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Author Topic: Russian culture  (Read 127246 times)

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Offline Jared2151

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Re: Life in Russia's Far East
« Reply #50 on: February 17, 2009, 12:47:43 PM »
LOL @ #7

Just wait, they'll find out what a handsome bunker those cement poles make.

Offline Manny

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Re: Life in Russia's Far East
« Reply #51 on: February 17, 2009, 02:42:56 PM »

Top 20 indicators you might be in the Russian Far East Florida:
2. It takes 5 minutes to pull your shorts up because it is so humid.
3. There are no rules but they still can be broken.
4. The people who are paid to protect the wildlife also poach it. (alligator tail anyone?)
8. Awards are given for having the nicest yard in town.
9. You hear bugs buzzing in your ear when you are
doing laundry, brushing teeth, bathing, eating,
sleeping, walking, teaching, etc.
14. The women have more hair on their legs than they
do on their heads.
15. You put a fence around your house and garden to
keep the animals OUT. (Thats the Alligators again)
16. You have strong thighs from squatting to go to the
bathroom.
17. It is considered bad luck to sleep with your
window open.
20. A heavy rain makes it hard to get to town.

And they say there are cultural differences?  :innocent:
Read a trip report from North Korea >>here<< - Read a trip report from South Korea, China and Hong Kong >>here<<

Look what the American media makes some people believe:
Putin often threatens to strike US with nuclear weapons.

Offline mendeleyev

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Her Birch juice
« Reply #52 on: March 14, 2009, 05:42:37 PM »
Birch juice is even more important to most Slavs than maple syrup to Canadians and Americans.

In Eastern Europe, however, its as if they couldn’t care less about maple trees or maple syrup. Rather, the sap the Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians are interested in is birch sap, which is the product of birch trees. In case you wondered the Birch is the official national tree of Russia.

Leave any city in the spring and step into most any of those birch forests so common in Eastern Europe and you’ll find birches that the locals are tapping for their clear, thin juice, which is dripping down into an old soda bottle or a tin can.

Why do Slavs love their birch juice so much? First of all, it tastes okay. It’s a thin, clear, fresh elixir that smells like birch-wood, and tastes like it too. You feel happy drinking this earthy liquor, like you’re ingesting the essence of nature and spring.

The ‘birch juice’ that’s laden with sugar syrup and additives and occasionally sold in local supermarkets as a soft drink isn’t the same thing at all. Second, it’s supposed to be good for you. It’s supposed (or so I’ve heard from various sources) to purify the kidneys and the digestive system, thin the blood, help you sleep, lower your blood pressure, improve the eyesight, tone your skin, relax your muscles, clean your gums, defend against pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other respiratory

Many Russians swear that birch juice is good for the liver, and a glass of birch juice able to counterbalance the effects of last night’s 750 grams of vodka.


Ladies, do you drink birch juice?


Gentlemen, what is your experience with it?





Oh, you can make birch juice wine out of it, first boiling it down until it has the right sugar content and then letting it ferment, after adding wintergreen, spearmint, and other herbs. Google the Internet and you’ll find recipes in both English and Ukrainian/Russian. Birch juice wine, what a country!




Offline erudite

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #53 on: March 15, 2009, 12:49:09 AM »
I think they sell that in the USA under the brand name of "HERBALIFE".  :laugh:
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Offline BelleZeBoob

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #54 on: March 15, 2009, 01:35:42 AM »
 Here is how they get it naturally






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Offline BelleZeBoob

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #55 on: March 15, 2009, 01:48:25 AM »
I have tried this juice even at Soviet times. I was not that impressed, though. A sweet white water. But I guess a natural one might taste some better.

At least, if we know that some thing does good for us, this thing would taste for us better anyway, just from the mere knowledge on its usefulness :)
Men are like Bluetooth: he is connected to you when you are nearby, but searches for other devices when you are away.
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Offline Chris

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #56 on: March 15, 2009, 04:32:20 AM »
I have drunk birch juice while in Ukraine, it is supposed to be good for cleansing the body and restoring balance and vitality. My wifes family drink it quite often and when they had some American university students vist a few years ago they all took gallons of the stuff home with them, in fact one of them enquired into how he could import it into the States for a small business enterprise.
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Offline fireeater

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Re: McDonalds
« Reply #57 on: March 15, 2009, 05:57:10 AM »
This birch juice is available here (along with others) and would be found in those stores that sell various natural health products. Checking on line about 15 stores alone in my part of the city. 

