Московское метро

Certainly one of the most impressive sights in Moscow, the metropolitan system consists of 321.5 km is,12 lines and 188 stations. It began operations in May, 15th 1935. Here are some facts about the Moscow metropolitan:

One of the busiest metro in the world, we are over 7 million to use it on weekends, and around 10 million on weekdays.

A male voice announces the next station when traveling towards the centre of the city, and a female voice when going away from it.

It's open from 5:30 am to 1:30 am (passengers are allowed to enter until 1:00 and are given about 30 minutes to travel).

The longest line covers 43.5 km and the shortest 3.3 km.

The minimum interval between trains is 90 seconds during rush hours (sometimes not more than 30 seconds!). On the circle line, rush hour interval has been reduced down to 65 seconds.

It was one of the USSR's most extravagant architectural projects. Stalin ordered the metro's artists and architects to design a structure that embodied svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (radiant future). With their reflective marble walls, high ceilings and grandiose chandeliers, many Moscow metro stations are considered as an "artificial underground sun". This underground communist paradise reminded its riders that Stalin and his party had delivered something substantial to the people in return for their sacrifices.

 Here are some of my favourite stations:

 Soviet achievements depicting svetloe budushchee:

French-Russian relations since Hollande became president

When President Putin was the first president to visit president Hollande after his elections last year, he appeared much more self-confident and experienced than his French counterpart.  While President Putin was leading the game, Hollande, still new to the post, seemed powerless, and did not dare imposing his own rules. During the press conference, President Putin had clearly stated that Russia would not stop developing its missile system on its boarder with Europe (in response to the American one being built in Europe). At that very moment, the future relations between the countries seemed quite tensed, with on the one hand President Hollande assuring to its people that he would convince President Putin to agree on both Syria and the PRO missiles system, and on the other hand President Putin not ready to come to any agreement that would imply a change of position from Russia.

Whether President Putin simply sent a polite invitation according to the protocole or actually made a step towards Hollande to give a chance to French-Russian relations, it is not clear. The most important though, is the outcome their second meeting.

Moscow, 28/02/13.
I had the opportunity to attend the reception at the French embassy during which the French president quickly summarized his meeting with President Putin. It turned out to be that he still hasn't managed to convince his counterpart to take part in the Syrian conflict, "although, President Putin and I do agree on many other things such as the visa reglementations, soon to be eased for workers and students; cultural partnerships and exchanges between universities; the importance of bilateral investments in French and Russian companies and the necessary development of Russian investments in French companies ". Indeed, Hollande does not seem to have changed his tune, which consists in two main arguments: 1) France and Russia are two very close countries, and 2) he will soon convince President Putin to take part in the Syrian conflict.
In my next article I will explore how the Russian newspapers tackled this meeting. I will also report President Putin's declaration during the conference at the Kremlin, trying to give you the most accurate Russian point of view of the current relations between France and Russia.

Russians: portraits

How you think they look

 

Natalia Vodianova

Olga Kurilenko

Miss world 2008, from Siberia

Russian military

"Babushka"

 Mister President

 

Our militaries

 

 

 

 How they really look

 

True Babushka

 

Mister President, fit as always

 Our militaries just randomly going shopping at the Gum
 

Our lovely neighbour

"Russianized"

 



Driving in Moscow...

Often ranked among the world's top 5 capital cities with the biggest traffic jams, Moscow is not a place to have a car. Indeed, the scale of traffic jams is in proportions with the size of the roads as well as the number of commuters and Muscovites driving in the capital city every day. Roads in Moscow's city centre start from 8-10 lanes (which means 4-5 in each way), and about 1.5 million commuters and 12 million permanent residents, 1.3 million temporary residents and an additional estimated million of residents without documents. In 2009, there were over 3 million cars in the city on a daily basis and their number keeps augmenting every year. Bear in mind that, Moscow being the capital of a developing country, not only the number of cars augments every year, but so does the population.

As a consequence, with the metro opened from 5am to 1am, and metros every 30seconds to 2minutes, around 12 million people prefer travelling underground (and enjoy the beauty of the stations by the same occasion). While Parisians complain about the Place de l'Etoile and London commuters about the M25, let's have a look at real пробки. Here are some pictures of what traffic is like in Russia's capital city:

 

 

 

Moscow Endures the Snowiest Winter in 100 Years

I just found articles on RIA and Russia Today websites, here is a mix of them to give you an idea of our winter!

