A Georgia Girl in Germany

After sharing the touristy side of my visit to Moscow, I need to prove that I actually did work while there. We typically worked eight-hour days, plus another three hours of travel time to and from the airfield. I had my laptop with me and worked during some of the bus rides as well, which seemed to make the days even longer. But, it was a wonderful experience, especially since I really enjoy working the international air shows. Now that I’ve been to Moscow, I’ve completed my “Grand Slam” of the four largest international air shows: Farnborough, England, in 1996; Paris in 1997; Berlin in 2006; and Moscow in 2007. Of course, I'll never turn down an opportunity to work one of those venues again! I think Osh Kosh is the only remaining air show of comparable size, although I’m not sure how truly international it is.

Above is a view of the U.S. corral from the top of the C-17’s T-tail. If you look closely, you can see the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds packed between the fences. During the air show’s six days, there were well over 500,000 visitors...some reports claimed as many as 600,000!

When the B-52 Stratofortress arrived at Ramenskoye Airfield, the crew was met by retired Russian General-Lieutenant (three-star) Magomed Tolboyev. Even though a B-52 was on display at the 2003 air show, it was still significant that it was there this year since it was the premier Cold War bomber that was on alert 24-7 to launch against a possible Soviet attack. This significance wasn’t lost on Tolboyev, who made a toast with the B-52 crew. He is considered a national hero who has flown more than 60 types of military aircraft, including as a test pilot and research and development pilot. Some compare his living legend status to that of Chuck Yeager in the United States. The most unique aspect of the toast was that the glasses were placed on the ground before Tolboyev poured the cognac into them. He explained that this tradition recognizes the importance of the ground to flight -- essentially, what goes up will come down, and should come down safely to the ground.

The U.S. contingent had one aircraft that flew demonstrations during the show: the F-15 Eagle. I thought it was interesting how, after a few days, the Russian pilots changed their aerial demonstrations to match portions of the F-15’s -- showing that their aircraft could perform the same maneuvers. Of course, the Russian demonstration aircraft also showed off the edge-of-the-seat piloting capable with vectored thrust engines, which always leaves me in awe. Part of me thinks the Russians only fly those maneuvers to show that they can...not because the maneuvers are part of a normal flight profile.

These were the “crash phones” at the tent along the flight line where the demonstrations were managed. I don’t know for sure, but I can imagine that these are the same phones that every Soviet citizen had in their homes years ago when communist rule dictated that everyone have the same furnishings.

Here’s another view of the crowds interacting with the U.S. crews. Fortunately, we had a few translators who helped with international relations. At one point, I remember someone asking one of the B-52 pilots how much the bomber was worth. After answering, the gentleman apparently asked if he could purchase the bomber! Of course, it wasn’t for sale, but the dialogue caught the ear of a nearby reporter and led to this article: Excuse me, I'd like to buy your B-52.

This is the infamous Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” strategic bomber, missile carrier and reconnaissance plane built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It’s powered by four counter-rotating turboprop propeller engines, and remains the fastest propeller-driven aircraft to go into operational use. At the height of the Cold War, the bombers flew regular missions along the U.S. East Coast, as well as Pacific missions against U.S. forces in Alaska and Asia. Naturally, U.S. fighter aircraft would fly to intercept the Bear -- from such places as Alaska and Iceland. The Tu-95 was originally intended to drop nuclear weapons, but was later modified to perform a wide range of roles, such as the deployment of cruise missiles, maritime patrol, and even for use as a civilian airliner.

This aircraft is what many U.S. pilots refer to as the “B-1-ski” since it closely resembles the U.S. B-1 Lancer bomber. It’s actually a Tupolev Tu-160, nicknamed “Blackjack” by NATO, but known in Russia as the “White Swan.” It’s very similar to, but supposedly more complex and with more payload capacity than, the B-1. It was the last Soviet strategic bomber design and the heaviest combat aircraft ever built. It is capable of cruising at 1.9 Mach for hours.

One of the Russian aerial demonstrations was unique in that it included formation flying by two different airframes: the Sukhoi Su-27 “Russian Knights” and the MiG-29 "Strizhi" aircraft.

Other Russian aircraft that flew aerial demonstrations include the Mikoyan MiG-35 Fulcrum-F, the Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum, the Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback (static display photo below), the Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker and the Mil Mi-28 Havoc helicopter.

There were quite a few Russian airframes on static display, many of which (to my untrained eye) seemed more useful for civil, commercial or recreational aviation. However, one exception was the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker.

Another exception was the Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber and strike aircraft. The Su-34 also flew aerial demonstrations each day during the show.

