The Moscow metro

April 2013

The map of the Moscow metro, 2013.

I wanted to go on the Moscow metro, because I had been told the stations was splendid and each one was different. 

 

When I stood at the entrance I could only see the well worn swing doors.  I walked into the gloomy old-fashioned hall.  It was simple and small, but the escalators, carrying the passengers down to the platform, were very long.  When I arrived the platform, I realised the station was decorated in reddish-brown and grey marble.  So, it looked old and dark.  It was impressive but it looked outdated - the hall, escalators, ticket machines, trains, lights - they all looked as if they were the grandfather of the one in HK.  It was completely difference from the last station I saw where I got off.  This one had white marble columns, and the floral-patterned-cornice just below the ceiling.  It was magnificent. 

The hall of napk noge?bi station, 2013. 
(Sorry I can't spell Russian.)

 

The platform of napk noge?bi station, 2013.
(Sorry again I don't know Russian.)

I was crazy about the next station which had lots of exquisite mosaic depicted scenes of revolution history and soviet industries on every single of wall.  The paintings were fine and detail and set in ornate floral frames.  The ceiling was hung with chandeliers, whether they were crystal or glass I do not know.  This station was sumptuous decorated.  I felt I was walking in a palace.

 

The platform of KNEBCKAR station,2013.

The next station was all decorated with bronze statues in a repeating sequence.  Some of these was clearly popular, and the bronze were shiny where people had touched them, thinking it would bring them good luck.  The most popular statues seemed to be those of dogs and cockerels, I touched these too.
 

 

The Moscow metro is like a big art gallery and is well worth visiting for its own sake. 

One of the most popular statues at
nnowa?b peborhounn station, 2013.



One of the most popular statues at
nnowa?b peborhounn station, 2013.

  

The platform of CMAEHCKAR station, 2013.

It's taken from CMAEHCKAR station, 2013.



One of the metro routes, 2013.

 

Russian dolls

April 2013

 

One of the things Russia is famous for is dolls, sets of hollow figures that fit inside each other.  The most common ones are simple drawn figures of young girls, but there are also set of special characters; such as politicians, there is one included - Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Xi Jin-ping, and David Cameron - There were also sets of characters from Winnie the pool, NBA basketball stars, and so on. 

 

A set of Russian doll with floral patterns and holes,
Moscow, 2013

The first time I saw them displayed in a shop, they were line up on the tables, on the shelves, even and on the floor.  I almost gave a whoop of excitement.  I liked the ones most which were made of wood and cost around ten thousand HK dollars.  I vaguely remember they were five dolls in a set.  They had sweet smiling faces and their bodies were decorated with floral patterns and holes.  They were gorgeous, but I did not think they were worth the money.  I think Chinese ivory and jade ornaments are better value. 

 

I saw various Russian dolls.  What impressed me most was one of the HK tourists.  He was drawing a picture onto a doll.  It was an old man who carrying a baby in a sling on his back.  It took him about 30-minutes when he finished I told him the hands were wrong.  So he corrected them and then it looked cute and real. 



The front of a Russian doll
- an old man & his child, Moscow, 2013
Special thanks for giving me to take pictures of this doll.

The back of a Russian doll,
- an old man & his child, Moscow, 2013
Special thanks again.

 



 I had a chance to learn how to paint a doll too.  The figure was already sketched onto the doll, so I only had to paint in colours and patterns.  It was easy, but not very pretty.  If I ever have time, I will repaint its and dress it in the latest fashion, you see I like to doll up my Russian doll. 

The workshop of painting dolls, Moscow, 2013.

Samples of dolls, and painting materials, Moscow, 2013

 

Speak the same language

April 2013



Kolomenskoye Wooden Palace, Moscow, 2013

I had a nine-day holiday in Russia - Saint Petersburg and Moscow -  There were a lot of beautiful historic buildings.  However, Russian rarely smiled or showed any kind of facial expressions.



Peter & Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, 2013

Their mother tongue is Russian and they do not understand Cantonese.  Sometimes I like going to places where people do not understand my language, so I can say to my friends what I like without any dangerous being understood.

I had imagined that as English is a language throughout an international.  It would be understood by Russians and I was excited that I would be able to speak with them in my fairly simple English.  However, I discovered they could speak very little English, spoke it worse than me.





A restaurant in Moscow, 2013

When I ordered some hot water in a restaurant, the waiter did not move, so I thought I had spoken too fast, I spoke slowly and used only simple words - hot, water, aqua.  Some waiters never responded and others just walked away, some spoke to me in Russian waving their arms, giving me a blanked expression, but I still did not get any hot water.  I knew it was time to learn 'hot water' in Russian.  The pronunciation was something like 'keep-it-dot'.  These magic words sometimes did not work, I thought it must be my bad pronunciation.   

For the last two-days of the trip, I lost my voice.  I could communicate with gesture and this did work.  I made signs when every I wanted to know a price in dollars, or ask for clothes in my size, what I wanted to ask for direction, order drinks or simply say thank you.  To my surprise, they smiled and were very helpful.

 

So I learned that after all, we do speak the same language, sign language.

A snake wanted to love him or eat him!?

My brother's friend had an unusual family pet.  One of his pets was a snake.

One morning, he work up and he saw his pet stretched out dead straight beside him.  It had uncoiled itself and was sleeping like a person. 

A snake usually coils itself up to sleep, but it had not done this.  He only asked help from a reptile expert.  He was told that the snake was measuring him up.  If it had been long enough, he could have been eaten. 

He might have thought his snake was in love with him, if it had become a human.  However, the fact might be the snake measured many times before when he was sleeping.

Finally, he got rid of his lover.