We're the Champignons!

привет, my friend!

As described in my last post, I went to the Volleyball World League finals. I bought a relatively decent seat from a scalper, but once I got to the arena I joined a bunch of Brazilians in a crappy section of the stands.

Brazil was trailing France by 2 sets to 0, but we came back and won 3-2. It was pretty cool!

A Brazilian professional soccer player (Mozart, mid-fielded who played for Coritiba and Flamengo, and now playes for Spartak) sat right next to me, and we chatted all game long. It seems we were the only people who understood the rules of volleyball, as some people around us were totally oblivious and would sometimes cheer when France scored!

Me during a time out:

Farofa:

Me and Mozart:

Brazil wins!

Brazilian players wave to the crowd after receiving the medals:

пока!

Brazil 2 x 0 Semen

привет, my friend!

The Volleyball World League finals are being played in Moscow, and I went to one of the matches last Friday.

It was the last match of the qualifying round and Brazil beat Russia. The match wasn't worth anything, since both teams were qualified for the semifinals, still... we won.

Yesterday, Brazil played Russia again for the semifinals, and we won again. I watched on TV, bc I was quite tired. There is a Russian player called Semen Poltavsky, hence the title of the post being Brazil 2 x Semen 0.

Brazil will play the finals against France in 2 hours, so I am leaving now to the stadium.

Here are pics of the match I went to on Friday -- the cheerleaders were very cheesy and the band was great fun! I am also including a separate pic of the infamous Semen, which I downloaded from the web :-)

The match:

The band:

Cheesyleaders

Final score

A picture of Semen playing against Poland:

пока!

War & Peace - Part 1

привет, my friend!

Yesterday I went to the Red Army Museum. The museum has two main exhibitions: WWII and Cold War. Unfortunately, the Cold War piece was closed, and I didn't get to see the wreckage of an American U2 spy plane that was shot down over the USSR. Still, the WWII piece was awesome.

It further strengthened my theory that Stalin was an arsehole. One of the reasons that the Germans invaded the USSR so easily was because Stalin killed 49 of his top 50 generals during the purges of the mid-1930s. I was amazed to learn that 25 million soviets died during the war, 60% of which were civilians.

Reminder: it was the Soviets that got to Berlin, not the Americans.

Poster asking for recruits during WWII. It says "Motherland Needs You":

Hitler was so sure he'd conquer the Soviet Union that he even had a train on the way to Moscow filled with medals to the Nazi soldiers. The Soviets managed to capture the train when the Germans retreated:

Eagle statue from a building close to the Reichstag. Behind it, German flags of Nazi troops captured by the Soviet army:

Piece of the Reichstag wall, reading: "You didn't get to the Kremlin, but we got to the Reichstag -- Hitler Kaput"

Red Army flag that the Soviets put on top of the Reichstag. In the back, a photo of the Victory Parade in Red Square, where Soviet troops tossed conquered German flags by the Kremlin walls.

Part 2 & 3 of the War & Peace series will be next weekend -- I will visit the largest tank museum in the world on Saturday and then the re-enactement of the Napoleonic war in Borodino on Sunday.

пока!

Backyard Filled with Toys

Behind the Red Army Museum, there were many planes, tanks, etc. Here are some interesting ones.

MIGs, MIGs, and more MIGs:

The original Katyusha rocket launchers, from WWII:

Ballistic missiles, which at some point could have triggered WWIII:

These missile launchers used to participate in parades down Red Square during the Cold War:

One more MIG, with some more MIGs and Sukhois behind it:

Ruskillywood and Bollywood

привет, my friend!

Still about last weekend... As I was walking around the Boulevard Ring last weekend, I saw some protesters and freaked out. But curiosity won me over, and I decided to approach the crowd. Turns out they were taping some kind of show -- all the actors were dressed up as American hippies, which was hilarious. Here's a pic:

Two kilometers away, I saw another taping -- I think it was a commercial. The actor is called Valery Nikolaev.

And cable was finally installed. Similar to Brazil, there's a channel called Sony Entertainment Television. While the Brazilian channel shows American TV series, the one I have shows 100% INDIAN shows! Who the hell in Russia loves Bollywood?

пока!

Odd Buildings from Last Weekend

привет, my friend!