The Patrouille de France, or the “The Cavaliers of The Sky,” aerial demonstration team also put on an awesome display of skill. We often ate lunch at the same time as the French demonstration pilots...one day Coney and I even shared a table with some of them. Notice the blue, white and red smoke of the French flag trailing the French Alphajets during their routine.



Interestingly, the French use trainer aircraft for their demonstration team, rather than operational aircraft like the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the “traditional Russian soda” is called kvas, and that it’s readily available in public places. This is one of the many water-buffalos I saw filled with the fermented rye bread water (no, it's not carbonated). The line of people standing between the kvas tank and the Coca-Cola umbrella were all waiting for kvas.

Even though it was an “air show,” the Russians had this missile launcher on display. I suppose it was there to show that the Russians have the capability to launch missiles into the air against enemy aircraft. I didn’t see a sign indicating what type of launcher it was, but I imagine it was a relatively premier launcher.

Russian women are something else. I couldn’t believe how many women I saw walking around the air show wearing heels. And not just any heels, but high heels! And not just visitors, but also the female reporters who I worked with, the female police officers (who also wore super-mini-skirts as part of their uniforms!) and the females who worked with the aircraft! These two women simply stunned me -- I’m used to seeing women in jumpsuits like these ready to get dirty with a huge toolkit beside them. The heels seemed so out of place -- and not very functional!

At the end of the day, police officers on horseback rode between the displays as the crowds began to disperse.

Another thing that was unique about the Moscow Air Show, compared to the other international air shows, was the amount of trash littering the ground. We tried to keep the U.S. corral clean, but it proved to be a losing battle with the strong winds that were blowing across the flat land, especially when we ran out of trash bags by early afternoon. It was really bad on the three public days when the crowds were so large (during the initial three “trade days” it wasn’t as crowded since that’s when most of the business deals were conducted among industry representatives).

But each morning when we arrived back at the air field, the ground was clean, thanks to army conscripts who policed the area after everyone left. We saw them marching in formation as we left each day, getting ready for their evening tasks.

When we entered and left the airfield, we drove past a boneyard, of sorts, with old and aging aircraft. The Russian officials didn’t like that we took photos of these dilapidated aircraft, but we managed to snap off several photos nonetheless. I’m not an expert on Russian (or former Soviet) aircraft, but I’ve identified these aircraft as best I can.

Above is a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack (definitely not air show display quality), and at right is a Tupolev Tu-144A.

These are the true “boneyard” photos: including a collection of aged fighters such as the Sukhoi Su-27 at left and the Sukhoi Su-28 below right.



A green and brown Sukhoi Su-25, among others.

A blue-patterned Sukhoi Su-34 and a green MiG-21.

A group of additional fighters bid us farewell as we left each day.

If you want to see more of the aircraft that were on display at the air show, check out this web site: airliners.net.

Labels: Russia, Travel

Moscow’s metro stations are extensive and exquisitely beautiful. I could have easily spent a day traveling the metro just to look at the different stations, some dating back to when the metro first opened in May 1935. My day would have been made easier by the fact that I can’t read Cyrillic...and would have probably ended up with me totally lost and turned around. So, I just looked in awe at the different stations I needed to travel through the few times I ventured underground.

This vestibule is in the Kievskaya station, which was completed in 1953 and was just down the street from our hotel. Each station, and each line in each station, has a completely different look, each uniquely decorated from a variety of more than 20 types of marble as well as many other natural stones and either sculptures, bas-reliefs, mosaics, paintings, stained glass panels or murals by some of the best artists of the time. Each station was truly an “underground palace,” and I can see why the metro itself is one of the main attractions of the city.

Three different lines came together at the Kievskaya station. We passed this detailed painting on our way to the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line.

This statue greeted us in the entrance to the Ismaylovsky Park station. As went deeper underground (below), even more statues greeted us. There were some stations that had statues guarding every column. I especially liked the stations filled with mosaic artwork and beautiful marble walls.



I really liked the multiple mosaics at the Kievskaya station, but we returned and exited this station from a different location, so I missed snapping a photo of them. This is one of the exits at the Kievskaya station -- still beautiful! I even bought a set of postcards with different stations in the Moscow Metro since my photos don’t do them justice, and since I only had a chance to see very few of the nearly 150 stations.

