without gloves on today. It was freezing in Moscow, literally, and – albeit briefly – I saw the first snow of the winter today. You have been warned.
I know this is a poor photo in almost every way but it does sum up my day. Here I am in one of the world’s great cities and I sit working in one room, then get a ride to another room where I sit working, then get a ride home, have dinner and go to bed. I am offered the merest glimpses of the architecture, culture, nightlife, all these other things to enjoy. This, for instance, is a tower of the Novodevichy convent, certainly one of the most beautiful buildings in this city, glimpsed as I got my taxi back to the hotel. Well, I’m having the afternoon off tomorrow, hopefully more will be seen of Moscow then.
There are only so many things you can capture on camera when you spend most of the day on a plane. I know I have done the theme – the picture taken just after take-off from Domodedovo – before, but what the hell, different day, different sunrise, different picture, different beauty.
Another beautiful day in Moscow to mark the Autumnal Equinox. As you can see, the trees are just starting to turn. I did get some great photos of the Moscow River again tonight – the Hotel Ukrainia lit orange by the setting sun – but as I did that theme yesterday, here’s somewhere else. This is the Baumann Park, in the district of Krasniye Vorota.
Utterly glorious day in Moscow today, as good as any have been on this blog so far. I was pretty sure this was going to be today’s picture as soon as I took it, but when fully ‘developed’ I did notice imperfections around the sun – due to it being taken through glass. Nevertheless I decided to go with it because the thrill of having this as literally the first thing I saw this morning when I pulled back the curtains in my room stayed with me. The ‘spires’ are the Hotel Ukrainia, which has appeared before on this blog, and for me is one of the most spectacular buildings in this city – one day I will treat myself and stay there.
Being 42 