Walk about in my old neighbourhood in Moscow

[SimFox]

Here is a little walk around my old neighborhood in Moscow. Place had changed a great deal since I used to live there... still it remains quintessential MOSCOW - spelled exactly this way with all capitals.

view towards ministry of Foreign Affairs from Pluschiha street - quite oasis smack in the busy downtown of Moscow (fittingly on the left is a wall of South Korean embassy)


city goes to the skys - new 52 storey residential tower


View of the city from the pedestrian bridge over Moskva river next to Kiev Railway Station.


from the same bridge (partially seen) just a bit towards the right - opposite bank of the river


Kiev Railway station itself (built in 1912) and big new Mall behind it.


The "European" Mall with skating ring on the roof on (naturally) Square of Europe - one in front of Kiev Railway station


New midrise office complex between station and mall


same just a tad closer


in the middle of Dorogomilivskaja street with a view towards Moscow's new CBD -Moscow City


Hotel Ukraina, now under the refurbishment








Gazprop - state corporation  and state of corporation. To paraphrase a line from Black Adder "it is like double cream - rich and thick".  Not an actual office of a monster, just an advert(?) on top of residential building (curiously right next to White House - office of prime minister - symbolism abound!


and here it is, Putin's new /old (he was a prime minister already in 1999-2000) office


less "casual shot of the building. It has an interesting history. Original design goes back to 1934 when it ws made for the Aeroflot headquarter. Original has never been built because of war. but in late 1970 it was recalled and used for the building of then Russian Soviet Federative Republic supreme council and government (Not to be mistaken with same of USSR). Building was finished in 1980 about 45 years after design (although modified since) has been created
here is original one:




Residential Skyscraper - one in the Stalins Victory Crown, built in 1952 by Mikhail Posokhin same architect who shall later on design SEV building.

Views of City from the bank of the river.









signs of newly fashionable patriotism that bubbling as just open bottle of champagne (like a drink also in close association with huge sums of money)

Views toward center of Moscow from the same spot as previous shots.

Posokhin's "new" style  mere 15 years after neoGothic stalins time skyscraper. New regime new style. 1967s SEV and behind it New Arbat - that like a knife cut through maze of old streets of the city whipping them out of existence. For this reason it is generally despised by Moscovites. However if to set that sentiment aside, it is a worth while example of style (IMHO)


here is a very typical mix of Moscow architecture of last 60 years.

Back to New Arbat.

Lotte Plaza typical example of tacky chic so common in Asia and that is totally at home in Moscow


View towards Garden ring (emerging from underpass of New Arbat)


purple night is falling over the city

Shops, Restaurants, Night Clubs and casinos of New Arbat, Although in few years Casinos will be moved away from the city into few special "reservations" where all the gambling establishments in the country be confined.

[Q-Tips]

There are so many interesting places in Eastern Europe. Moscow an St. Petersburg are for shure on my wish list to see. You had so many beautiful pictures. Russia have had great development during the last 10 years, and Moscow should now be counted as one of the worlds important metropol more than ever before.

Do you know why its called Kiev Railway station? Shouldnt that be in Kiev?

[krbe]

The White House? Not the same Yeltsin shot at during the dissolution process? I remember a picture of him standing on a tank a sunny day, looking in the direction of a slightly modern, hideous, white office building, not a massive, slightly pompeous pre-WWII building (the architecture) with real stones in a golden setting

But if this is representative, it's actually great. Not going too overboard with modern architecture like Paris, not building record breakers in the middle of nowhere and not yet the skyscarper forest Manhattan has (even the "tacky chic" feels somewhat more enjoyable here ). The only thing not looking too good is all those trolley bus lines hanging in the middle of the street. And the fact that I cannot even guess what the signs say  

Q-Tips; If I'm right the Russians named their railway stations for the principal line it served, instead of naming them for their relative position like Oslo Øst or Gare du Nord.

SimFox: Is Moscow our new European boomtown after Berlin? I'd just like to see some hotel and flight rates similar to the Berlinian ones

[rooker1]

Your pics always impress me and these are no exception. 
The city looks beautiful.  The canal, bridges and buildings, all look very fasinating.
Robin 

[RippleJet]

Q-Tips; If I'm right the Russians named their railway stations for the principal line it served, instead of naming them for their relative position like Oslo Øst or Gare du Nord.

Indeed.
Railway stations in Russian metropolises (having more than one terminus) are usually named in accordance with where the track is heading.

E.g. among St. Petersburg's several stations there's one called "Moskovskij Voksal" and there used to be one called "Finlandskij Voksal".
Guess which one I would be heading for when going home...

