Annual festival "Zerkalo" honouring Andrey Tarkovsky

The festival is called after one of the most remarkable films by Tarkovsky, Zerkalo (the Mirror) 1974.  The film is autobiographical. A famous and irresistible Russian  actress Margarita Terekhova is starring as a protagonist of Andrey's mother.

The beauty of Margarita Terekhova, which the time has spared regardless hard work and much emotional burden of starring in lots of Russian films, is of that rare now kind which enlightens everything around and stands alone, not the kind of "American beauty" that is so standardized that makes people sick. 

The festival takes place at the locations:

A one-day trip to Tver 3

A one-day trip to Tver 1 

A one-day trip to Tver 2 + map

It's high time to tell you about our cafe experience which was truly very pleasant. You know there are towns around Moscow that can boast good cuisine and cosy, stylish restaurants at  prices MUCH lower than those in Moscow. 

However, since the place looked like an ordinary eatery for having snacks,  without any hope for anything special we dropped in Dobrynya Cafe on Sovetskaya street .  

 However, the salad was exceptional. 

A one-day trip to Tver 2

I have started a series of posts about Tver here.

A trip to Tver only takes 1.5-2.5 hours depending on the traffic. Well, for Russians its nothing. In this post I am going to add to the image of Tver as a relaxing and pleasant city.

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The central streets are wide, not cluttered with traffic, clean with impressive architecture enthralling the passers-by.

You can walk both along the Volga or the city centre - anyways you won't be disappointed.

The view from Stepan Razin street across the Volga. 

The Moscow Times June 4th

The following extract is exactly what most people, having access to the Internet or some other sources of information except for official television propaganda, feel like.

The extract is from Vladimir Ryzhkov's article "Guriev is Latest Victim of Putin's Police State".

" ... The new wave of Russian emigration is qualitatively different from that of the 1990s. After the Soviet collapse, Russians emigrated because of the chaos, economic insecurity, widespread poverty and high level of organized crime. Now the most innovative and creative Russians are emigrating because of the complete lawlessness and widespread abuses of the siloviki against law-abiding citizens. Under such conditions, all of the government's ambitious plans for innovation and modernization are meaningless.

When Ivan the Terrible instituted his infamous Oprichnina in Muscovy of the 16th century, nearly one-forth of Russians fled the country in fear, thus leading to the country's defeat in the Livonian War and triggering the period known as the Time of Trouble. Under Putin's police state, we are headed straight for another Time of Trouble in the best-case scenario, if not a total collapse of the Russian State."

The complete text of the article is here. 

Once you're in Moscow the Moscow Times in English is available free in many cafes and restaurants. I normally get it from MacDonald's nearby.

More about repressions of not-alike thinking people here.