Belle collected by a similar method for Maple Syrup as well, since both are made from the saps of the trees here.


Made by this brand here.




 

Offline BelleZeBoob

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #58 on: March 15, 2009, 06:03:55 AM »

Mendy, I thought that may be you could slightly specify the thread is about a Russian national birch juice? otherwise the thread looks pretty intimate  :innocent:
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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Her juice
« Reply #59 on: March 15, 2009, 10:47:51 AM »
Belle, your English is good!

I'd explain also that "juice" is an American slang term similar to the express of someone's got "game" but then we'll have to split the topic yet again!  So forget I mentioned it.  :chuckle:


McDonalds comments have been moved to the McDonalds thread: http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=6124.75


Birch juice thread stays here.   :)

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #60 on: March 24, 2009, 05:09:04 PM »
Kizhi (Ки́жи)






Kizhi is an island on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia with a beautiful ensemble of wooden churches, chapels and houses. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia and a World Heritage Site. The island is about 7 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is surrounded by about 5,000 other islands, most of which are very small. The world famous Kizhi Museum is one of the largest out-door museums in Russia – was founded in 1966.

A reconstructed village on Kizhi Island demonstrates traditional crafts and tasks of peasant life in the Karelia Region of Russia. Villages original to the island also exist, and some houses are still inhabited by locals. Throughout Kizhi Island are remarkable examples of wooden architecture.





The museum collections contain 83 pieces of the wooden architecture. The core of the collection is an outstanding sample of the wooden architecture – the architectural ensemble of the Kizhi Pogost of Our Savior built on Kizhi Island in the 18 th and the 19 th centuries. In 1990 the ensemble entered the World Heritage List of UNESCO. In 1993 the Kizhi Museum was entered the List of Cultural Objects of Special Value of the Peoples of the Russian Federation by Order of the President.





The complex of buildings original to Kizhi Island, the Pogost of Our Savior, is on UNESCO's World Heritage Site list. The famous Church of the Transfiguration, built in the 18th century, boasts 22 onion domes. More than 150 thousand people visit the museum every year. More than 5 million people have visited the museum so far. The museum has very rich collections of the items connected with the cultural history, which demonstrate the subject environment of the past and reveal interrelations of the cultural traditions of the different peoples living in Karelia.




Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #61 on: March 24, 2009, 05:26:26 PM »
Kizhi is an island on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia with an ensemble of wooden churches, chapels and houses. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia and an UNESCO World Heritage Site. About 50 people live here year round through the unmerciful winter, when the temperature drops to 35 & 40 degrees below zero, but come summer, the beautiful island welcomes visitors to explore Russian life.

Smoking is strictly prohibited on Kizhi Island except in certain areas. This is due to the delicate nature of the wooden structures - fires have wreaked havoc in the past. In addition, do not expect to stay on Kizhi Island overnight, as this, too, is forbidden.






Kizhi island is about 7 km long and 0.5 km wide. It is surrounded by about 5,000 other islands, most of which are very small—some of them just rock outcroppings (called "skerries"), though some are as big as 35 km long. Access to Kizhi is by hydrofoil across Lake Onega from Petrozavodsk (numerous trips every day in the summer), by snowcat (in the winter), or by cruise ship. There is no lodging on Kizhi for overnight guests.










The Kizhi Pogost, as it is known in Russian, is the area inside the perimeter wall or fence and includes 2 large churches and a bell-tower. But the entire island of Kizhi is a museum with many historically significant and beautiful wooden and log structures including windmills, chapels, boat- and fish-houses, saunas, barns and graneries, and homes. There are two small villages on the island that are home to a few local fishermen. Museum staff also live in the old log homes found in these villages.