 

 

 

MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow has not witnessed such a snowy winter in the past 100 years, Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov said on Tuesday, after heavy snowfall hit the Russian capital last night.

 

“This is the snowiest winter in 100 years,” Biryukov said, adding that 216 centimeters (85 inches) of snow have blanketed Moscow since the beginning of winter, which is 1.5 times above climatic norm.

 

The snowfall, which continued in and around the capital until the early hours of Tuesday, brought Moscow's traffic to a virtual standstill. The total length of traffic jams in the city reached 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles), which is equal to the distance between Moscow and Madrid.

Many of those who left their workplace in the evening had to spend five to 10 hours getting home. The average speed of vehicles was no more than 7-9 km/h. The number of road accidents – 3,000 – was much higher than during an ordinary day, with minor accidents quadrupling, according to Channel One TV.

 

The snowfall also caused the delay of 155 flights, while 56 planes had to seek alternative landing sites. Among them was that of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, which had to land in St. Petersburg due to weather conditions.

­It’s not the first time that Moscow has seen massive snowfalls this winter – in mid-January the situation was similar in terms of heavy falls – and traffic. Yandex Traffic Jams also recorded level 10 at that time.
In December, the harshest temperatures in 70 years were recorded, with thermometers showing temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius in some regions of Russia.
Meteorologists predict more snow is in store for Muscovites in February and March.
“March is considered a winter month here,” one top Hydro Meteorological Center official indicated to Interfax.

 

 

Alexander's gardens, next to Red Square.

 

 

Типовые серии жилых домов / Soviet blocks of flats

 

Добро пожаловать домой!

Welcome home!

Bienvenu à la maison!

 

 

Когда речь идёт о жилё, дома массовых серий доминируют. Ведь они были строены в городах СССР и в некоторых странах Варшавского договора, и являются основной архитектурного облика многих спальных этих городов.

 

Tower blocks of flats dominated and still dominate the construction sector in Russia and countries of the former USSR. They were built en masse during the USSR in the suburbs of the main cities as well as around energy wells to provide workers with accommodation close to their work. They are authentic dormitory towns.

 

When building them, Soviets did not look for sophistication, but only for basic functionality. Inside, each essential machine has its designated place, nothing is changed as long as it "works" even if in the end, almost half of the machine is missing. After visiting several friends and watching Russian movies, I realized that all these buildings are designed in the exact same way: all entrances, staircases, corridors and floors are exactly the same, and in every flat, rooms have the same proportions and even identical layout. In addition to this, in all cities in Russia, these buildings are ordered the same way: same name of the street, same number order of the buildings, entrances and flats...

This is shown in The Irony of Fate, a Russian comedy from the Soviet times. The key subplot is the drab uniformity of Brezhnev era public architecture. This is made explicit in a humorous animated prologue, in which architects are overruled by politicians and red tape. This results in the entire planet being polluted with identical, unimaginative multistory apartment buildings, called Brezhnevki, of the sort that can, in fact, be found in every city, town, and suburb across the former Soviet Union. These buildings are uniform right down to the door key of each apartment. On New Year's Eve, a drunk man flies from Moscow to Leningrad and, thinking he is still in Moscow, looks for his street. It turns out that in Leningrad there is a street with the same name (3rd Builders' street), with a building at his address which looks exactly like his girlfriend's. The key even fits in the door of the apartment with the same number (Soviet blocks were a bunch of standard apartments with standard locks). Inside, even the furniture and layout of the apartment is nearly identical to that of his girlfriend's apartment.
I felt exactly the same when visiting my friends, indeed, no need to ask them where the toilets were or where they kept their crookery...I had never lived in their flat but it was just as if I were in mine.

 

 

Юг Москвы, юго-западный район. South of Moscow, Yugo Zapadnaya district.
Once I visited a friend in this area and it took me two hours to find his place...

 

Our balcony: we hardly ever dare crossing the threshold. In big cities, some people restore them; our neighbours did so to make a (bed)room out of it.