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.

Kiev

The 14^th of April and spring has at last arrived in the Russian capital. This afternoon was a balmy 15 degrees. Up until today it has struggled to get much above zero.  We spent 4 hours this afternoon strolling. People everywhere, doing the same. The snow is almost gone. I saw grass – green grass! Some of the cafes have put tables outside. I confess I had been getting quite down on Moscow after 5 months of unremitting winter, but today, it all changed. Magic!  

Wendy’s work took her to Kiev for a few days the week before last and I came along to have a look at this famous Ukrainian city.

Now, first things first, and I have to get this off my chest as it did irritate me -  Ukrainians getting upset about foreigners calling their capital Kiev instead of Kyiv. It is not uncommon for languages to have names for foreign places that differ from local usage. Nothing is intended by it. The English call Deutschland ‘Germany’, the French call England ‘Angleterre’. Nobody else seems to care. 

The Ukrainian language also uses inconsistent names and pronunciations. For example, my country is pronounced AV-stralia (this doesn’t bother me at all) and the United States of America is Spaloocheni Stati Americi. So to get upset with foreigners calling Kyiv ‘Kiev’ seems just a little hypocritical.

Anyway, Kyiv or Kiev, it’s the same attractive city. 

There’s much I could say, but I like to keep my posts short or you’ll lose interest. So, a snapshot summary. If you want to know more, check somewhere like Wikipedia.

The old part of the city - bearing in mind that much was rebuilt after a serious trashing by the Nazis - lies atop the steep western bank of the Dnieper River (which is the 4^th longest river in Europe). This escarpment is wooded, so there is a long, pleasant stretch of parkland between the city and the river. The opposite side of the river is flatter and mainly park. 

Panorama of the Dnieper River. The old part of Kiev is outside the picture at left, atop the wooded escarpment. In the centre distance is another historic neighborhood, Podil, where the port facilities are located.

However, as with most European cities, further out is a wide ring of drab apartment blocks and in these most of the population live.

Back in the old city many of the buildings and churches are beautiful and the traffic is crazy. I didn’t think there could be worse footpath parkers than Moscow motorists, but Kiev drivers could give lessons. Pedestrians are an inconvenience to drivers seeking a parking spot. 

With one notable exception. The broad main avenue, Khreshchatyk, is closed to traffic on weekends. What a wonderful idea! I wish Moscow would close Tverskaya to cars on the weekend. OK, maybe that’s a bit much to ask, but perhaps the footpath at least could be a pedestrians-only zone on Saturday and Sunday?

Carless Khreshchatyk on a Sunday

St Michael's Monastery bell tower.

Kiev war memorial, located in a park overlooking the Dnieper. The statue is the 6th largest in the world at 62 metres - the sword alone is 16 metres long and weighs 9 tonnes. Its HUGE. And if you like records, Kiev also has the world's deepest metro station - Arsenalna - at 105 metres.

Independence Square. I am about to be asked for money by a strange furry animal.

Aeroflot

I grew up in the Cold War.

If one ignores the constant threat of nuclear annihilation, things were much simpler then. There was us in the West (the Good Guys) and them in the East (the Bad Guys). I suppose if one lived in Moscow there was us in the East (the Good Guys) and them in the West (the Bad Guys). That’s pretty straightforward and easy to understand as far as international politics goes.

Of course, us in the West took great delight in ridiculing anything to do with them in the East. That we knew almost nothing at all about what we were ridiculing didn’t matter in the slightest. 

The Russian national airline, Aeroflot (Air Fleet) was always a fine target. Perhaps in part because the name of the airline was just so easy to joke around with – ‘Aeroflop’. We would imagine worn-out aircraft with wooden benches; cranky, dumpy flight attendants tossing miserable passengers a boiled potato; pre-flight safety instructions consisting of ‘shut up and keep still’; together with a 50% chance or less of actually arriving at the destination.

With that sort of mental baggage, I was apprehensive about my first Aeroflot flight. In fact, I hadn’t actually seen an Aeroflot plane until we came to Moscow. They don’t venture any closer to Australia than Bangkok. 

For those of my Australian readers who have never seen an Aeroflot plane, this is what one looks like.

 Having now flown with the airline several times since arriving in Moscow, I can assure anyone who may be considering or concerned about flying with Aeroflot that it is a perfectly good modern airline, no different to flying with any other air passenger service. It runs modern Airbuses, the staff are generally courteous (some of the check-in staff still have a little to learn about customer service, though the flight attendants are always nice); the interior decor of the aircraft is a pleasant dark blue (no, not red!), and it meets modern safety standards – which is a hell of a lot safer than being on the roads.

The Metro 4 - Ploshchad Revolyutsi

Ploshchad Revolyutsi (Revolution Square) metro station was opened in 1938. It's a popular station with visitors to Moscow. I occasionally see people with cameras, even small tour groups, in the station on quiet days. 

The station contains numerous bronze statues of figures engaged in various activities, particularly Soviet-style workers, soldiers and sports people. While I admire the excellent workmanship of the statues, I do find that the station feels a little cramped and gloomy. I was therefore interested to read recently that the government commission that approved the station also noticed this. Apparently it was Stalin’s admiration for the lifelike statues that allowed the opening to proceed as planned.

Ploshchad Revolyutsi station.

  An obvious feature of the statues are the occasional shining golden patches on the otherwise darkly oxidised surfaces. Watching for a while, you will notice people passing by often touch the statues in those spots. The wear of thousands of fingers has kept the metal bright. It seems that touching the statues brings various forms of luck. The girl student’s foot is supposed to remedy a broken love affair and the border guard’s dog brings good luck with exams.

The guard dog's nose gets a good work out from fretting students

The chickens evidently don't offer much luck.

Archway to the platform. Just feels a bit cramped to me.

Tunnel (or perechod) between Plochchad Revolyutsi and Teatralnaya stations. It is possible to move considerable distances under central Moscow using these perechods, which is a great advantage during the winter.