The jewel of its architecture is the 22-domed Transfiguration Church (circa 1714)[2], with a large iconostasis—a wooden screen covered with religious portraits, featuring much gold leaf. This iconostasis is in Petrozavodsk until restoration of the Transfiguration Church is completed (scheduled completion is 2014, the 300th anniversary of this monumental church). The massive Transfiguration Church (also known as the "summer church") is about 37m tall, making it one of the tallest log structures in the world.

Visitors will also find craftsman exhibiting the different artistic accomplishments of the long winter months including detailed paintings, woodcarving, and weaving. Visiting this island shows the life of the people who were not living in the cities during the era of the Czars until now. The River Cruise Tours bring their guest here to learn about the Russian Life, the Hydrofoil Ferry boats from Petrozavodsk on the mainland also bring locals and tourist to the island.










The smaller, nine-domed Intercession Church (also known as the "winter church") was built in 1764, and its iconostasis is intact and can be seen by visitors. The third structure inside the Pogost is the belltower which was built in 1874. The belltower is also constructed with walls of horizontally-fitted logs, though they are covered by exterior wooden planks and cannot be seen. These structures were erected without any nails or other metal, and were made of scribe-fitted horizontal logs, with interlocking corner joinery—either round notch or dovetail—cut by axes. The pine trees used for wall construction were brought to Kizhi from the mainland nearby—a notable transport feat for the 18th century.





Offline ECR844

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #62 on: June 18, 2009, 06:45:18 AM »

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #63 on: June 18, 2009, 05:56:20 PM »
Matryoshka dolls (Матрёшка)





Wikipedia: A Matryoshka doll or a Russian nested doll (often incorrectly referred to as a Babushka doll - babushka means "grandmother" in Russian), is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. "Matryoshka" (Матрёшка) is a derivative of the Russian female first name "Matryona", which was a very popular name among peasants in old Russia. The name "Matryona" in turn is related to the Latin root "mater" and means "mother", so the name is closely connected with motherhood and in turn the doll has come to symbolize fertility.


How do you pronounce it? Watch and listen here:




The first Russian nesting doll (matryoshka) was born in 1890 in the workshop "Children's Education" situated in Abramtsevo estate new Moscow. The owner of Abramtsevo was Sava Mamontov - industrialist and a patron of the arts.
The end of the 19 century in Russia was a time of great economic and cultural development. Mamontov was one of the first who patronized artist who were possessed by the idea of the creation of a new Russian style.





How is a Matryoshka carved out of wood?
A set of matryoshka dolls consists of a wooden figure which can be pulled apart to reveal another figurine of the same sort inside. It, in turn, contains another one inside, and so on. The number of nested figures can be as few as three or as many as twenty. The dolls are typically made of linden tree (basswood), dried for at least 2 years to ensure their stability.





Attend a class on how to make matryoshka dolls!
Matryoshka are popular souvenirs. It's possible to buy very simple matryoshka in sets of five or seven. More elaborate matryoshka may hold 20 nesting dolls or more. Typically, matryoshka are painted as cheerful, kerchief-wearing women. However, matryoshka can also depict Russian fairy tales, Russian leaders, or pop culture icons.









A History
Matryoshka dolls, or nesting dolls, are, in the context of Russian history, a relatively new phenomenon. They first appeared around 1890 in the city of Sergiev Posad, about 50 kilometers north of Moscow. Unlike many objects of folk art, nesting dolls were not a product of hundreds of years of evolution of a particular art form. Some purists maintain that matryoshki are not real folk art at all. The generally accepted story is that they were introduced into Russia from Japan and brought in by merchants. But nesting dolls were introduced into a fertile artistic soil and, once the seeds were planted, village artists quickly adopted them.

The first matryoshki consisted of three, six, and eight pieces. For some reason, the early nesting dolls depicted what appears to be a family without a father. They include males, but those males are clearly children. After producing the first nesting doll, the Children’s Education workshop continued producing nesting dolls in Moscow until 1904. That year, all of the assets of Children’s Education were transferred to a workshop in Sergiev Posad, which became, and still is, the center of nesting doll production in Russia.





