Another month has come to a close, and I am still working on getting my mojo back. However, there are some flashes of light at the end of the tunnel: I barely plugged into work over winter break, January was properly snowy and frosty, I went skiing!!!!!, which was a bit of a clumsy fiasco, and…
So, this didn’t go according to plan. My very ambitious blogging, photo-taking, walking-around-Moscow and other creative plans for the last few months of 2015 totally went out of the window — and then some. In a totally unexpected turn of events, my job was to blame. And even though the BIG THING that had me…
My seasonal depression begins during the Summer Solstice. For most Western people June 21st marks the beginning of summer, but for me it is the end; in fact, it’s the official first day of “Winter Is Coming.” * * * Living in Moscow means you can’t just assume that you will get all the trappings…
The small, pedestrian Patriarch’s Bridge connects the northern crescent of the city with Bolotny (Bog) Island in the Moscow River, and offers some of the best panoramas of central Moscow. It begins right behind Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the tallest (and one of the largest) Orthodox Christian church in the world, erected to commemorate…
This is the second part of my long and meandering hike through Moscow. While part one was all about capital’s grandest landmarks basking in the rays of a setting sun, part two is straight-up Christmas nostalgia. I loitered around GUM shopping arcade, walked the historic Nikolskaya Street, went up to Lubyanka Square and its massive…
I feel like this winter went by so fast – especially with me spending most of its advent abroad – that I already miss its crisp, snowy days. One such day I took a fantastic 9-kilometer (5.5 mile) walk across the Moscow Center. This is Part 1, basking in the glow of a winter sunset:…
Suzdal is ALSO famous for its zodchestvo — Russia’s traditional wooden architecture. Village (deryevenskiye) houses are decorated with ornate wood carvings, particularly around the windows, and painted in bright, sometimes clashing color combinations. They are a delight to look at in any season, but they really stand out in the winter, against white snow and grayish…
Suzdal is famous for its churches. It is also famous for the sheer number of them – some 40 in a town of 10,000 folks. Back in the day Suzdal used to have one church for every 10 inhabitants! I have no idea about the cause of this phenomenon; although Suzdal is a very old…
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…
Oh, were you expecting some words? Ok then. This is the ice sculpture garden that went up over winter holidays in Moscow’s Hermitage Garden, which is literally across the street from my apartment. I didn’t even know it was there until I showed up to take some MORE pictures of Moscow’s snow-covered parks (this winter…
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