Around Moscow

Moscow held the A Capella outdoor festival right now. It's awesome! The Moscow Spring A Cappella Festival is an open international contest for a cappella singers held as part of Moscow Seasons cycle of outdoor events. It's 12 festival days, 195 participants at 51 venues! The Cat's Pajamas Group, USA are on the stage. And me too :) The Moscow Spring A Cappella Festival. I visited several venues, listened to a dozen vocal groups. The festival involves vocal groups from Russia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, USA, Germany, China, Israel, India, Korea, Portugal, Kazakhstan, England, Turkey, Austria, Philippines, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Namibia, South Africa, Croatia, Sweden, and Finland. A.K.A. Crescendo Group, Croatia. The Moscow Spring A Cappella Festival. All performers sing without musical accompaniment, this is called A Capella. Some groups have amazing beatboxers who provides musical support with their unique vocal beats.

A few days ago I have visited the Pavilion of the Architectural Model of Moscow , located at VDNH . This pavilion can be visited absolutely free of charge - admission is free. The model has 368 square meters area, is a model of the city center, inside the Garden Ring and partly beyond, which includes more than 20 thousand buildings and structures in 1:400 scale, created with absolute precision. The model is curious for its realism: in due time, the Spassky Tower beats chimes, all bas-reliefs on buildings are recreated with precision. All models of buildings are placed on a real urban basis: each hill or lowland in the city is displayed on the model. The model is equipped with an interactive hi-end system for building's illumination from the inside, which can be controlled by selecting objects in accordance with the scenario. The system has a smart controller with a touchscreen display, every visitor can set different times of day on the model and highlight related objects,

Here you can see some statistics about the Moscow metro. The official site of the Moscow metro is kindly shared with such data. "Moscow"  Electric train 81-765 / 766/767 developed and manufactured since 2016 by order of the Moscow Metro Belorusskaya is a station on the Moscow Metro's Koltsevaya line. It opened in 1952. Number of passengers transported by metro per year 2 442 400 000  passengers Maximum number of passengers transported by the metro per day 9 715 635 passengers The operational length of lines in double-track terms (08/30/2018) 381 km Number of lines 12 The longest line Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line (45.1 km) The shortest line Kakhovskaya line (3.3 km) The longest stage between stations Krylatskoe - Strogino (6625 m) The shortest stage between stations Vystavochnaya - Mezhdunarodnaya (500 m) Number of stations (12/20/2018) 223 Number of  ground stations  17 The

Famous and beloved book characters, as well as cartoon and movie heroes, flood the streets during Moscow’s biggest holiday festival. Christmas trees and street art, as well as colorful parades and performances, turn Moscow into an enormous magical stage! I hasten to share photos from the evening walk. More photos in my  "Journey to Christmas" Festival Album

Today passengers of the Moscow Subway can't imagine their trip without a free Wi-Fi-network. The number of daily users of Wi-Fi in the Subway has exceeded 2.5 million users, up to 120 users have simultaneous access in each train carriage (each train have 6-8 carriages). As of today, the Moscow Metro has 12 lines and  223  stations and its route length is 381 km (236 mi). The system has an average daily ridership of 6.73 million passengers with a peak of 9.28 million. September 2013 one private company has provided free Wi-Fi access on 2 lines. Therefore the city authorities have opted for the creation of a wireless network in the subway. The investments in the project amounted 56,25 million US dollars, with a seven years payback period. The provider doesn't open the sources of funding and underlines that the project was not involved by a government or municipal funds. How does it work? The most difficult part of the project was the creation of its own signal covera

I have found an interesting video that will help a foreigner to better understand the Moscow metro. Is a video from Tim Kirby, a journalist, radio talk show host. He immigrated from the USA to Russia In 2006".

Football fans bring a carnival atmosphere to Russia. Millions of fans have come to Russia from all over the world to enjoy the atmosphere of a football festivity. Football match in the middle of the Red Square. Visitors are able to take part in numerous events, such as master classes, autograph sessions, as well as games and other activities. The World Cup trophy is put on display in the park. Moscow is the last city to welcome the Football Park, which has already been held in Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. World Cup trophy   More photos can be seen in my album FIFA World Cup 2018 - Around the Red Square, Moscow

The Food Truck Festival in Sokolniki is an incendiary and appetizing festival in Moscow, a festival of food on wheels and excellent music, which held three days only, from June 15 to June 17. More photos in my album Sokolniki Food Truck Festival 2018

The Church of St. George the Victorious on Poklonnaya Hill is a Russian Orthodox church of the late XX century, located on Poklonnaya Hill, on the territory of the memorial complex of Victory Park, built in honor of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.  

Moscow State University’s Botanic Garden known as the “Apothecary Garden” is a Russia’s oldest botanic garden. More photos in my albums: Apothecary Garden 2018, May 8 Moscow University Botanic Garden (Apothecary Garden). 2017, May 28 Moscow University Botanic Garden (Apothecary Garden). 2017, May 21

More than 1 million people have marched in Moscow and tens of thousands of people have marched around the world to remember relatives who took part in World War Two. This year I also participated in the march and carried a portrait of my great-uncle, a Russian officer, WW2 veteran. More photos in my album The Immortal Regiment march, May 9

Is a holiday that commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, and the WW2 ending. On this day it is customary to congratulate war veterans, to lay flowers at war memorials. Traditionally, many young people take part in the holiday. Concerts are held in the parks and squares. More photos in my album May 9, Victory Day

An extremely impressive infographic from the Russian Ministry of Defense will tell you everything about the parade on May 9, 2018, in Moscow. You will see complete information about each combat vehicle and aircraft.

A few days before the May 9 parade, it's rehearsal is being held. Accidentally, this year again I managed to take photos of the air parade rehearsal. I didn't even plan this shoot. I have been at a photo walk,  and I found myself in a small square, when helicopters and airplanes started to fly over me, heading to the Red Square. Traditionally, planes fly over the whole city, which makes it possible to see them almost from anywhere in Moscow. More photos in my album Parade rehearsal 2018

Recently I've visited the Zhar-Ptitsa (Firebird), the 13th Exhibition-Fair of Folk Artists and Masters of Russia. In the program of the Fair are: "National art crafts" exhibition, where you can buy unique and author's products of craftsmen, artists, and designers. "Master's City" master classes, where you can learn the wisdom of folk art.  Contests of creative works show defile, fashion shows.  Performances of folklore and ethnic groups.  Presentation of national cuisine, folk games, and amusements of Russian regions. Matryoshka dolls Souvenirs from the Crimea Souvenirs from the Crimea Souvenirs from the Crimea Birds of Happiness   More photos in my album Жар-Птица (Firebird)