In 1904, the workshops of Sergiev Posad received a large matryoshka order from Paris, and many of the masters of Sergiev Posad directed their talents to this new product. The order from Paris provided the stimulus for many of Sergiev Posad’s artists and lathe operators to turn their attention to the making of nesting dolls. The nesting doll thus became simpler, more folk-oriented, and less expensive—the price fell by as much as twenty times. At the same time, the main theme became the female figure, and especially the peasant figure in peasant costume. “Matryoshka” is the diminutive of “Matryona”, a common peasant name at the time.





Matryoshka dolls were made in a variety of shapes and with a variety of themes. There were cone-shaped nesting dolls, bottle-shaped nesting dolls, and nesting dolls with pointed heads. Some dolls took on the shape of the subjects they depicted. Themes that were depicted ranged from characters in famous novels to more common fairy tale scenes. Interestingly, many of the themes that are popular on modern matryoshki—political figures, fairy tales, and peasant families—which are considered new, were in fact subjects of some of the earliest matryoshki.

As the revolution approached in Russia, there were hundreds of artists making nesting dolls in Sergiev Posad. By 1911, there were forty-one nesting doll workshops in Sergiev Posad. Most, but not all, had lathe operators who turned blanks for matryoshki as well as artists who painted them.





Like much artistic activity, Russian matryoshka making continued strong for several years after the revolution of 1917. Toys were no longer imported, so domestic toys became more popular, and master craftsmen continued with their work. In 1918, a toy museum opened in Sergiev Posad. In 1922, a Regional Handcrafters’ Union was created. The union’s Russian name is an early example of a tongue-twisting Soviet acronym—Raikustpromsoyuz. This union coordinated the artels of the city. In 1926, it worked with six artels, combining the talents of 260 craftsmen.During this period, Russian nesting doll painting in Sergiev Posad became more uniform. What we now call the “traditional” Sergiev Posad nesting doll came into existence in the mid-1920s. It was roughly based on the first nesting doll painted by Sergei Malyutin, featuring a girl in a national costume, sometimes holding a small object in her hands—a chicken, a basket, a bundle, a scarf. The matte, dark feeling of the original was brightened up, and the wood-burned outlines were replaced with painted contours.

The activities at Sergiev Posad spawned other nesting doll-producing centers. Historically, much of Russia’s commercial activity has occurred along the Volga River. The main stimulus for the expansion of nesting doll production to other cities and villages seems to have been the centuries-old market in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, the major city on the Volga, about 300 miles east of Moscow. (Like Sergiev Posad, Nizhny Novgorod was renamed for much of the Soviet period. It was called Gorky from 1932 until the early 1990s.) Craftsmen from Merinovo, near Semyonov, about 50 miles north of Nizhny and Maidan, about 100 miles south of Nizhny, brought examples of nesting dolls from the market to their villages. These villages then began to produce matryoshki with their own distinctive features.





Matryoshka dolls have a birthday!

Visit the Mendeleyev Journal for the companion article and videos to this post.

Offline Jared2151

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St Basil's Cathedral
« Reply #64 on: June 26, 2009, 07:15:33 AM »
Mendy,

  In reading your many fine articles, I have a question about something I noticed about the domes on Orthodox churches.

  Most churches have those wonderful 'onion domes' that I'm sure all of us have noticed.
I've seen them all different colors.  I've seem them with stars painted on them.  I think I even remember reading that if the domes were painted black that it meant that at one time, or currently, that this was an indication that it was a convent.

  Now, to my question.  All the domes on a church are usually uniform in that they all seem to be the same color, size, etc.  Can you explain to me why the domes on St. Basil's in Moscow has all of those different size and colored domes?

  Just call me curious.  Thanks - Jared

Offline Chris

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St Basil's Cathedral
« Reply #65 on: June 26, 2009, 10:39:22 AM »
Jared

Mendy will give you the complete answer on this, but I think the reason dates back hundreds of years and the number can represent many things, for example three domes represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, five domes representing Christ and the four Evangelists, some only have one dome representing Christ or God as the head of the church and some can have thirteen domes representing Christ as the head of the Church and his twelve Apostles. The representation is different for each amount of cupolas a church may opt to use. Every cupola is topped by a three-bar cross, the symbol of salvation.

