If you are ever in Russia, for however long, for whatever reason and in whichever corner of the country, you must do anything and everything you can to experience a Russian barbecue. A Russian barbecue is not your average cookout. It is a microcosm of Russia as a concept, where food, nature, and ages-old traditions…
Yesterday I had the honor of being a part of the 3 million-large Immortal Regiment that marched across Russia. Relatives and friends of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War carried their portraits through more than a dozen Russian cities. Around 400,000 people are estimated to have walked as part of the Immortal Regiment in…
If you have been losing sleep over how to get your hands on all those amazing Russian crafts I wrote about last week, fret no more. Izmaylovo Vernisazh to the rescue! Vernisazh (derived from French “Vernissage” or a preview for an art show) is Moscow’s, if not Russia’s, biggest and best known market for all…
What kind of souvenir would you want from Russia? If your preference runs more toward traditional crafts than Soviet paraphernalia, you will probably go for one of those wooden nesting dolls, or a bright babushka scarf. Almost anyone can conjure up the images of those two objects in their mind – that’s how strongly they’ve…
I told you Moscow had Easter Eggs galore this year. Can you pick just one? (Each egg has a name when you click on it and view as slideshow)
Moscow REALLY turned up Easter this year. Word on the street was, city officials have decided that with all the #sanctions, ruble woes, Ukraine and endless winter the people needed some extra cheering up this year. And so, Christmas decorations stayed up all the way through March, only to be immediately replaced by Easter decorations…
What? Maslenitsa (“butter week”) is a half-Christian, half-Slavic pagan celebration of the soon-to-come end of winter that takes place for a week before Lent. Think Mardi Gras, or carnivals of Rio de Janeiro and Venice, but instead of ball gowns, beads and nudity you get traditional Russian games, folk music and dance concerts, a lot…
In my mind, banya — a particular kind of bathhouse / sauna cross-breed — was always one of those inextricably Russian cultural identifiers, alongside vodka, snow, bears, communism, Nutcracker ballet and Matryoshka nesting dolls. In my mind, a banya was a small log cabin, where after a wash and a steam you get beaten half…
Recently I have almost accidentally rediscovered for myself the Eye On Moscow — one of the funniest blogs about Moscow and Russia in general, and, lets say, peculiarities of Russian culture and daily life. It is written by an American, Andy (?), who, as I understand it, has made a life for himself and his…
With the snow gone and the sun bright and high up in the sky, the weeding-digging-plowing-fertilizing-and-planting season begins. Working the land over the May Holidays is a venerated Russian tradition. Just try getting out of the city after 6 pm on April 30th – every outbound highway is backed up with nature-starved and duty-bound Muscovites…
Home & Away 