Happy New year (in) Moscow ;)

Hello everybody, and have a nice year!
Some pictures from Moscow to show the holiday season. The weather was not specially winter one, but funally we have some snow. At least a little bit, though not everywhere.



In the center (technically it is an island in the middle of Moscow).

Typical Megalopolis Christmas tree

Some trolleybuses have been repainted to make the streets more colorful and ready for celebration. Perhaps that was the plan, though don`t know for how long the words about the New year will be on board (I mean they might look a bit bizarre later in the year). I also saw the tram driver in the costume of Father Frost (our Russian Santa Claus, looks the same). Well, that was a nice idea, makes people smile :)

Near where I live - the Metro station "Prazhskaya" (named after Prague, to confirm the "friendship" during the Soviet times)

Another one in the same area, but on the other side - close to the shopping center.

Many office and shop entrances are decorated with something looking like the X-mas trees


"Chanel" written in Russian.

The hot-dog spot

Undecorated but real. The red-ish building on the horizon is the Moscow city hall.

While Saturday walk with my friend we also found the Wish-tree. Examples of wishes (read there and translated here): "Wish to pass the winter university exams on the Customs law", "Wanna cool boyfriend and an I-pod", "Would like to study in the acting (theatrical) colledge and a car", and lots of healthy-wealthy wishes.

Near the Moscow City Hall.

Near the Kremlin, entrance to the Red Square

Fifty meters apart - the next one. With two policemen on the horses (the town center exotica) and the police people truck (is it exotica?)

This year innovation - the flying snowmen :)


In the Indian food place, mixing the styles :)

In the bookstore

Bye now and have fun!
From Moscow, photographed with love :)

The conference and some fun

The conference for one hundred and a half teachers and professors all over Russia - done. We are very tired. Participants are very happy. We are very proud.

Three days of living in the middle of the forest outside of Moscow without actually seeing it. One of the comments: “Well, it`s like the monastery: you brought us here and never let us out”. Lectures, discussions, open space work etcetera – for participants. Contracts, money, guests and program, food, lodging and transportation logistics, sleaping with the cell phone – for us. Some fun on the last evening: we`ve invited the photograph people with costumes. That was fun – choosing between feather boas and lace caps. We were doing the old style, and that`s how it looks now.

Our team (am always quite careful about publishing other people faces but it should not be a problem now as we are proud of ourselves and pretty open minded about that).

Do you like my jeans? (the “before” shot).

And yes, we already have an X-mas tree in the office.

Patrick and Patricia. Plus Amel and us :)

The welcome news for Moscow based francofollies (if there is such a term) – “chanson francaise” is getting closer and closer.

Patrick Fiori – yesterday, Patricia Kass – a week earlier, both in the Kremlin palace, which is actually able to accommodate six thousand persons at once, but having been created for official ceremonies, communist conferences and stuff like that - it just doesn’t have any ambience suitable for shows. Somehow you never feel or behave naturally there. The famous Kremlin security people also never help with the concert atmosphere. Anyway...



Patrick Fiori. Very energetic, with charming voice. "The thrilling voice”, as the announcement says. Sweet melodic songs, with several vigorous digressions to make people jump (and be stopped by the securities). He on the stage allowed running and jumping a bit, even entering the public zone (again, escorted by the guards – nothing wrong the girls could do to him, but it is always like this in Kremlin). I think he himself was pretty excited by the thought of singing there. In short, Monsieur Fiori is in a very good shape and as a result the audience was singing, shouting, applauding, feeling excited and thrilled, and that was nice to be part of it. According to the tradition there were a lot (a lot!) of flowers, so the girls were taking their chances to have a quick handshake with “him”. Just to clarify: of course the hall was not totally full, but it was okay considering its whole size and the amount of locals interested in French culture. Advertising also was not really serious but finally it turned out to be a very welcoming event and our guest can feel quite impressed that he managed to make a good show in all local circumstances.


Patricia Kaas. Good, very good. Again, it is worth keeping in mind that she is the best known French female singer – here (in Russia) and now. The most well known male one is Aznavour I guess. People know some others of course, and such experts like me (hahah) knows all the rest but generally it is like this: everybody in Russia expects that it is only Patricia Kaas who exists in France, and almost everybody can remember a couple of her early days hit-melodies. That is only partially fair because since then (late eighties) she has obviously done lots of other things but at least that shows her popularity in Russia. This new show is quite experimental: a mixture of cabaret traditions and modern electronic sound. Lots of black color, the big screen showing her close looks with no attempts of decorating. Such a dark glamour – sincere and sombre, a bit mysterious, very feminine showing her feelings, thoughts and sufferings. There were new songs and the oldies. I got an impression that the audience was not ready for such a show – which speaks good for it. It was a bit difficult (even for me, hahah again) to understand the whole conception, the language of course, all other details which mattered. And also as we (me and my concert buddy) decided it would be better in smaller halls, with tables and perhaps some wine. I think it is planned like that for Europe. As I said the Kremlin is not a totally singers-friendly concert hall. It is always fun – though a bit sad – to look around during the concert to see people trying to seat quietly because it is not allowed to come closer to the stage. And the whole huge "territory" of the hall doesn`t look cozy enough.


Another topic here: Moscow prices which are always shocking. Starting from twenty euros (which is okay though the balcony is really high and far away) and up to whatever, to almost a thousand in those cases. Besides there are also several rows for VIPs, entertained for free on the best seats. By the way Madame Medvedeva (the President`s wife) was attending the Kaas`s concert. I told you she is popular, Patricia :)

So considering all those circumstances (desire to visit the “French” event, the prices and an uncomfortable surrounding) it is always the best deal to pay less and then to seat better, which we managed again, after some manoeuvring in the dark. By “we” I mean myself and Slava whom some of you may remember from the “Zazie-en-Russie” video which we shot last autumn. It was done to participate in some sort of competition and to entertain us (creating it was a big fun). Feel free to enjoy it again – this example of us being enthusiastic and a bit naive :)

And back to the francophone events in Moscow. Even Amel Bent was here last Sunday, though I missed her show because didn`t have enough curiosity (or free money) to visit it. The handwritten note on the advert says: “Persons under eighteen years old are not allowed, take your passport” :)) It`s nothing to do with her naked knees on the photo (I hope) - it should be because the concert was in the night club.



So that was a short story – a little bit about almost everything, bye now :)