Holiday Family Portraits
After the nightmare scenario over the Christmas holidays in getting from Moscow to Spain via UK the long way it was great to see family and family friends
48hrs in Geneva
After a day in Lausanne for Lou’s job we arrived in Geneva by train into glorious sunshine, jumped into a taxi and headed to the Hotel Rotary despite him insisting it was only a short walk away. He was right in the end, but we didn’t have a map due to printer malfunction and he made himself a bit of cash.
April Drinking in Russia
So over the last few weeks since being back in Moscow we have been out a fair bit, either out in bars/restaurants or at our place, with friends, and also with family when they visited. Now I have the Canon G11 I can take an ok photo when out with friends without taking the big SLR.
Santomera Reservoir
Whilst I have visited my parents many times over the last 9 years in Spain and I have visited one or two of the nearby towns, one thing I have always seen and been intrigued by, is a nearby reservoir that I have passed by from a distance many times.
Portraits of my Niece
I am back in Moscow now, after a few pretty traumatic weeks, watching my Dad decline in hospital, but one of the bright lights amongst all this was that for the last week or so my brother came to Spain bringing my niece with him.
Walking in a winter wonderland – Serebryanyy Bor
The weekend after we returned to Moscow we went to visit a colleague of Lou’s and his Family who live in a reidential area of a park in Moscow – Serebryanyy Bor. By the time we were walking around the sun was dropping so there were some fantastic colours in the sky.
The park itself is on an island on the River Moscow to the west of the city, has a number of private residences, and a large number of small paths crossing through the forest. It seems like a popular location with cross-country skiers, we even saw an older lady being pulled along on her skis by a huge Mastiff dog, which had our friends’ rideback puppy cowering when it pulled its master over to greet the pup.
Where have I been? – Part 2 – UK and Spain
When I left Moscow I was only in the UK overnight down at my Mother-in-law’s house before leaving in the early hours to get to Bristol airport (the cheapest flight to Spain I could find by a long way). When I arrived my parents were there to meet me at the airport and my Dad seemed a lot better than when I left them only a few weeks earlier when he was still in hospital.
Where have I been? – Part 1 – Last Few days in Moscow
Well it has been a while mainly because I have been with family a lot for the last 6 weeks or so, and I had unpredictable internet access and laptop availabilty wasn’t always great.
So, when I came back from Spain in Novemeber I was only coming back for a couple of weeks or so before heading off again to see my parents again in Spain. After a week or so of being back in Moscow the miserable grey, rainy weather was getting me down – there was only 10hrs of sun in the whole of November 2009 in Moscow, and I am pretty sure that all came on a day I was out of the country.
Two weeks in Spain
Normally I would welcome a couple of weeks away from the grey Autumn in Moscow, but the circumstances were not great. My dad was taken into hospital when I was still in Kuwait, so I booked the next reasonably priced flight out from Moscow to London, and then from there to Alicante.
Moscow – Autumn in Sokolniki Park
Sokolniki Park is in the North East of Moscow and gets its name from the area of the city that the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich’s Falconers used to live as Sokol means Falcon in Russian and he was a keen hunter.
Moscow – Autumn Weekend
Here in Moscow the Autumn days of falling leaves in parks seem to be all too short but this last weekend was one such weekend, nice ‘crisp’ (cold-ish, but no rain) weather, and still had to catch up that the failed attempt at a walk in the park last weekend.
Moscow – A Walk in the Park
When we got back the temperature change was very noticeable, we left and it was 20C, when we returned it was at most 11C but has since dropped to 5C in parts of the daytime. Anyway this last weekend we decided to go for a walk around Moscow to one of the many parks, we decided to go to Victory Park.
Moscow City Day 2009
Over the first weekend of each September Moscow celebrates the birth of the city with parades, open air concerts, even a waiter race. The city is usually crowded, lots of security, especially when entering key areas (Lubyanka Square, Red Square, etc) where there were bag checks and metal detectors, and there was also a lot [...]
Moscow – the first month or so
It has been about 6 weeks since we moved here to Moscow and it feels like we have done so much, and so little, from multiple trips to Ikea (a necessary evil!), to being overawed in Red Square, once again multiple times. So the apartment we settled on is in the area of Kitai Gorod [...]
Moved to Moscow……..Finally
Well I had to delay posting this for a week due to not having the photos for it but here goes, and I have just linked to the photos on Flickr for this post. After a mad few weeks seeing people, getting our stuff packed away and either shipped, moved into storage, or moved to [...]
Photography – Last game of Rugby Season 08/09
This last weekend I went to watch London Wasps play, and since we didn’t make the play-offs this year (which is unheard of in recent years) and several key players were either leaving or retiring after the game I took my Camera down, It was hard work taking the shots as the lens I have [...]
Things ain’t what they used to be
A few things have got me feeling nostalgic recently, not least of which is a book I have been reading called ’Things ain’t what they used to be’ by Philip Glenister the star of the BBC shows ‘Life on Mars’ and ‘Ashes to Ashes’ The return of the former to the screens with it’s soundtrack [...]
Enter the Snarks!
I was going to write this when I knew for sure what was going on with the move to Moscow but I figured I would wait until I was a little calmer and had considered the situation better. In anticipation of our visas coming through my wife had been talking to head of HR Europe, [...]
Visiting the Folks
So after Moscow and a bit more work on the house I went off to Spain for a few days to see my parents last week. It wasn’t exciting, nor full of incident, but I enjoyed it all the same, just seeing them. Most people reading this won’t know that my Dad was pretty ill [...]
First Moscow Visit – Part 3: Quiet reflections
We are on the flight on the way home now and I am enjoying a beer, and listening to last weeks TWIT podcast quietly reflecting on our brief Moscow experience. Well after our meal last night it is clear that the people are very friendly, and being in the city has affected us in such [...]
First Moscow Visit – Part 2: Falling for the City
We arrived at our hotel early in the morning at about 5.30am on Thursday and pretty much went straight to sleep. After having a lot of sleep we spent the afternoon looking at three different temporary apartments in Aparthotels with Elena (from my Wife’s company), they were all tiny and really designed as an alternative [...]
First Moscow Visit – Part 1: On the Flight
Well I am on the flight on the way to Moscow for the first time, as you will have probably guessed from the post title, I make no apologies, I am just damned tired but can’t sleep! Not sure whose idea it was to get the 10pm flight that arrives at some ungodly hour local [...]
No more work…..Or the work has just begun!
Since my last post, two pretty major things have happened, last Wednesday I finally took and passed my driving test, and I finally did my last day of work before the move to Moscow. Yesterday was my last day at work, which largely passed without much fuss just as I wanted, we did go out [...]
Invitation to Russia
On Friday our invitation letters came through so the move is starting to feel more real, the only issue is that Lou’s is in her maiden name. Her company applied on her behalf, and applied for it in her old name which is strange as she has been known by her married name at work [...]
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