Regarding colours, Light blue used in the church to honor the Virgin Mary, Gold represents the kingdom of God. Gold being the symbol of a King. Purple is used for lent as is black representing the darkness. White is for Christ and worn by Priests on Easter. Blue represents Heaven and green represents the Pentecost and is the symbol of the Holy Spirit of Life.



Chris
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Offline mendeleyev

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St Basil's Cathedral
« Reply #66 on: June 26, 2009, 12:47:57 PM »
Jared, good question and I'll move this over to the Russian culture thread so that more can enjoy it.

Chris, awesome answer. You rock!  tiphat





St Basil's is a place I love. My first tour was over a decade ago and then in 2005 I was allowed to go thru again as part of a group of journalists as it was closed for renovations. We managed to pass off Mrs Mendeleyeva and our oldest daughter as "press assistants" so it was very meaningful to have them with me.

St. Basil's was built to commemorate the capture of the Tatar stronghold of Kazan in 1552, which occured on the Feast of the Intercession of the Virgin. The cathedral was thus officially named Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat (the moat being one that originally ran beside the Kremlin).

But the cathedral was popularly known as St. Basil's Cathedral, after St. Basil the Blessed (a.k.a. St. Basil Fool for Christ; 1468-1552), almost from the beginning. Basil impressed Ivan in 1547 when he foretold a fire that swept through Moscow that year. Upon his death, Basil was buried in the Trinity Cathedral that stood on this site at the time.





The Cathedral of the Intercession a.k.a. St. Basil's Cathedral was constructed from 1555 to 1560. Legend has it that after it was completed, Ivan had the architect blinded in order to prevent him from building a more magnificent building for anyone else. (In fact, he went on to build another cathedral in Vladimir.)

In 1588, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich added a ninth chapel added on the eastern side to house the grave of St. Basil.

In modern times, St. Basil's came very close to falling victim to Stalin, who resented that it prevented his soldiers from leaving Red Square en masse. But the architect Baranovsky stood on the cathedral's steps and threatened to cut his own throat if the masterpiece was destroyed and Stalin relented (but punished Baranovsky with five years in prison).

The vivid colours and shapes of St. Basil's Cathedral are unmatched anywhere else in the world. The French diplomat Marquis de Custine commented that it combined "the scales of a golden fish, the enamelled skin of a serpent, the changeful hues of the lizard, the glossy rose and azure of the pigeon's neck" and wondered at "the men who go to worship God in this box of confectionery work."

The powerfully eastern design of St. Basil's reflects both its location between Europe and Asia and its historical origins. Since the Kazan Qolsharif mosque had been the principal symbol of the Khanate captured by Ivan the Terrible, some elements from the mosque were incorporated into the cathedral to symbolize the victory.

Although the towers and domes appear chaotic, there is symmetry and symbolism in its design. There are eight domed chapels symbolizing the eight assaults on Kazan: four large and octagonal and four small and square. In the center is a tent-roofed spire topped with a small golden dome.

The ninth chapel on the east side added in 1588 for Basil's tomb interrupts the symmetery of design somewhat. It can be recognized on the outside by its green-and-gold dome studded with with golden pyramids.






The interior is a maze of galleries winding from chapel to chapel and level to level via narrow stairways and low arches. The walls are painted in floral and geometric patterns. St. Basil's was designed to not have a well defined front or back. It is round and it was intended to be viewed from all sides. The observer can walk around the cathedral both on the outside as well as the inside. The structure is large and one would think the interior would be equally spacious. This is not the case. The inside is a maze of corridors with the tall pillars creating a cramped feeling. The tallest pillar rises 46 meters above the church's foundation. The interior of the Intercession of Our Lady church is 64 square meters.

After centuries of exposure to the elements, St. Basil's was restored in 1954-1955. During this process, the secret to the Russian architecture was revealed. How the architects had managed to build such a complex structure without benefit of design drawings had been a mystery. Restorers discovered that the walls of St. Basil had been outlined with thin timbers. This provided a three-dimensional image of what the completed structure would look like and a guide for the bricklayers.

