Trams

One of the reasons I love Melbourne is the trams. So I was pleased to find Moscow also has plenty of carriages rattling along its streets.

I have, though, got into the habit of using the Metro (underground rail) in Moscow and only recently hopped on to a tram. It was wonderful to see something other than dark tunnel walls screeching by. 

Apart from the Metro (and taxis), there are three main public transport options in Moscow – trams, trolleybuses and buses. The same ticket works on all three (though not on the Metro, which has a separate ticketing system). Tickets can be purchased at kiosks as shown in the photo below. The kiosks are quite common, especially near transport hubs. I usually buy a ticket for 10 trips, which costs 195 roubles (about $6).

And this is how it’s done:

Just go to the ticket office window, say 10 in Russian (pronounced de-yea-sit) and plonk 200 roubles on the little counter. The person in the kiosk won’t be the slightest bit interested in engaging in conversation, nor will they give a rat’s how good or bad your Russian is, as long as you can intelligibly say 10 (or just show them ten fingers). In return you’ll be given a blue ticket and 5 roubles change. 

When you get on the tram/bus/trolleybus you’ll be confronted with a turnstile and a yellow ticket machine. Put the ticket into the slot in the yellow machine with the arrow facing forwards and the blank (not the blue) side of the ticket facing up. The machine will validate the ticket and the turnstile light will show green. Grab your validated ticket and enter. That’s all there is to it.

Today we took a long trip across the northern suburbs of Moscow, from near Crocus City to Izmaylovsky Park. My intention had been to use 4 tram routes, plus one short trolleybus journey. Unfortunately, one of the tram routes was not operating and we had to take a bus and trolleybus to bridge the gap.

I’ll outline the journey, as if you are in Moscow on an extended stay and have a spare day, it’s a pleasant outing. I suggest, though, that you pick up a copy of the public transport guide (cover below) beforehand and take a decent map or street directory. People who are not interested in a tram ride across northern Moscow may now prefer to check out something interesting on You Tube.

Moscow public transport guide

 Take the Metro to Strogino (СТРОГИНО) on the dark blue line (3), to the northwest of the city. This, by the way, is one stop short of the metro station for the major shopping and entertainment complex of Crocus City (metro stop МЯКИНИНО), which I’ll write about another time. A short walk away is the tram line. Catch the number 30. This is an enjoyable ride, which includes a scenic crossing of the Moscow River and terminates at Voykovskaya (ВОЙКОЛСКАЯ), where there is a large, very modern shopping mall called Metropolis (where I usually do my grocery shopping). 

From here, take the 27 tram which terminates at Dmitrovskaya (ДМИТРОВСКАЯ). Follow the other alighting passengers, as the route to the metro station isn’t immediately obvious. On the way you will pass through a great covered passage with market stalls. These two trams rides would probably be enough for an enjoyable morning – if so, catch the metro home from here. 

However, if you are determined to traverse northern Moscow above ground, as we were, you will need to catch the number 3 trolleybus along ШОССЕ БYТЫРСКАЯ to Mendeleevskaya (МЕНДЕЛЕЕВСКАЯ) metro station. Here you can join the 7 tram to Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad metro station (ПРЕОБРАЖЕНСКАЯ ПЛОЩАДь – try saying that after a couple of vodkas) and change to the number 11 tram, which will take you to journey’s end at Izmaylovskaya Park. 

Unfortunately the number 7 tram was not running today, which messed up our planning a tad. That’s why I recommend taking the public transport guide and a decent map – in case contingency planning is required. Otherwise, there is always a Metro station somewhere nearby. 

Inside a Moscow tram

The tram terminus at Voykovskaya

View of the Moscow River from the number 30 tram

Gorky House

Not far from Patriarch’s Pond (see previous post) is Gorky House. We went there yesterday.

Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was a notable writer during the Soviet era. He must have been in Stalin’s good books as he was gifted this house in 1931 and lived there until he died a few years later. The house is now a museum to his life and work. 

I’ll be honest and say I have never read any of Gorky’s work. Ploughing through the writings of Russians who had too much winter time on their hands generally doesn’t appeal to me. I was trained as a scientist and taught to write concisely, so am inclined to lose patience with long gossipy conversations in Russian drawing rooms. However, I did enjoy Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’, and found Dostoyevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment’ moderately interesting, though I felt it could have used a good edit at times. I gave up after 300 pages of ‘The Idiot’. Many of Anton Chekov’s short stories are entertaining. 

The main reason to visit the house, if one is not familiar with Gorky’s writing, is the architecture. The residence was designed by Fyodor Shekhel and built in 1906 for a wealthy Russian banker. The banker emigrated after the Revolution. 

The beginning of the 20^th century was the time of Art Nouveau, with its flowing organic designs and  motifs based on nature and fairies. The leadlight panels and carved woodwork of Gorky House are typical of this style. The centrepiece is a carved limestone staircase, which descends to a  leadlight lamp vaguely resembling a jellyfish. 

