Eta Prekrasniy Gorod!

Moscow is a fascinating city. Of almost indescribable beauty. And incomparable. Stalinist Architecture dominates the inner city skyline in the form of the Seven Sisters. These monolithic structures were built in the 1950’s and still stand tall today. Well Six of them stand tall. The Seventh stands only on architectural drawings. To my knowledge, it was never constructed.

Another structure that is unmistakable at night is the huge Cathedral of Christ Our Savior near Kropotkinskaya Metro Station. This structure was originally destroyed by the Soviets but eventually rebuilt again in the late 1990’s. This Cathedral is easily distinguishable by the huge gold dome atop the main structure. At each corner there are bell towers also featuring gold domes. It looks huge from kilometers away. And remarkably, it still looks huge up close. Near this Cathedral is a bridge spanning the mighty Moscow River. This typical bridge is quite spectacular in its own right. Under each arch, there is a computer controlled Multi-Colour lighting system. The lights change colour on a set program and light up the underside of the bridge. At night, it looks fantastic, and during the day, well, its switched off then.

Atop this bridge, you are completely surrounded by fantastic views and famous landmarks. Being close to the Cathedral, its no wonder that it offers a fairly good view of this structure. Look to the right, heading away from the Cathedral and you can see the Krasny Octyabr Chocolate Factory, one of the most famous chocolate factories in Russia, even during Soviet times. Look to the left, and the view of the Kremlin at night simply steals the air from your lungs. Its beautiful, its breathtaking and if you aren’t carrying your camera and tripod, you’ll be crying. I wasn’t crying. I was smiling, all the way home. As you can see for yourself, the photo’s turned out quite well.

In fact the view was so fantastic from this location, that we would visit it again the next weekend with Sveta’s friends. (Covered in Next Broadcast)

Because I’m a gentleman, I walk Miss Sorokina home each evening that we go out. One night I was walking back home. Normally there is nothing in Timiryazevskaya worth looking at (apart from Sveta J ) let alone take a picture of, so I’m normally not attentative to anything short of the absolute immediate area and people. But tonight I happened to glance to my left, and there it was, standing proudly between two apartment buildings. My God. How could I not have noticed it before now? I even knew it was there. Weeks ago, we had driven past it on the mono rail. Somehow, a 170 metre tall tower had gone completely unnoticed.

The Ostankino TV Tower is, well, very, very, very tall. In fact, it’s so tall, its usually the first building in Moscow that most people see just before they land at Sheremetyevo Airport. I fit into the “Most People” category in this case. Its tall, its well lit, and it looks, absolutely stunning. Unfortunately when I first noticed it in Timiryazevskaya, I had my camera. So I tried. And failed miserably. Without a tripod, the mission was destined for failure. Two weeks later, armed with a tripod, I came back, and remarkably, Ostankino was still standing. So I took some photos. Even from several kilometers away, the detail captured was incredible. That night, some beautiful scenes were captured. And I present them here for your viewing pleasure. Your comments please.

Matt.