St. Basil the Blessed can be visited in his chapel on the lower floor, where he lies in a silver casket in gaudy splendor. Upstairs, the Chapel of the Intercession contains the equally splendid blue and gold iconostasis. Other chapels, such as that of St. Nicholas, are more restrained and even austere in their decor.

In a garden at the front of the cathedral stands a bronze statue commemorating Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who rallied Russia's volunteer army against the Polish invaders during the Time of Troubles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The statue was originally constructed in the center of Red Square, but the Soviet government felt it obstructed parades and moved the statue in front of the cathedral in 1936.

Of course one should never forget that onion domes do a wonderful job of preventing snow and ice to build up and thereby protect the strength of a structure.

An excellent video tour of the interior is here.

Offline Chris

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #67 on: June 26, 2009, 01:43:23 PM »
I love St Basils, from the outside, but I must admit the inside was a bit of a disappointment to me.

Quote from: Jim
The interior is a maze of galleries winding from chapel to chapel and level to level via narrow stairways and low arches. The walls are painted in floral and geometric patterns. St. Basil's was designed to not have a well defined front or back. It is round and it was intended to be viewed from all sides. The observer can walk around the cathedral both on the outside as well as the inside. The structure is large and one would think the interior would be equally spacious. This is not the case. The inside is a maze of corridors with the tall pillars creating a cramped feeling. The tallest pillar rises 46 meters above the church's foundation. The interior of the Intercession of Our Lady church is 64 square meters.

I guess the small winding corridors made it feel very claustrophobic, but it probably had to be built like that to support all the domes and upper floors, ceilings and roofs.

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Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #68 on: June 26, 2009, 02:07:21 PM »
Chris, as you know the interior in some places can feel even cramped, especially in the halls and stairways. Also those are certainly nowhere modern and in moving from room to room and chapel to chapel you realize the antiquity with those stone floors and steps.

I had such a blast in 2005. It was September, snowing, and I was allowed to crawl out through a stone window onto two scaffolds to take some photos of the city from the Cathedral. By the time we had made it to that particular level it was dark and the lights of the city and Red Square were oh so nice. Someday I'll dig out those photos and post some of them.

Offline Chris

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #69 on: June 26, 2009, 02:34:41 PM »
Yes it was very cramped, but it doesn't help when you have dozens of other tourists in there with you, its not big enough to just stand still and make the most of it, is it, you just get moved along with the crowd whether you want to or not in some of the corridors and stairways.

It would be good to see those photos of yours Mendy, last time I was in St Basils was March 8th 2007, yes Womens Day, and Red Square was closed off to the public until 2pm, it was unusual to see the square with no one on it  :) but at 2pm they let everyone start walking across it again, I am still not sure why they closed it off, because there were no celebrations or anything going on, on the square.
Слава Україні

Offline Eduard

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #70 on: April 18, 2010, 05:41:35 AM »
the culture is "moving forward" though and this fassion statement proves it  :laugh:

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #71 on: July 06, 2012, 11:32:50 PM »
Some of us can remember a Soviet Union where no English could be seen anywhere, toilet paper and sanding paper surely were made in the same factory (not really but it felt that way), and coffee was something you brought from from home in a suitcase.

Today many streets have names posted in Cyrillic and English as do some underground Metro signs. Toilet paper is no longer carried on sticks slung over a man's back and is as soft and comfortable as anyplace in the West. Nowadays I buy coffee in Russia and take it back to the USA.

