Me and my family and Christmas in London.
Hello All and Happy 2008,
I hope the first days of 2008 have been pleasant and a bit less cold then things in Moscow. I am writing this on January 7th, Christmas Day for the Russian Orthodox so Merry Christmas as well!
Things here in Mother Russia are well. I recently returned from London where I met my family and enjoyed the warm 45 F weather. This was my first time in London and I was extremely impressed. I never had a desire to go to London before.
With Peter the Great in Greenwich, England. Apparently he had dwarf who traveled with him. It's a very odd addtion to the monument.
It never seemed exotic enough to be honest. But wow was I wrong! What a fantastic, interesting and diverse city. My parents rented an apartment just outside of the city in Greenwich (home of the Prime Meridian, Greenwich Mean Time and formerly the Royal Naval Academy). Peter the Great (Russian Tsar, founder of the Russian Navy and builder of St. Petersburg) actually spent some time there studying ship building. Apparently he acquired quite a reputation while there for drinking excessively, womanizing (also excessively I’d imagine) and nearly burning down the house of the Duke he was staying with – while drunk of course.
While I was there I did most of the normal tourist things. Saw the tower of London went to museums, rode the double decker bus home drunk at 4 am, wandered the city, ate fish and chips and so on.
Big Ben in London.
For New Year’s Eve my brothers and I went down to the Thames and counted down to 2008 with about 2 million people. As 2007 clicked to zero Big Ben thundered away and an absolutely terrific fireworks display began. It was great to be around so many excited people. After the fireworks we amused ourselves as we watched the British revelers attempt to stagger back to their respective bars and clubs amidst the presence of thousands of police. To keep the crowds in order the street poles in central London were all painted with anti-climbing black paint…I know this because they were marked as such. I’m not exactly sure what anti-climbing paint does to someone, but I’ve got a sense that it is little more than wet paint, or perhaps they just put the sign up with no paint at all…hoping anyone dumb enough to want to climb the pole would be dumb enough to be deterred by a fake sign. Hard to say. I didn’t see anyone climbing a pole, though I saw a few people in trees and atop the famous red London phone booths.
I also caught some theatre while I was in London.
St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
A saw a couple Christmas carol concerts. One at St. Paul’s Cathedral and the other at St. Martin in the Field’s Church. I also saw some really great plays and musicals. Of the different theatre productions I saw “Lord of the Rings” the musical, was far and away the most “interesting.” Are you’re sitting there wondering how could anyone turn 1000+ pages of epic novel or 10 hours of epic film into a three hour musical? Well if you are, the answer is you can’t! The sets and costumes of the performance were great…really high tech and cool but everything else about the play from the dialogue to the singing to the ultra-condensed story line was really weak and dare I say a bit cheesssssy!
I think the performance began in Toronto and will probably make its way to NYC and the rest of the USA eventually. If you were the theatre set guy/gal in the high school drama club and that sort of geekiness really gets you going then I recommend the play…if you’re anyone else I’d say avoid it…though I doubt many of you actually would want to see a live musical performance of Lord of the Rings anyway.
Travbuddy Olya and I at the ballet in St. Petersburg.
In fact you’re probably sitting there saying…Oh my GOD Mike is such a dork for even attending such a show! True enough, true enough.
I saw a lot of great theatre in London, but nothing beats the cultural experience of my first Russian ballet, which I saw two days before I left for London and one day before I moved to my new apartment in Moscow. I saw Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty in St. Petersburg at the Marinsky Theatre, one of the countries most famous and grandiose dance halls. I’m no expert in ballet, but from what I saw the performance was absolutely top notch. The music was tremendous and the dancing was, well how do I describe…there was an army of brightly costumed dancers frolicking about the stage on their toes, there were dips and flips and people dressed as cats, there was a guy (don’t know what to call a male ballerina) clad in blue tights bounding across the stage, there was a gorgeous blonde ballerina standing with one foot on the ground and the other above her head and a gorgeous brunette ballerina spinning so many times it dazzled the mind how she managed to stop without nauseating consequences…so how might I describe the dancing, I guess I would say it was perfect (but I’m no expert, I don’t even know what you call a male ballerina…perhaps a ballerino or a baller…those just don’t sound right though).
Sleeping Beauty at the Marinsky in St. Petersburg.
What really made the experience great though was the theatre itself. The Marinsky was built by the Tsars in true ostentatious Tsarist fashion. The white walls and wood trim of the boxes was covered with intricate carvings and where there were there was no white stone or wood paneling the walls were covered in golden gilding that glinted under the twinkling chandeliers. It was truly a magnificent place to witness a four hour ballet (yeah four hours, and I didn’t fall asleep once). For anyone planning to come to Russia I highly recommend the ballet and if possible viewing your ballet at the Marinsky or perhaps Moscow’s Balshoy Threatre. Be aware tickets are not cheap and tickets for non-Russians are 1/3 more than regular priced tickets (the 1/3 more rule generally applies to museums in Russia too).
