GUM: the Main Universal Shop. The 120th anniversary.

Before 1815 the site had been occupied by trading stalls. Retail trade and whole sale prospered there. The stalls needed renovation badly but the tenants were against it since it would decrease their revenue. The building was in such a bad condition that "once a layer of plaster fell on the buyers, but another time, a lady, trying on a velvet dress that suited her very well, failed through the rotten floor, broke her leg and so was taken to the hospital in the unpaid new dress. The owner was afraid to remind her about it, at the meantime being happy that she didn’t recover for her loss."

However, after a long-term opposition between the government officials and merchants who owned the stalls and the plots of land on which they were located,  in 1893 the grand opening of a new building of the Upper trading stalls took place. You can learn more about the GUM building construction on its site.

Nowadays it is  an enormous boutique with hundreds of departments. Its one side overlooks Red Square and the others - picturesque old-fashioned narrow Moscow streets. It also houses the Gastronome №1 (a large food shop), some cafes, and occasional exhibitions.

It's better to be feared than loved. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 

The press-conference, 19th December (broadcast by public channels all over Russia) held to honour putin's reign and general effulgence was preceded by the detention of 20 activists.
The people had come in order to hand over to putin the letter of support for Bolotnaya's square held prisoners.
The policemen refused to introduce themselves.
It's getting scary here… really.

Taking a walk along the Moskva River: a pedestrian in Moscow.

Moscow is not a pedestrian friendly city. Cars parked on pavements, scarcely located underground walkways, too many people who normally rush around.

Well, I know I can't help grudging about the city. Here I would offer a route from the Novospassky Monastery along the Moskva River to the Red Square and further on to Tverskaya street, a pompous reminder of Stalin's Empire style.

The detailed map is here. 

You may start at Proletarskaya underground station then take your time relaxing in the garden of the Novospassky Monastery where you should also have a meal. Beware:  a walk along the river will take 2-3 hours and there are not so many crossings or underground pedestrian walkways. As far as I remember there were 2 or 3 of them.

Once you start your trip along the embankment, you won't get much chance to cross the road which is all along the embankment and is a very busy one. Strange but true: there aren't benches or any facilities for taking a break on the embankment.

However, the views unfolding will reward you for some inconvenience. 

Novospassky Monastery

I've already written about the Monastery.

Here is yesterday's account of my visit to the Monastery. It's the time of roses blossoming.

Useful links for those who study Russian

The Russian language is quite popular nowadays. Recent political events have caused the interest in Russian culture.

Learning Russian is certainly NOT a piece of cake. So I wish patience to those who's got the nerve to do it. With a little help from your friends you may succeed eventually.

You may watch Russian cartoons  here.  From the Soviet ones to modern. (in Russian, of course)

An extensive and exhaustive collection of classical Russian literature pieces records are here. From Dostoyevsky to Platonov. (in Russian)

Lenfilm (Leningrad Film) production channel which I've recently discovered will introduce you to a great number of classic Russian films of the Soviet period (which most of us, Russians consider the golden age of film production in the country).

The film I particularly adore is "A stranger's wife and a husband under the bed" after Fedor Dostoyevsky's novel, which is one of the lightest comedies portraying the life of the 19th century average man. If you study Russian, there's one more advantage: the language of it is quite simple relating to daily problems and worries which we all might encounter (hopefully, not...))

A number of Russian novels by Gogol, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky were made into movies by Lenfilm. You can also find them on the Youtube channel. 

Russian summer soup or Green shchi.

Russian Cuisine is something not so expansively promoted as Italian Cuisine. However, overall Russian food is healthier if we delve into the subject. Sugar, coffee, cakes were not common in the mostly argricultural country. Such vegetables as beetroot, cabbage, turnip were cooked in stoves (pech') I think if nowadays chefs were not so narrow-mindedly concentrated on making pizzas,  frog's legs or foie Gras  they would learn a lot from what was Russian Cuisine in the past.

Дело против Навального - Дело против меня.

Navalny is changing the whole course of Russian politics.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16057045

“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mahatma Ganndhi
    

Vladimir, Art Centre and some restaurants

The statuette depicting lives of the Russians of 19th century.

The Museum of Local History in Vladimir.

It is as much sad as it is funny.

Vladimir, more sights to see

I've written about some hotels and souvenirs you might bring from Vladimir here and about Vladimir Art Centre here. In this post I 'll write about the Nunnery with mostly preserved frescoes, art gallery, restaurants of Vladimir.

Well, you will certainly enjoy  Uspensky Cathedral: not only Rublev's frescoes but also the rich baroque iconostasis.  However, take a walk around the city: there are many more sights to see.

View Vladimir in a larger map

Vladimir, the Golden Ring of Russia

We went to Vladimir in May but I didn't have time to properly arrange the material so it's a bit late. Here I'm going to write about what guides are like in Russia, our experience of checking in hotels, and nice things you can buy from a souvenir shop.

Vladimir is an administrative centre of the Vladimirsky region about 200 km from Moscow, one of the  cities of the Golden Ring of Russia. Population is about 350 thousand people. The city is older than Moscow(1147),  was founded in 1108.  Since 1157 it was the capital of Russia.

The city is on the Klyaz'ma River and several hills which makes it very picturesque.

It is particularly famous for the Uspensky Cathedral with the restored frescoes by Andrey Rublev and Daniil Cherny (1158) and Dmitrievsky Cathedral (1194). Those are the sights tourists are dragged to by unimaginative tourist agents in Vladimir regardless the fact they could show them more aspects of it.

The picture below is the view of Uspensky Cathedral from the Museum of Local History (ethnographical).