To be sure, Russian's aren't the avid coffee drinkers as a typical American or Canadian, but coffee is no stranger to a Russian table and in fact has never been a total stranger. These days home grown coffee shops are sprouting up everywhere. Even Starbucks with their ill advised late entry into Eastern Europe is doing well.

ila_rendered
шоколадница кофейна = Chocolate Coffee/Cafe

Of course Russians still drink tea all day, dawn to dark, but when Russians want coffee, often it is to compliment dessert and that usually dictates a very strong blend something more like a Turkish coffee. That is perhaps one reason why a cup of American styled coffee at Moscow based шоколадница кофейна (Chocolate Coffee/Cafe) is only 159р (rubles) versus 199р for a cappuccino or from 199р to 249р for a specialty coffee. For the sake of comparison, the exchange rate today is 32.8745 rubles to ($1) one American dollar.


kения = Kenya

Russians love ice cream, mayo and beets above anything else, okay so fish and salo belong in the list, but chocolate is not far behind. We're generalizing about "they" of course, but in general "they" love the deep and dark European style chocolate, having figured out that dark chocolate is good for health, wealth, love, happiness, good music, cures eyesight problems, restores youth, improves sex, heals burns, fixes teeth, cures hangovers, re-inflates flat tires and is the best medicine for that dreaded malady known in medical circles as "severe chocolate deficiency" syndrome. Therein the connection between chocolate and coffee.


гватемала = Guatemala

Coffee drinking is becoming fashionable across Eastern Europe.


Колумбия = C-o-l-u-m-b-i-ya (n)

Coffee from Ethiopia is another popular exotic bean sold in the former Soviet Union.

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #72 on: July 07, 2012, 05:42:26 PM »
(Sunday, 8 July 2012)

As reported in the Mendeleyev Journal, summertime weather is here.

Moscow:
The sun rose in Moscow at 4:57am this morning and finally went down last night at 10:11pm. The forecast for today (Sunday) is Sunny but rain is coming for Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. Daytime temps are really warm, between 26/27* and lows at night around 18*. That is warm.

Saint Petersburg:
Yesterday the sun rose at 4:49am and set last night at 11:47pm. The forecast for Sunday is rain, then partly cloudy on Monday and sunny on Tuesday. Piter has the advantage of more moderate summer weather and the highs this week average 22* with the lows around 15*.

Krasnodar:
Over 100 lives have been lost so far in the flooding across the Krasnodar region. The forecast is for some sunshine today, but rain again both Monday and Tuesday. Daytime temps have been averaging 28* and nights around 18*.

Novosibirsk:
Sunrise on Saturday was at 6:02 and sunset was at 11:07pm. The forecast for today (Sunday) is partly sunny with a high of 27* and then partly cloudy Monday thru Wednesday, the low temps at night averaging 10*.

Yekaterinburg/Ekaterinburg:
Sunrise Saturday was at 5:17am and sunset was at 11:47pm. The forecast today is partly cloudy with a chance of shower, then sunny from Monday thru Wednesday. It is warm with high temperatures around 29/30* and nightly lows around 14/15*.

Arkhangelsk:
Of course it is cooler up north and the days are longer. The sun was up and ready for play at 2:59 on Saturday morning and wasn't ready to retire until 11:43pm. Temperatures in the day are averaging 18* and around 9/10* at night. It is partly sunny today but the Дождь (rain) is coming for the remainder of the week.

Volgograd:
You expect it to be hot this time of year in southern Russia and for the most part it is. The sun rose at 5:08 and set at 9:07, very tame for a Russian summer. Temperatures are in the 34/35* range by day and 19/20* by night. The forecast for Volgograd is always the same this time of year with sunny skies followed by more sunny skies.


ila_rendered


Notes:
- Russia uses the Celsius scale for temperatures.

- Russians most often express time in military or 24 hour terms, therefore I have transposed those for readers. Example: 11:07pm in the USA is the same as 23:07 in Russia.
                         

Offline mendeleyev

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #73 on: April 04, 2014, 03:54:11 AM »
Behind in your understanding of Russian history? Well fret no longer my friend, we're going to be treated to a crash course in Russian history by the fabulous young journalists turned history teachers from Vodka & Bears Productions.



Offline MrMann

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Re: Russian culture
« Reply #74 on: April 04, 2014, 04:41:35 AM »
I'm a little bit in love with Irina Vodka, she's pretty funny.

Some of the Bears & Vodka stuff is great although some will no doubt accuse them of being anti-Russian. They do a series of open air comedy "lectures" during the summer in Moscow.


 

 

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