Cityscapes and Skyline Photos: Moscow March 2006; part 3

Turning forward. Varvarka street is full of historic churches. Saviour's Tower of the Kremlin is seen in the distance.

The hotel Rossija can be seen behind the churches. It was being dismantled as we walked by, but I somehow did not take a picture of this. Norman Foster is being rumored among the people who work on rebuilding the site.

A Kremlin tower and church behind it on the other side of Moscow river. IMO, the NIKON sign is questionable here. It is not Times Square after all.

Hotel Balchug Kempinski (on the other side of Moscow river)

We are approaching St. Basil's Cathedral from the back.

Red Square silhouettes. Nikolskaja Tower at the left, Historical Museum - center-right.

Same with GUM at the right.

The evening light makes everything appear blue, soon the night illimination will take over. Hotel Rossija seen here in the background. By by, I will not miss you.

Kazanskij Cathedral, recently rebuilt.

We venture inside GUM. Expensive. I purchased a protective filter for the objective of the camera - payed at least twice the regualar price.

BTW, the stories some people tell about GUM shelves being empty in soviet times are mostly rubbish - GUM has always been relatively well supplied store.
Now, of course, there are many expensive boutiques there. Restaurants too.

We spot a dozen of painted cows.

There are three lines (galleries) like these, about the kength of the Red Square and three stories high.

Iverskie vorota - another piece destroyed by bolsheviks and recently rebuilt.

A look back at the Red Square. In the middle - Swissotel Krasnye Holmy.
I would need a tripod to make a good picture at this level of light.

We take a walk along Tverskaja Street and stop by at Eliseyevskij food store. It is quite historic. I need to check when it was buiilt. Somewhat expensive but you can shop with style.

Now we talk a huge walk along boulevards (Tverskoj, Nikitskij, Gogolevskij, etc.) and end up at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, here on the pedestrian bridge in front of it. A staple view of Kremlin.

We complete crossing the river a take a look back at the Cathedral. Foreign Ministry is on the background. Then we take metro home; the rest of the pics are taken on another day.

I visit my college friends. The girl is actually the wife of the guy in the green t-shirt...

but don't these two look like a brother and sister a little bit?

We go to concert of organ misic at Tchaikovskij music hall, the outside of it actually shown in part 1.

During the intermission the assistant sets up registration for the next piece to be played.

After it is over we walk back to Pushkin Square and metro station along the Tverskaja again.

Theatres are everywhere. Cars keep parking on sidewalks.

The red mansion used to be an English Club before the October Revolution. Noble gentlemen in smokings would spend here nights playng cards and billard, smoking a cigar and having a roastbeef, I guess. After the revolution - museum of October revolution, then museum of modern Russian history, perhaps now still is. I have never made it. I really should, but there are so many places in Moscow I have never made despite having grown up in it. This city is infinite. One can live a whole life there and not realize the scope of it.

The house that was moved. This house was literally cut off its basement, put on wheels and rails and moved a few meters back to put it in line with other buildings on that side of the street. I have seen it happen - the rails, the huge wheels, etc.

Approaching Pushkin Square.

A typical example of Stalinistic type of Moscow reconstruction. A lot of older city has been destroyed to give way to this kind of neo-classical stuff. Not bad as is (way better than what was built during Khruschev tenure), but I would prefer that they kept the old stuff where it had been and built this to expand the city... Too late now, I had not been around to give them my grief.

Pushkin Square. Pushkin statue can be seen across the street.

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Sunday, May 6, 2007

Moscow March 2006; part 3

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