Who Moved My Borscht?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The wings of love!

Perhaps my favorite spot in Moscow...the Luzhkov Bridge! Located next to our apartment building - it’s a traditional stop for Muscovite brides and grooms on their wedding day...

Tradition has it, after the wedding, the bride and groom, along with their closest friends, (and lots of vodka), load into a long stretch limo for wedding photos at Moscow’s most famous landmarks. This bridge is always one of the stops. The city erected numerous metal trees on the bridge to house the traditional “lock of love”. The bride and groom place a lock on the tree that has an inscription of their names and wedding date - then throw their key into the river as a sign they are locking the key to their hearts and forever throwing away the key.

On several Saturdays, I've planted myself close to the bridge to watch the parade of wedding parties - the best people watching in town!

Here’s what I saw this Saturday....

The trees with the Kremlin in the background...

A bride in her fur...

Another bride in fur and boots...

The friends and family to witness the ceremony...

Throwing the key into the river (it bounced since the river is presently frozen...)

The locks of love...

Several have defied authority and placed their locks on the bridge...

Fake money thrown on the ground as a sign of wealth to come...

Another bride and groom getting ready to toss their key...

The fur...the boots...

Apparently a bride and groom making note of their wedding day in the snow on the river....crazy!

Looking for just the right spot for their lock....

Another bride in fur...

The limo taking the party around town...

Not from Saturday - but impressive nonetheless...

You go girl! Love the Russian driver's expression...

Words fail...

And...a little video of the traditions (this is in St. Petersburg). You'll hear chanting "vodka, vodka, vodka!" and fireworks which Russians love...

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The 'hood...

I took my camera with me on my walk to the gym today. I realized there is so much amazing architecture and rich culture all around us - wanted to share more in the blog. I picked a random street to walk down - here’s what I saw:

Snow accumulation in a great park next to our building...

We often see people sitting on these benches and strolling through the park, even in this negative degree temperature! (It was -15 F while on the walk - amazed the camera continued to operate...)

A view of our apartment building from afar - one of the largest in the center of Moscow... Power plant and great sushi restaurant to the left (not one in the same)

One of the thousands of cathedrals in Moscow - found on almost every street!

The cathedral doors...

A very old wooden door outside a gated office building...

More of the white stuff piled high...

Beautiful fence around another cathedral...

Another great wooden door leading into the cathedral...

The cathedral...

Yet another cathedral with office building right behind...

Subway - eat fresh!!

The entrance to our gym...pronounced "Onegin"

And walked home a different way down a busier street...

Monday, February 14, 2011

All dressed up with someplace to go...

We entered Friday night in our book of Moscow highlights! The International Women’s Club of Moscow delivers an incredible experience with the Embassy Ball they put on every February. When we purchased a ticket we were assigned to one of the many embassies in Moscow for a lavish dinner with the Ambassador and his wife and about 20 other attendees (members of the club from all over the world). After the embassy dinner, everyone left their assigned embassy and met up at a wonderful hotel for cocktails and dancing. When we entered the ball, there were bars on each side and a huge table with nothing but vodka shots - a bit of a self-serve option if you were so inclined (when we left for the evening, the table was empty). It was quite the evening!

We were assigned the Irish Embassy. The Ambassador, His Excellency Philip McDonagh, and his wife, Dr. Ana Greenfall, were lovely hosts in their beautiful home...

At the Irish Embassy...

New friends...Steven from London and Natalia from Moscow (My Steve drinking Guinness...what else when in Ireland?)

The 2 men standing are Russian and kicked off the many rounds of toasts (which is very Russian!). The Ambassador's wife sitting at the head of the table, a German gentleman to her left, a Russian wife on the near right).

The men standing to toast the beautiful women in the room - loved it!!

Sharing a laugh with the Ambassador (he was previously the Ambassador to the Vatican and had photos of his family with the Pope throughout his home...how fantastic!)

At the ball - I believe these are the Ambassadors and wives from Chile, Peru and Columbia

On the dance floor at the end of the night...

Friday, February 11, 2011

Friday Musings...

Amazingly fantastic:

British friend in Moscow giving me a HUGE box of matches...

So I can light these...

Walking into the Christ the Savior Cathedral while the choir is singing. Learning you can share the name of a person you want to pray for and they will include it in their singing. Closest thing to pure heaven on earth.

New car so Steve can drive himself to work...although he left the window open last night...

(just kidding about the window)

Asking for directions and having a Russian walk with me for 5 minutes to show me the way....I was astounded and thanked her profusely over and over - "spasiba! spasiba!" She made my day!!!

Not banana peeling on the ice (believe it or not, I’ve yet to see one person hit the deck)...

But instead, doing what we call “the whiplash” where your boot slides about 2 feet on the ice, causing you to brace up, eyes big as saucers, head snaps back, heart rate shoots to 200 beats per minute and you do one big “body flinch”...but you stay in a vertical position. You see everyone doing this...Russians are very quiet about it....I scream loudly.

Taking three metro lines, a bus and a tram to find a small kiosk on the outskirts of town that sells a three pronged American plug adapter and converter. Danced a small jig and hugged the kiosk owner! All in the name of using our glorious wine fridge we brought from the U.S.

Having an armed guard say “zdrastvute”....which is a long word for “hello” in Russian. This almost never happens from those of authority but Steve and I got it last weekend - amazing!

A bit of a bummer:

Thinking a place on the ground is iced over only to “boot through” up to the mid calf region. Very, very cold and wet.

Finding something great and rare at the grocery store only to go back for months not being able to find it again...

Taking an “up” escalator then learning there is no “down”. Twilight Zone-esque. Finally found the elevator at the other end of the store, around the corner, up a few stairs and through the hallway. This kind of thing happens all the time. A tad bit bizarre.