J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, dies at 91

Today's note is not connected with Russia, Moscow, etc. Salinger was the author of one of my favourite books.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

"The Catcher in the Rye"

J.D. Salinger

Light

It's a sign on one of the buildings in the centre of Moscow. I like the way the light is covering the wall's surface, seems it's golden.

I'm finally finished with my 5 exams and now enjoying laziness. The most difficult exam was political geography but, fortunately, it went just fine and I managed to succed. I'll probably go to Saint-Petersburg and certainly go skiing on the holidays. I'll return to my studies on the 8th of February.

Duma

In Russia there are 2 kinds of signs. The first are noticeable and the second are almost invisible, as if they do not exist at all.  Well, at the centre of Moscow there are only the "first-variant" signs. 

Tea

It's quite cold now, that's why the vast majority of my neighbours prefer to stay in and drink tea. A long time ago our ancestors used to drink it from a saucer

Ivan Fyodorov

It is a sculpture showing Ivan Fyodorov, the first russian printer. The 1st book he published was "Apostol" (1564). It's quite a fun fact that this sculpture is situated on the roof of the luxurious car shop (selling Ferrari, BMW and something else rather expensive like Maserati).

Building / Parking

This is the view from my window.There is a church behind the building. As the mechanical engineering industry is growing, we need more and more place for the cars. There will be an 8-floors car parking. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the church, when the parking will be ready.

Bitter irony

Behind the pigeon there is a small shop selling fried chickens. There is a joke in Russia (well, frankly, not always a joke) that in such shops they sell not chickens but pigeons, so nobody knows - may be it is the last day for the poor bird.

P.S. It seems I have a desire not only to write about how it goes in Moscow, but also about myself a bit...may be...i'll think over it...

Hotel "Russia"

If it was not the centre of Moscow, it would be somewhere in the countryside, according to the sky.

In a colour

What a harmonious colour combination!)

Tverskaya Street

It's Tverskaya Street (ex-Gorky Street). The street runs from the Manege Square to the Garden Square. A lot of famous boutiques are situated there. If you go just straight, there will be the first McDonald's in Moscow on the right and the Pushkinsky Cinema. 

Manege Square

It's a Central Exhibition Hall Manege, which is situated on the Manege Square. We usually call it Manezhka, but the youngster who spend the vast majority of time drinking beer on this square prefer the following variant - Manega. To me it sounds unpleasantly. Yury Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, usually congratulate us with different holidays in front of Manezhka. In winter we have different fur exhibitions in the Hall.

Getting rid of snow

When I went out the underground station it turned out that there was a lot of snow near the "National Moscow hotel" (http://www.national.ru/). However, there was no snow anywhere else. Some seconds later I realised it was because the yard keepers threw the snow from the hotel's roof in order to clean it. And afterwards they got rid of what they've thrown.

Sunset scenery

Today I had a final seminar before the theory of literature exam. Literature is one of the main subjects in journalistic education in Russia, because literary criticism and philological base of russian language is huge. It means you have to read a lot, and to read fast. But it's absorbing and at least not boring.

When I went out of the university I took this photo. Here you can see a small part of Kremlin (the yellow and orange wall), then the dark red building is the State Historical Museum, after the street lamp it is a hotel "Russia" (it was reconstructed - the amount of floors changed) and on the left is a Saint Tatiana University Church. It was constructed in 1833-1836 on the corner of Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street and Mokhovaya Street. Saint Tatiana is a students' patron. 

Enjoying the moment

I popped out today and was impressed by the amount of children in the streets! Normally they stay at home playing computer games or doing what their free time usually consists of. The reason for the increased amount of walkers is the incredible weather.

I've already mentioned that this year is probably the snowiest since 2007-2008. Some moscovites are dissatisfied with the snow and the low temperature, although the vast majority of them is absolutely happy about the weather. The best thing about it now is that we can enjoy the sun. It's rather rare in Moscow to have sun in winter. However, I've just received an e-mail from my aunt from Saint-Petersburg and she says it's cloudy and dark. What's for the worst thing - the nights are becoming colder and colder. Today I woke up because of being frozen. Well, a warm blanket will solve the problem.

Snowy Time

This photo has been taken last year. It's a bridge near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

Now it's rather snowy in Moscow. Actually, this New Year was the most snowy for the last 3-4 years. Although it's a great fun, it's a little bit uncomfortable for the drivers because of the heavy snow.

However, now it's sunny and frosty, so I'd better go and enjoy the weather! I'll try to get a nice up-to-date sunny picture too.

GUM Trading House

1 2

The 1st photo - th shop window of HERMES shop in GUM.
The 2d photo - the shop window of the grocery store "Gastronom #1".

Today I'd like to tell you about one of trading houses. Some time ago I used to visit this place often because it was on my way to the university. 

GUM is one of the most luxurious trading houses in Moscow. It is situated on Red Square, 3. Here you can find a lot of shops which sell famous labels and also those which are traditionally russian. For example, there is a huge grocery store ("Gastronom #1") situated on the first floor. The store is resembling the shops of soviet and post-soviet times: here you can buy foodstuffs packed in a way they used to be packed earlier and enjoy the light music while shopping.

GUM is a tourists attraction too. It's not only an interesting building but also up-to-date changing place: its appearance changes with the calendar - in the New Year Eve there are a huge furtree, orchestra performing different chants and many other decorations; in spring there are many artificial but verisimilar trees and birds, etc.

You can find a big fountian at the centre of GUM. Moscovites arrange their meetings near this fountain.

Moscow State University. The faculty of journalism.

This is the place where I study. It is situated on Mohovaya Street near the Kremlin. It was called the lecture-hall building. Actually, it was one of the main and first buildings of MSU until the new building appeared. The faculty of journalism itself was founded in 1947 as a part of the faculty of philology. Nowadays there are only journalists situated here and philologists moved to the new building. In front of the building there is a statue - it is one of the founders of MSU M. Lomosov. The University is named after him.

The building is really beautiful. Inside there is one of the most beautiful staircases in Moscow. There are also several historical lecture-halls like Theological, Leninskaya, etc. A lot of famous russian writers visited lectures here.

Introduction

It would certainly be right to start this blog from introducing myself a bit.

My name is Anna and I'm from Moscow. Since 2009 I'm studying international journalism. In my free time I prefer watching various films, listening to my favourite music, reading a nice book, watching biathlon and going out to make some shots of my mother-place - Moscow. Frankly, I'm not as good at taking photos as I could be, but I try hard to make progress. My English is quite fluent, but not irreproachable, so I would like you to excuse me for possible mistakes and, please, don't judge me too severly.

I'm rather friendly and would not mind if you wish to follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/ or join me on Facebook.

I promise, I'll try to make this blog at least not dull.
So, let's get it started!