In the next couple of posts I will cover Russia’s capital city, Moscow. I lived there twice, from 2008-9 and from 2013-2019. The two experiences were completely different, and in this post I will describe the Moscow of the earlier years. I arrived in December 2007, just in time for the Russian winter, and my overwhelming memory of this time was of dark, grey skies, intimidating buildings and insane traffic jams.
The streets were cold and unfriendly. There were a lot of stray dogs roaming around, a few beggars and homeless people, and old “babushkas” trying to make ends meet by selling items they had knitted.
My own flat was in a well-known building, the Dom Rossiya, built just before the revolution to provide flats for Moscow’s emerging middle class. After the revolution it was converted to communal flats for workers, with each large apartment converted into several small ones, accessed from a long corridor leading to a communal kitchen. With the return to capitalism, many of these “communalkas” had been converted back into large flats, offices, or artists studios. Dom Rossiya’s many entrances and staircases were a hive of activity and each was slightly different. Mine was particularly run-down, and often smelt of urine, since homeless people (“Bomsh” in Russian slang) would come in and sleep there at night. But once I crossed the threshold of my flat, I entered a completely different world………..a 300m2 apartment, of which half had been designed as a venue for concerts, with rows of seats on two levels in a semi-circle around a grand piano.
Many people assume that the Russian winter is hard to live through because it cold, but is not true – the interiors of buildings are kept warm (and often uncomfortably hot) by a huge city-wide communal hot water system. No, the Russian winter of 2007-8 was hard because of the lack of light. For five months the sun rises late and sets early, and even during the day the sky was usually a dark grey colour, as the city was covered with the smog from thousands of old cars sitting in huge traffic jams. After the long winter comes a short spring, but things don’t get much better. The winter snow thaws and turns into a yucky brown slush that coats your trousers and shoes.
Finally, the snow melts away and the good weather arrives – and everyone leaves their cramped apartments and comes outside to celebrate. Sometimes this happens early with the orthodox Easter in late April or early May…….
But more traditionally the good weather starts around Victory Day celebrations on the 9th, which are taken very seriously in Russia, a country that lost around a quarter of its population during World War II through military action or starvation. Of course, there is the famous parade on this day, but there are dozens of other activities taking place all through the city – concerts, lectures, fairground activities, street stalls selling WWII soldiers’ rations…. In 2008, there were still some war veterans alive, and there was a touching tradition of people offering them flowers.
June, July and August bring the Russian summer. Just as winter is cold and dark, the summer is warm and light. The sun seems to hang in the air as a great glowing ball of fire, reluctant to dip below the horizon, and bathing the city in a strange orange light. The streets, once lonely and cold, fill with people enjoying drinks on pavement cafes, listening to excellent street performers, or simply strolling around and enjoying the weather.
Apart from enjoying central Moscow, summer is also a great time to visit some of the attractions a bit further away, like VDNK, an exhibition centre built to celebrate the different republics that made up the Soviet Union and their supposed harmonious friendship….
….or some of the old aristocratic or royal palaces that surround the city
….or the pretty towns of the “Golden Ring”, like the important religious centre, Sergeev Posad.
The Moscow autumn is very short. The weather beings to change in September. In October, the leaves suddenly fall from the trees over a couple of short weeks and in November, the first snow usually falls, and the long winter begins again.
The Moscow of 2008-9 was an amazing place, full of contradictions and (usually pleasant) surprises. At first site, the Moscovites were a dour, unsmiling bunch, but once I got to know people, I made many lasting friendships. The city felt safe, because there were always lots of police on the streets, but in my relatively small expat community there were several violent deaths from bungled robberies or traffic accidents. When you went out, you could never be sure how the evening would end – quietly going back home or getting caught up in some drunk adventure with crazy Russians. One day I was walking over the bridge leading to the Kremlin with my chief editor, when we were accosted by a group of very merry ladies who were standing next to a stretch limousine and drinking cognac. They invited us to go for a drive, and……. the rest of the story can be read in my book, Caviar, Vodka and Tears.
There was one special place that for me summed up the chaotic Moscow of 2008-9. It was a small parking area a short distance away from Red Square and was usually deserted. Directly in front of me, was a beautiful 17th century orthodox church. In the distance on the horizon, stood one of the “seven sisters” – impressive buildings commission by Stalin to celebrate the might of the Soviet Union.
And to the right was the shell of an abandoned hotel surrounded by waste ground. This was the once elite Rossiya Hotel, used to accommodate dignitaries visiting the Kremlin. It was finished in 1967 but aged rapidly and was closed in 2006. A project was agreed to convert the area into an entertainment complex, but the developer who won the contract was accused of corruption and fled to the UK, leaving the decaying site you can see in the photo below.
The power of the church, the state, and omnipresent corruption – this one vista summed up contemporary Moscow perfectly.
My next post will present the Moscow of 2013-2109, a city transformed by massive investment. Stay tuned to see how it changed and what happened to my favourite view!
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