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Moscow: The Windows of Antiques Shops in Moscow


I know that you, like me, love going into antique shops. There are many antiques and collectables shops in England, and the same is true for Russia, Moscow in particular. My walk in the city centre last week brought me to several of such shops, although I never went inside any of them. When I do go in, I often leave with a pack of old postcards. On the back there are usually letters, and while I don’t try to investigate who those people were, I always find a great pleasure in imagining how they could be living, what relationships they maintained, etc.

This time, however, the shopwindows of those antiques shops brought quite a few remarkable examples. In some of them you will see an old paper knife, a mirror, and a collection of China dolls, including the characters from The Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. In others there will be amazing gilded dishes, vases, and clocks, complete with a bottle of the Red Label whiskey.

The characters from The Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

St Basil Cathedral at Dusk

The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, popularly known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral (Russian: Собор Василия Блаженного), is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–1561. Built on the order of Ivan IV of Russia to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century. It was the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.

St Basil’s at night

The picture was taken during my stroll from Maroseika via Ilyinka up Tverskaya Street and down the Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street towards the Krasnaya Presnya on Friday. The entire walk took about 1.5-2 hours. I am actually grateful to my friend who encouraged me to find the angle for the photo because the blue stripes on the dome were complementing the blue evening sky.

St Basil’s from the Moskva River

The restoration works cost $14mln. The cathedral remains the federal property of the State and a branch of the State Historical Museum, although the religious ceremonies also take place inside.

More posts:

St Basil’s Cathedral Marks 450th Anniversary (Los Cuadernos de Julia)

Moscow Summer: St Basil’s Cathedral from the Moskva River (Los Cuadernos de Julia)

Moscow’s St Basil’s Cathedral Is 450 (NowPublic)

Moscow: Taxi for Animals

This is something I have not seen in all my time in Britain, although I suspect that someone does do a similar kind of business, although on a less public scale. In Moscow, you can order a special taxi to transfer your four-legged friend, with or without you by their side. The drivers are experienced in animal transportation and have completed a special canine handling course, to better assist the dog and its owner. You can also use the service to be taken to or from the airport, as well as to deliver the goods from the vet clinic.

The prices are rather “democratic”, so to say: to go from A to B within Moscow city, regardless of time in transfer, will cost the dog owner 1200RUB, approx. 30EUR. If the driver has to wait for you, the price will increase to 1500RUB for transportation, plus 250RUB for every hour of waiting, i.e. 1750RUB, or 43.5EUR.

The taxis have a climate control system inside, which is an indispensable feature to use in the notorious Moscow traffic jams. In this photo the taxi stands in the line of cars in Sretenka Street. After every journey the taxi is disinfected, to ensure the high level of service for subsequent passengers.

The former unimate I met in the evening of the same day as I took this photo told me it’s good for people to live in Moscow, if they have money. I don’t know about people, but for some dogs in Moscow dog’s life is certainly a great fun.

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