Staircase and 'jellyfish' lamp.

 The exterior appearance of the premises, on the other hand, surprised me. Despite knowing the address and having the location marked on a tourist map, we walked past it. The wall along the street is deteriorating, the garden neglected and the outside of the building unprepossessing. Signage was minimal. 

There is no entry fee, only a 100 rouble charge (about $3)  to take photographs. Although not busy, there was a steady stream of visitors.

Gorky was not the writer’s original name. He was born Alexei Maximovich Peshkov. ‘Gorky’ is a Russian word that means ‘bitter’. He took this name in 1892 while working for a newspaper in which he would report the bitter truth. 

Gorky Park literally translated therefore means Bitter Park and Tverskaya Street, called Gorky Street during Soviet times, was Bitter Street. Perhaps not the most suitable name for Moscow’s main commercial boulevard.

Now that I’ve seen Maxim Gorky’s hat and overcoat, I’ll look up some of his writing.

Looking down on the 'jellyfish' lamp

First floor landing (this is the 2nd floor in Russia, where the ground floor is called the 1st)

Maxim Gorky's study, with his collection of oriental miniatures.

Wonderful reptilian column capital

Wendy on the marvelous Art Nouveau staircase

Follow this link to see the location of Gorky House on Google Maps

Patriarch's Pond

Sorry I haven’t written for a while. Wendy’s work took us away again, this time to St Petersburg and Helsinki. I’ll write a post about those places when I’ve had a chance to browse through the photographs.

It has been warm with passing thunderstorms in Moscow the past few days. The occasional downpours have made it fairly humid.

I thought today I’d write a post about a small park near our apartment called Patriarch’s Pond. 

Patriarch's Pond. The building contains a restaurant.

The Patriarch is the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the past he may have lived close to the pond and I assume the Church must have once owned it. It seems they stocked it with fish. Wikipedia also says an 18th century Patriarch’s goat, called Sloboda, used to hang out here.

Originally a swampy piece of ground, after the fire that razed most of Moscow during Napoleon’s 1812 occupation (exactly 200 years ago), this area was revamped. Apparently 3 ponds were created, which were later amalgamated into the single one seen today.

When the Bolsheviks took control in 1917, pleasant evenings fishing by the pond with his trusty goat were over for the Patriarch. The pond was renamed Pioneer Pond, only getting its original name back with the end of the Soviet Union. 

More recently, there was a shopping mall and car park proposal for the site, which was thankfully canned. As Moscow drivers would rather park on the footpath than pay to use a parking station, it would have been a pointless construction anyway.

The park is now within an affluent residential district, not far from Mayakovskaya metro station. In the winter it freezes and is groomed for skating. With the arrival of summer, the kiddies playground is getting a lot of use, as are the paths. It’s a pleasant place for an evening stroll for both Muscovites and expats.

Skating on Patriarch's Pond. February 2012

Slippery dip on to the pond

The plaques show scenes from tales by a popular 19th century Russian fairy story writer named Ivan Krylov.

Follow this link to see the location of Patriarch's Pond on Google Maps

Cyrillic

Nothing says one is in a foreign land quite like an exotic alphabet. With its inverted letters and strange symbols, Russian Cyrillic script gives a touch of romance to the most mundane streetscape. 

The script was originally conceived and promoted by followers of Cyril (hence Cyrillic) and Methodius. These two 9^th century Byzantine brothers became Christian missionaries to the Slavic people in what is now the region around Bulgaria.

A knowledge of Cyrillic, even without understanding a word of Russian, is very helpful in Moscow. Many words common to English (and other Western European languages) are used on Russian signs. In Cyrillic, they may at first appear indecipherable. Learn how to pronounce the letters, though, and quite a lot of information about one’s surroundings can be picked while up strolling the street.  

The following photo was taken in Tverskaya. Even without knowing Cyrillic you can probably guess that the green sign belongs to a Starbucks (there are a lot of Starbucks’ cafes in Moscow). If I also tell you C is pronounced S; P is R;  Ƃ is B; and ɸ is F, then you can work out for yourself that CTAPƂAKC KOɸE is pronounced, yes, ‘Starbuck’s Coffee’ (said with a Russian accent, of course). 

Notice the cars parked on the footpath - my favorite gripe about this city.

 Also take a look at the red sign above Starbucks. On the left is the word PECTOPAH. It is not pronounced as it looks! Already knowing P sounds like R, if I also tell you that H sounds as N, then the word becomes ‘Restauran’. Also notice the word ΠEKИHCKAЯ. Π is P; И is EE; and Я is YA. So it is pronounced PEKEENSKAYA. From this you could correctly conclude that it is a Chinese restaurant (assuming you hadn’t already worked it out from the external décor) and get a meal.

Here’s another photo taken nearby. With the letters already provided previously, plus my telling you that Y is pronounced OO (and that a K is obscured by the lamppost), it’s easy to work out that the blue sign indicates a supermarket. If I also add that Г is G; an inverted V is pronounced L; and that you can ignore the little b symbol; then you’ll be able to find your way to a Grill & Bar.