[freedo50]

Yet more beautiful pictures SimFox. I'm sure you've mentioned it before somewhere, what camera do you use?

Fred

[SimFox]

Yep, in Russia if city has more then one railway station they are usually named after main destination they serve. But the system isn't really unique to Russia. In Paris fro instance Gare du Nord serves North bound traffic and Gare de Lyon one towards Lyon. In Barcelona there is Stanca Fanca from which trains would leave to France etc...

The White House... yep, that's the one! In 1990s it has become twice the focal point of cataclysmic events that very much determined Russian history. First in 1991 when Yeltsin led the resistance to the Coup (Putch in Russian) by some silly old men to overthrough Gorbachev (just to do same, albeit peacefully, himself couple of months later). and mere 2 years later Yeltsin,, president of newly independent Russian Federation Called tanks to fire on the building where rebellious parliament had barricaded itself in. Mind you the wall around building did appear after those events. In Soviet time there has been NO such barrier ;-)

It is difficult to compare Moscow to other places, where ever those places might be, but as far Berlin goes... well you can't really apply term Boom town to it. A lot of construction projects in Berlin are on hold and although some are very interesting artistically the volume of activity is nowhere near the level of Moscow. Moscow currently is one of the busiest construction sites in the world, if not busies. Last year there was more Office space under construction then in Shanghai, Beijing or Dubai. Berlin economy is stagnating at best. Unemployment is sky high. Moscow on the other hand is growing at 7-14% a year for last 10 years and already it's GMP (Gross metropolitan product) many times large then that of Berlin and in fact 3,5 times large than entire GDP of Ukraine. It is a great place to make money, a lot of it, but for same very reason it could be not the best place to live , to busy, competitive etc, etc... Berlin on the other hand is great place to live and party! (as long as your money come from some place else; say Moscow -I know few people who bought weekend apartments in Berlin and there fly from Moscow or London to spend the weekend. Given difference in price levels even given the airfare it was economical proposition, well at least till now (oil prices). Moscow caught in that sort of Casino effect, so that budget and mid price services are dragging behind, but that doesn't mean that situation isn't improving. As ever large portion of city population is moving into relative affluence. I was quite astounded to find out that metro train driver already earns 55 000 rubles a month that is about 2350 US$, or 1500€ at current rate (that form about 500US$ some 3-4 years ago), while trip on same metro costs 19 rub (0,8 US$/0,52€) (up from 14 rub same 3-4 years ago), mind you Russia has flat tax rate of only 13% plus very complex system of all sort of extra payments and bonuses that comes on top of salary. Market becomes ever more crowded and efficient and prices (relatively speaking) drop. But Moscow will not be cheap place anytime soon, but it may go along the lines of Tokyo, where despite overall very high price levels you can stay quite economically too. There is evidence to it already. There is huge differences in price levels depending mostly on target market. That covers all range of goods and services from luxuy cars and boats/planes to daily groceries. Same 1 liter carton of milk may cost 40 rub (1,7US$) in a tiny sop in the middle of the expensive district, or 20rub (,85us$) in some the enormous hypermarkets, that grow like "mushrooms after the rain" all over the city (but predominantly on outskirts, naturally). Generally speaking reports (like say Mercier's one) claiming Moscow to be most expesive place in the world are NOT to be believed.

Camera.
I happen to be Nikon guy. I don't ant to say that Nikon is always and at everything better then Canon or Pentax etc... But at some point one just have to decide with what system one goes. (I speak of SLR cameras of course). My first dSLR was Nikon D70 (before that I had Canon G2 and Canon G5), that was best for the price/quality/functionality offer at that time (IMHO) and now I have Nikon D300, which is quite possible the best dSLR on the market today (not going into serious pro level like D3). All those shots were made with my "travel" lense Nikkor AF-S 18-200 f3,5-5,6 VR, which is not the best possible one, but incredibly convenient on the go.
On of the guys from Russian Section in Skyscrapoercity.com - Bolik - quite impressive photo enthusiast himself caught me in his viewfinder while I was on Manezhnaja square in Moscow. Pitty he didn't come to say hello...



And here are shots I was making at the moment:

[krbe]

Yep, in Russia if city has more then one railway station they are usually named after main destination they serve. But the system isn't really unique to Russia. In Paris fro instance Gare du Nord serves North bound traffic and Gare de Lyon one towards Lyon. In Barcelona there is Stanca Fanca from which trains would leave to France etc...

But Gare du Austerlitz has no trains to Austerlitz Contrast this with the Copenhagen naming system where "East Gate" is the northernmost, "North Gate" the westernmost, and "West Gate" the southernmost. The Central station, however, is even further south. 

You last one there, almost Asian if it hadn't been for the saints...