Every time I walk around Moscow I get more interested in the architecture of the buildings. Here are some that were along the Boulevard Ring, where I went last week:.

Random building next to Chistye Prudy:

Apartment complex in Art Nouveau style:

Church at the Upper St Peter Monastery:

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, one of the few with tent roofs. When it was built in the 1600's, the Patriarch considered it too secular and too Russian, so he banned this kind of architecture:

SS Boris & Gleb Chapel, quite out of place standing in front of the humongous Ministry of Defense:

пока!

Johnny Walker last Sunday

привет, my friend!

This past sunday I did one more of the walking tours from my Lonely Planet guide. I walked more than 5km (3+ miles) around the Boulevard Ring. The ring is a series of wide avenues with a shady promenade in the middle -- it was built in in the late 18th century, replacing Moscow's old defensive wall with a dual-carriage lane.

It is lined with mansions and theaters, and I took tons of pictures. I posted most of them below, I'll post more later on because my Internet connection is damn slow!

Other than that, nothing much has happened this week -- just work then home. Today I went grocery shopping and bought canned stuffed cabbage; too bad I forgot to buy a can opener!

And yesterday I tried to buy pirate DVDs but they were all dubbed, according to the rude woman behind the counter.

TV will finally be installed tomorrow :-)

пока!

МАКДОНАЛДС

The best selling McDonald's on Earth is in Moscow. Opened in 1990, it was the 1st McDonald's in Russia and probably the 1st western chain as well: the number of people interested in trying western food was so large that people would stay in line for 4 hours!

Here are pictures of a sign coming out of the subway and the infamous building itself (not original though, it got renovated a couple of years ago)

The Most Hated Artist

Along the Boulevard there were three landmarks created by Muscovites' most hated artist: Zurab Tserteli. One of them is the Church of Christ the Savior, which was described in another post.

This is the huge statue of Peter the Great

And the Museum of Modern Art of Moscow, which was sponsored by him. These are pictures of the garden filled with his sculptures and the entrance to the museum.

Bird Shit Depot

There were several statues around the Boulevard Ring: politicians, poets, martyrs and the likes. Here are two of them. Guess what's always on top of their heads?

Nadezhda Krupskaya, aka, Lenin's wife

Frederic Engels

Wasting Public Money: 3 Times!

At rhe end of the Boulevard Ring stands this magnificent church, called Church of Christ the Savior. Its story is really interesting, read below.

After Russia defeated Napoleon, the tsar ordered the first Church of Christ the Savior to be built. The funds for the church could have been used to feed the poor, but what can we do...

In the 1930's, Stalin became Party Leader, he began destroying a whole bunch of churches in Moscow, this church being one of them. He wanted to build the grandest Soviet buildings of all: the Palace of the Soviets. It would be huge, and an enormous statue of Lenin would be on top. After demolishing the church though, the engineers realized that the soil was too soft for such a building, so Stalin built the largest swimming pool in the planet. Again, funds that could have been used to feed the poor, but what can we do.

After the fall of Communism, someone had the magnificent idea of re-building the church. Zurab Tserteli (Muscovites most hated artist) designed the church in 1994, and the city Moscow paid the bill: $350 millions. Two hundred years later: funds that could have been used to feed the poor, but what can we do.

Views of the Kremlin

I saw the Kremlin twice this Sunday.

This was 10 steps away from the barber shop where I had a hair cut:

And this one was from a bridge by the Church of Christ the Savior -- perfect!

Sorry for the Delay!

привет, my friend!

Sunday was a busy day and I took tons of pictures. Will hopefully post them tomorrow.

пока!

Shit! No Sheets!

привет, my friend!

Today I finally moved in to the apartment. A company driver picked me up and dropped me off at the apartment, where the owner was waiting for me.

She explained how everything works, but she didn't know how to connect to the Internet. She called the Internet provider's customer service dept but they said they'd call her later (!). Turned out I managed to connect after reading a website in Russian -- she couldn't believe I'd succeeded.

Anyway, here are pics of the pad:

After she left, I realized there were no towels, bed linens or pillows. Therefore, I went to the Russian version of a Wal-mart or Carrefour to buy some. I forgot my dictionary, so there was no way of knowing if I was buying the right kind or size of sheets. Not to mention the designs were cheesy as hell! Anyway, this is what I ended up buying:

I'm now waiting for some guys to deliver the TV, but satellite will only be installed on Tuesday. Good thing I downloaded some TV shows from iTunes.

