Nearly posted a random picture from my transfer in Frankfurt airport, purely to get a gratuitous 8th country onto the blog, but then managed to capture this sign, which I’ve been trying to take a photo of for the last few visits. That I managed it today was a result of the car being stopped right by it – on what was not a great night to experience Russian traffic.
Last full day in Moscow, for this trip at least. (I’ll be back, never fear.) One thing that has been nice this time is that I have been staying outside the city, in a relatively rural spot. It’s very pleasant to wander through the woods and down to the river before dinner. Well, unless you’re particularly bothered by midges, anyway.
Today was a salutary lesson in what Principal Skinner (The Simpsons) once said: “Children! Do you want to be like the real UN, or do you just want to squabble and waste time?!’
I am being unfair. It was a very interesting day today. But the experience of writing a document then, in effect, having to have it endorsed by 120 different people from 40 different countries was a new one on me. I therefore distracted myself from the more repetitive parts of the process by taking photos of the delegates. As you can see, everyone seems quite interested. Rule one of taking photos of crowds: even if it’s meant to be a photo of a crowd, focus on someone. This is Tatiana, from Brazil. There are good reasons to pick her as a focus: what a face!
Well, here we are, off again. To a country that may have massive political and social problems, but has at least heard of the notion that in June, it’s supposed to be summer.
There’s got to be billions of these trees in Russia. They line all the roads out of the city of Moscow. They’re everywhere.
I know this is a similar theme to yesterday (and it’s taken from almost exactly the same spot) but I’m not doing much other than work on this visit: so little opportunity to get pictures of much other than the rather drab urban area around the Moscow School (Yugo-Zapadnya Metro station). As you can see, it was a bright, sunny day today, at least in the morning – but it’s still cold.
In Britain at the moment it is about 21°C and full-on summer, apparently. But here, in Moscow… it isn’t. I have no idea what this structure actually is, it is either a ventilation shaft for the Metro or just a brazier, possibly there to help warm the homeless overnight. Either way it shows the reality of the weather here right now. International travel? Yeah, it’s fun… somtimes!
Well, this is certainly the earliest time yet for a daily pic, by a margin of some 110 minutes. Still, it could have been worse. It could have been Sheremetyevo airport. (This wry comment of course means nothing to anyone unfamiliar with the pleasures of Russian airspace.)
Today I was the University of Manchester’s representative at the graduation ceremony of our partner, the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Like all graduates these guys have worked very hard. Like all of us they face an uncertain future, but hey, that’s what futures are. Good luck to them all. This was a good day.
Day off today. I went to see some excellent art in the Pushkin museum, including a Caravaggio exhibition. Now I don’t know a great deal about art but Caravaggio seems to me someone who really knows about lighting and movement. His paintings are 400 years old but look like they could be freeze-frames from modern movies. He’s a long way ahead of his contemporaries. However, for most of the time after his death in 1610 he was forgotten.
This, on the other hand, is Tsereteli’s monumental statue of Peter the Great by the Moscow River. It cost millions of roubles and can be seen for miles around. it looks like something my 8-year-old son would draw and every Muscovite I have spoken to about it, hates it. Tsereteli is a big mate of the mayor of Moscow, Mr Luzhkov, which may, or of course may not, explain why this monstrosity exists.
Somehow I suspect that in 400 years’ time, only one of these artists is going to be remembered.
I do own a tripod, but I’m not lugging it to Moscow on the off-chance that I might need it for a night shot. So I did my best to get this one without too much hand-shake. The ‘mountain’ in the distance is the ‘Monument to Corporate Failure’ depicted also on this blog post. Can’t argue with this view of it however. It’s been a beautiful winter’s day here (unlike the weather at home, I’m led to believe) and so it went into the evening.
Being 42 