five things

I've loved everything about the last couple of weeks (except for work, obviously.) Not even sure where to start, so instead, here's a list of 5 arbitrarily selected things I love about Moscow.

1. The first one is actually a view. You reach the gold-domed and magnificent if slightly chavvy Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, walk around the back of it, cross the bridge and all of a sudden you're faced with the most incredible panoramic view of the city and whatever difficulties or problems you've encountered that week all seem insignificant because at that moment you can't help but think, oh my god LOOK AT THAT GHOST SHIP.

ssome quite impressive Russian poses from Filye and Felushka

2. The opera. We went to one and I loved it. I think. Sort of. It involved a fat man dressed up as some sort of Arabic peacock (arguably camel) and I'm quite sure it wasn't supposed to be a comedy but it was VERY funny, unapologetically mad, and when the crowd took their bows there was this ridiculous, triumphant technicolour explosion of fireworks, dry ice and glitter pouring down on to the stage, wonderful. It was like my life had been massively lacking glitter and I hadn't realised it until that moment.

The audience though.. their applause was the most bizarre thing I've ever encountered at a performance. No real applause.. they just clapped along to the music. So the exhausted cast were bowing with these fixed, weirded-out grins on their faces and for their efforts they received an unsmiling audience stoically clapping along to the reprise music, beat by excruciating beat. No resurgent breaking into appreciative we're-going-now-but-well-done-again applause. Just: smack, smack, smack, smack, and then it stopped, and everyone left. Soviet era clapping. So that was totally weird. But not as weird as...

3. THIS DOG:

which I felt the need to mention only because it is one of the most stupid-looking things I've ever seen. They abound in Moscow, these tiny pseudo-dogs peeping out of their mobile handbag houses on the shoulder of their adoring bejewelled human mothers.. but they're not normally as bad as this tiny Yoda-bunny dog-gerbil. The owner: when I asked if I could please take a picture of it, she stooped to the ground, put its ludicrous little rabbit-hood up, propped the dog itself up on its hind legs and beamed at me. I took the picture and then thought.. yes. That was an extremely unusual moment.


4. The supermarket. Admittedly it has been a bit of a love-hate relationship with supermarkets so far, mostly hate. But I was in a particularly bad mood when I wrote that last post and my poppy seed phase had probably reached its zenith - the thing is, yes it's difficult to find things like cheddar cheese and worcester sauce, and yes they usually only stock ONE LEEK AT A TIME, but these things become much easier to forgive when the supermarket itself looks like this:




And sells drinks like this:

(which I bought, because cheddar cheese or no cheddar cheese, it obviously wouldn't feel like home without my favourite "English Traditions Manchester Gin & Tonic made with London dry gin".)


5. And finally, Zara Moscow. A shop I have no strong feelings about in the UK, but that's because they're not completely unironically selling THESE:

Did not buy. Massively regretting.