I’m back in Moscow now and in my new apartment recovering from a fairly bad cold.
Cold night around New Year at the Kremlin. Moscow, Russia.
I now live about a mile from where I used to live, still in the center of the city. I’m on the 9th floor of a building overlooking Sad Hermitage (that’s where the naked guys were swimming the fountain if you remember my earlier email) and where my favorite summer bar is located. I have much smaller apartment but I have a fantastic view (including the Kremlin and St. Basil’s). Other positive highlights that make up for the size reduction include an oven (I can finally buy frozen pizza) and windows that get decent sun exposure. One of the interesting things about winter this far north is that the sun doesn’t really rise all the way. You notice this on the occasional days when it is not overcast. The sun rises to about 45 degrees and then skirts along at that angle from East to West and then sets. I have southern facing windows at home and work so when there is sun I get a lot of it.
It is cold in Moscow (shocking I know) though it doesn’t seem to be affecting the Russians tremendously.
Evening view from my new apt in Moscow, Russia.
The temperature has been camped out between 5 and -7 F. It’s not colder than anything I’ve ever experienced in Wisconsin but it certainly gets really colder here earlier in the year than it normally does in Wisconsin and the cold spells last for much longer. Technically they probably aren’t cold spells at all because this is just the standard temperature, and the cold spell is still on its way. To stay warm I tell myself this will be the coldest winter in 20 years. That way I won’t be shocked if it is and more likely I’ll be pleasantly surprised when it isn’t. Nothing seems that bad when you’re expecting the coldest winter in 20 years.
While I don’t consider myself a weather wimp I’m amazed that in this temperature the outdoor ice rink in Sad Hermitage is constantly packed with people. On the streets I appear to be the only person feeling truly frozen. Take today for example, when I walked home from work (about a ten minute walk). It was dark and around -3 F. There was a brisk wind and a bit of snow falling on me. As I walked I had the distinct impression that my cheeks and nose were literally going to just drop off my face, not a pretty picture I know.
Aftermath of Thanks Giving at my new Apt in Moscow(was my friends apt till a few weeks ago).
I passed a guy strolling the other direction looking perfectly comfortable in this fine Moscow weather. He had no hat, a scarf loosely tied around his neck and a grey wool pea-coat unbuttoned (of course). Beneath the pea-coat he wore a thin sweater. My eyes nearly burst out of my head with amazement, but I was too cold to intervene in this kind of suicidal behavior so I just continued to rush home before my own body parts began to fall off. And don’t get me started about the girls and their “winter shorts.” I fundamentally reject the concept! I don’t care how thick your tights are or what material your shorts are made of, if there is snow on the ground you should not be in no Daisy Dukes! Like I said, don’t get me started on that.
What scares me most is what the temperature will be like when the Russians finally agree with me that it is too cold to go outside for extended periods of time…I’m told those days come in mid January and February and they generally last for four weeks. I’m hoping the coldest days of the year are in early February when I’m in Istanbul for a week.
View from my new apt in Moscow.
That would be perfect from my perspective. Aside from the cold all is good and as I push towards my nine month anniversary here in Moscow. I can say that I’m still enjoying the experience despite some of the minor challenges…such as not understanding anything anyone says, and finding herring on all of the breakfast menus. At least I can now get decent coffee since a Starbucks has expanded beyond the walls of the US Embassy. I hope this email finds everyone well and that the New Year has great things in store for us all.
Take care and Happy New Year.
Michael
PS – Pictures…how could I forget pictures? Most of these are up or will be up on TB eventually, but feel free to check out these links if you're interested.
Big Ben and the British Flag in London.
(I recommend thanksgiving, Kremlin after first snow, and ballet albums)
Photos from the Marinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpadraicmurphy/SleepingBeautyBalletAtTheMarinskyTheatreStPetersburgRussia
Thanksgiving in Russia (these pictures were taken at my new apt, then a friends apt) – vodka was involved
http://picasaweb.
That's me in London.
google.com/mpadraicmurphy/ThanksgivingInRussia2007
First snow in Moscow
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpadraicmurphy/FirstRealSnowFallPics
Kremlin after first snow in Russia
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpadraicmurphy/TheKremlinAfterTheFirstSnow
Walking to work in Moscow’s first snow storm
http://picasaweb.
Traffulgar Square in London.
google.com/mpadraicmurphy/WalkToWorkAfterTheFirstSnowFall
Random Moscow
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpadraicmurphy/DecemberMoscowWalkingTourToTheKremlin
Tired of Moscow…here’s two links for photos from Yaroslavl and Astrakhan.
http://picasaweb.
London's Tower Bridge at night.
google.com/mpadraicmurphy/YaroslavlDec2007
http://picasaweb.google.com/mpadraicmurphy/SecondTripToAstrakhan
