Russia

I wanted to find photos of something warm and cozy when writing this post, but well… ) Autumn in Russia is warm enough. It was always my most favourite time of year, when trees turn red and yellow and some stay green, there are leaves on the grass everywhere. The winter is not there yet (cause you always know when it is there, not like in Ireland). Autumn in Russia is usually sunny, rarely rainy and overall – cozy. Dont know, maybe this is how I see it now, people tend to idealize things they had in the past, but I liked it.

I took those pictures when I was in Moscow last month, its still that exhibition area on the South of Moscow. The distances are huge there, if you look at the space between the pavilions – all Cork city center could fit in there) It was made for slow walks, bicycle rides. I bought my first roller blades there and tried them out in the same time. Good times)

This is the Ferris wheel that I took these pictures from.

It’s very interesting, that Soviet times have this golden-marble-cold-war-KGB reputation in Europe. I blame James Bond movies for that, but there must be another reason. But what else?..
Even though I wasn’t really an adult back then, I just can’t idealize those times. I remember gold and marble, red flags and parades, but I also remember endless queues in the stores, same clothes everywhere, same groceries if there were any at all. I can be nostalgic about events of my life back then, but not about the times overall.

Getting to the point here. This is the All-Russian-Exhibition center that I already showed a bit from the Ferris wheel. Now this is something that presents that Soviet chic in all it’s glory. I loved to walk there, but well, places like this advertise Soviet glory more than anything.

Each pavilion represented one of the friendly republics or countries, and they were used to show and sell the local goods. Right now the themes are mixed, you can still see that pavilions were used for something else not that long ago, but right now you can buy medical supplies, electronics, musical instruments there and much more.

It’s like a paradise for the nostalgic person – old marble pavilions, some of them are abandoned and forgotten, some of them have been reconstructed and are shining with all the glory of the golden statues. You can buy Soviet doughnuts there and “shahlyk” (barbecued meat) right on the streets. It’s a great place for a walk, a bit misleading, but still great.

Ok, I’m back ) Spent 8 days in Moscow and looks like I survived it!
In the first 3 days I had some free time and could drive around, do some shopping and see Moscow from the tourist perspective, which was interesting. In the last 4 days I was working on Igromir, it’s a Russian game convention, and the experience there was very awesome, a lot of surprises though, but I returned back tired and happy)

So, back to today’s pictures. In the first day in Moscow we went to the “All-Russian exhibition center” how it’s called in English, ВДНХ in Russian. It’s a huge exhibition area in this Soviet Union style – golden statues of workers and peasants holding rye and sickles, fountains, huge marble buildings with Soviet emblems on top. This area must attract a lot of tourists, but it’s located too far from the city center. In Soviet times each pavilion there was dedicated to one country of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and to some friendly countries like. In old times representatives from those countries showed and sold local goods in these pavilions.

Right now there is no real distinction by countries inside the pavilions, but still they carry the names of old republics. In that area it’s best to buy medical goods, handcraft stuff like bead or textiles, honey and the most tasty Russian doughnuts in the world )

Also there is an amusement park and we couldn’t resist the 75-meter Ferris wheel since the weather was so good. We took the open cabin and omg I didn’ know it would be that scary ) But I looked mostly through the camera and survived )

This is not the type of cabin we had. What we had was basically a chair with straps hanging on the height of 75 meters.

On this picture you can see few open cabins