The next photo is a Cyrillicised French word. The inverted half-moon is actually meant to be an inverted V (the half-moon shape is for advertising effect I guess). The word is L’Etoille. The Star. If I give you Ю = YOO, together with the information I’ve provided previously you can work out for yourself from the other words in the photo what is sold at L’Etoille (assuming you don’t already know this chain).

Finally, here are a couple of other interesting examples of English in Cyrillic.

Cycling in Moscow

At last, cycling weather.

I couldn’t find much information about opportunities to ride bicycles in Moscow before we arrived. What I did see was not encouraging. In particular I recall watching a You Tube video shot by some nutty guy cycling through the Moscow traffic with a camera strapped to his head. It was pretty scary. 

My winter explorations by foot and ski had convinced me there would be places to ride once the snow disappeared. There are plenty of large parks and there is a path along the river, though I didn’t know how far this went. The main problem would be linking them together. There was no way I was riding on those roads.

I have no idea whether it is legal to ride bicycles on the footpath in Moscow. But what the heck – people park on the pavement and I have even seen motorists drive along it looking for somewhere to park. A bicycle is comparatively innocuous. So I have become a footpath cyclist. Thus far, no one has taken the slightest bit of notice.

Last Saturday we took a ride along the northern bank of the river. So far I have measured 22 kilometres of cycle friendly path. The route ends at a road and a wall about 6 kilometres east of the Kremlin, but to the west, it follows the long bend in the river past Sparrow Hills, at least as far as the skyscrapers of Moscow City. 

Me cycling beside the Moscow River. The Kremlin walls in the background (photo by Wendy)

 

I see few other cyclists, and most of those, like me, are on the footpath. This is not a bicycle-friendly city. With a bit of patience and care though, it is not only possible, but an enjoyable way to get around. 

Wendy on one of the very few marked cycle paths in Moscow. The skyscrapers of Moscow City (which is several kilometres from the Kremlin) in the background, Sparrow Hills across the river on the left.

Of course, painting a bit of green on the footpath in no way negates a driver's right to park on it.

A few kilometres further on the green paint has run out. The covered bridge at Kievskaya in the middle distance..

Lebedyansky Lake

In January I posted an item about Izmailovsky Park which included a picture of Lebedyansky Lake. I took a walk in the park today and photographed the lake again from a similar location.

Follow this link to see the location of Izmaylovsky Park on Google Maps

Summer arrives

I have recently returned from 3 weeks in the eastern USA. Wendy had a meeting in Washington for a few days, so I added a week on either side to visit New York and have a look around the Appalachians and Niagara Falls.  

This might seem a little extravagant so soon after a fortnight in Turkey, but seeing these places while we are in Russia makes a lot of sense. I have always wanted to visit New York, but the journey from Australia takes about 24 hours and is considerably more expensive than the 9 hour flight from Moscow.

It was also pleasant to spend some time in an English-speaking country. It can become a bit isolating, spending one’s days in a city where most of the conversation is all but incomprehensible. Though the speech of some Americans can be as difficult to understand as Russian. I gave up trying to order at one salad bar in New York – the youth behind the counter was using an almost unrecognisable dialect of English.

I returned to Moscow last weekend and have been struggling with jet lag since. I find it much harder to go from west to east than the other direction. Heading in the same direction as the sun, one simply gets a longer day (or night). 

But going west to east is like going against the grain of time. I woke in the morning, caught my flight, journeyed through a short sleepless night, arrived in Moscow the following morning and then had to stay up until the evening. Two short days, a short night and a completely confused biorhythm. 

Moscow is transformed. There had been just a hint of spring before I left. But spring seems to have been and gone while I was away and the city has already moved into summer. Rather than a gradual transition between seasons, it is as if a coin has flipped. 

All those trees I had become convinced were dead sticks are fully leaved, the snow has gone and cafes have put tables out on the footpath.  

Yesterday I took a walk in a large forest park a little northwest of the city called Timiryazeva. Plenty of people enjoying the sun. Some have dusted off their bicycles. A couple of sunburnt backs beside the lake. This is a pleasant park, but probably not one a visitor to Moscow should bother with unless they have plenty of time on their hands (I’m talking months). 

Walking track in Timiryazeva Park. With the burst of green and accompanying tee shirt weather, Moscow is suddenly a different city.

 The northern end of the park, where the lake is located, is the most visitor friendly. Here most of the happy family activity occurs. 

Part of the lake in Timiryazeva. Just a few weeks ago, this would have been frozen.

Towards the south, tracks deteriorate into muddy pools and there are far fewer people about. This end of the park is probably not the sort of place I would go for a stroll in the evening. 

The ubiquitous bird feeding house. I see these in most parks. They may help the few birds that hang around during winter to survive. After 6 months of seeing nothing but ravens, pigeons and sparrows, I am now seeing more varieties.