пока!

Au Revoir Holiday Inn

привет, my friend!

Today is my last day at the hotel! Yoo-hoo!!!!

I will move to an apartment tomorrow. Will take pics and post on the blog.

I'm now packing, which is very boring! Almost done though.

пока!

The Strange Correlation Between Weather and Housing

привет, my friend!

Starting around 11pm last night, it was a downpour in Moscow. Lightnings, thunders, heavy winds... the whole shebang. It kept on raining until today at lunch time, when the clouds finally gave way to a blue sunny sky.

I think the same phenomen happened with my house hunting. As of yesterday, the owner of the apartment I'd liked was in disagreement with our lease terms and I went to bed feeling somewhat homeless. I even sent an e-mail to the realtor to schedule some time and resume the search for an apartment. Right after lunch though, the realtor called me and told me that the owner caved in and accepted our proposal.

Today's weather forecast called for rain all day long. Thank G'd weathermen are not very realiable in Russia.

пока!

Room 1031, Just Water and No Chicken

привет, my friend!

The hotel is very good, but I've been here for almost 3 weeks and I'm starting to get bored.

Here's the level of predictability I managed to achieve:

1) When I went to have breakfast this morning, the maitre'd saw me coming in and immediately said "I know, room 1031, enjoy your breakfast".

2) The waitresses don't even offer me coffee or tea for breakfast -- they know I only drink water.

3) when I called for room service last Sunday, the attendant asked if I wanted my Caesar salad as usual, i.e., without chicken.

To make matter worse, the landlady of the apartment I liked is making some unusual requests, and the deal might be called off -- I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I trust the people that are dealing with it.

Tomorrow I may have to start looking for another apartment, which means at least 2 more weeks at room 1031 and Caesar salad without chicken. Arrrrrrgh!

пока!

Those who pray, Those who are no longer with us and A beautiful view

привет, my friend!

The day was quite nice today, so I continued touring around Moscow.

My first stop was the Novodevichy Convent. On the way, I stopped by the Luzhniki Sports Complex and found out where they are selling tickets for the Volleyball World League finals, which will be played in Moscow in 2 weeks. Brazil is already qualified and is the favorite to win.

Anyway, back to the convent: it was built in built around 1500 and then rebuilt by Peter the Great's sister Sofia in the late 1600s. When she staged a coup d'etat against him, he exiled her in the convent and hanged a couple of her friends outside her window to remind her who's the boss. NOTE: if that was Peter the Great, I wonder what Ivan the Terrible was capable of. Here's a pic of her house:

The convent was quite nice, there a very tall Bell Tower, a huge church (Smolensk Cathedral) and a smaller one (Assumption Church). Here's a pic of all three of them lined up and then just the bell tower alone:

The inside of the cathedral was really nice with frescoes on all the walls. This is a picture of the althar:

After seeing the convent, I went to the adjoining Novodevichy Cemetery. Many recent Russian important figures are buried there, such as ex-premier Nikita Khrushnev, writer Gogol, airplane designers Illyushin and Tupolev, Gorbachev's wife, author Mikhail Bulgakov and Stalin's second wife. There were several Jews buried there as well, like film director Eisenstein, pianist Rubinstein, and violinist David Oistrakh, but the only one that had any Hebrew inscription was Isaac Levitan. Here are some interesting pics.

Tupolev (I also wanted to take a pitcure of Illuyshin's, but there were some drunk soldiers around it and I was afraid of pissing them off):

Nadya Stalin -- I wonder if the purpose of the glass box is to protect the statue from being destroyed by widows and orphans of those killed by Stalin.

My last stop was Sparrow Hills, the highest point in Moscow where one can see the entire city. I came out of the subway into a park, and had to hike my way to the top of the hill. I could swear my Lonely Planet had the wrong subway station on it, when I finally spotted a tour bus and realized everything was alright. Here are some pics:

On the way back, I took a ski lift down to the river bank and walked to the subway station. I am now at the hotel, and just wrote 2 e-mails to tour companies in order to organize a visit to the Monino Air Force Museum, the largest on Soviet planes. Hope it works out!

пока!