Here are Yolanta and I during our subway ride en route to the “Vernisazh” market (Izmaylovo crafts market) at Izmaylovsky Park. We thought we were being very observant of the stops along our route so we wouldn’t miss our stop, especially since reading Cyrillic didn’t come naturally to us. Getting on the metro was easy since the Kievskaya station was next to our hotel, and the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line was a direct shot. However, we incorrectly got off the metro one stop too far, at Izmaylovskaya instead of Ismaylovsky Park, so we ended up walking about two kilometers along the Izmaylovsky Park back toward the market.

During that extended trek to the market, we passed the five-domed 1697 Intercession Cathedral (Pokrovsky Sobor).

The market was wonderful -- rich with sights and sounds to excite the senses. We had less than two hours to shop the first weekend, but ended up staying four hours on our second visit...which allowed for a much more relaxed shopping experience. During both days at the market, this group of ladies was performing the matreshka -- traditional Russian folk singing. I loved their costumes and headdresses!

One of the main reasons we went to the market was to search out intricately-carved wooden Father Christmas statues. Between the two of us, we were good business for Sonya (yes, that’s this vender’s name). Fortunately, we both felt we walked away with good deals from her. Of course, the more Santas we purchased, the better our deals.

I bought a few other Santas from this other vendor...and oooh’ed and aaah’ed at this large and gorgeous Santa. He was a little out of my price range, although still a steal when compared to the prices at the on-post bazaars back in Germany.

On our second visit to the market, we realized how large the market really is -- wow! It’s a sprawling area packed with attractive art and handmade crafts, including original matryoshkas (the stackable dolls), palekhs (black papier-maché or enameled wooden, lacquer-finished boxes named after the town east of Moscow where they originated, with intricate scenes painted on their lids), Khokhloma ware, religious relics, replica Faberge eggs, military souvenirs, and traditional costumes and clothing.



I tried on a few ushankas before settling on a faux-fur one for Benjamin over the much more expensive varieties of real fur, despite assurances from the vendor that the rabbit fur ushankas would provide much more warmth.

No, not all those bags contained my purchases, although I can honestly say about half of them were mine. My #1 purchases were wooden Santas, palekhs and matryoshkas.



As we left the market, we walked past a display of live bears. We were surprised, and somewhat appalled, to see them there. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist snapping a few photos, especially when their tamer directed one to the top of the pole and climbed up there with it!

Labels: Russia, Travel

Although though we stayed busy with the Moscow Air Show, we managed to see quite a few of Moscow’s sights, even if some of them came to us through the bus windows.

During our one day off, we headed to the Izmaylovo crafts market (stay tuned for a future post on that shopping experience), but only after stopping by some street vendors overlooking the city. While they had relatively decent offerings, we mostly just looked at their merchandise to get an idea of prices and wares. It was also nice to get a panoramic view of the city, including the Grand Sports Arena of Luzhniki Olympic Complex, or simply the Luzhniki Stadium. In 1980, it was known as the Central Lenin Stadium and was the chief venue for the U.S.-boycotted Summer Olympics.

We regularly passed the Moscow State University. It’s the largest and oldest university in Russia. It was founded in 1755, and has more than 38,000 students (undergraduate and graduate) in attendance. It was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City at the time of its construction, and it remained the tallest building in Europe until 1988. The star on the top of the tower is large enough to include a small room and a viewing platform, and weighs 12 tons.

We also walked past the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building several times. In fact, it was one of my landmark buildings on my walk from the hotel to the Stary Arbat shopping street. Near the top of the building was the Soviet hammer and sickle, which I thought was interesting. It was a rather large, imposing building that was clearly visible from the nearby streets, especially since it seemed to perch at the end of a street at the top of a hill. Even the three large front doors were imposing. I caught myself standing and marveling at the architecture a while, until I realized that just accentuated the fact that I was a tourist (as if my big camera didn't give it away).







I really enjoyed walking down Stary Arbat. I made my first trek there the night I arrived in Moscow, and had wonderful dinner several times on this street. I also perused the wares of the vendors selling various items, from matryoshka dolls (the stackable dolls), palekhs (black lacquered boxes) and military items (based on the prices, I figured most of them were replicas). At least doing so gave me an opportunity to scout out what I wanted to purchase before I went to the Izmaylovo crafts market.

I even found Dobby the house elf as well as Shrek, Fiona and Donkey watching passersby during my regular walks down this street. Dobby even obliged taking a photo with me. The girl riding the pony behind me just added to the character of the street. However, I didn’t see many ponies up and down Stary Arbat -- this encounter was a one-time event.



This ballerina statue caught my eye, but I don’t know if it held any special significance.

Window shopping was one activity I enjoyed while strolling along Stary Arbat. I was enamored by this intricately-decorated matryoshka set with 29 dolls! Yes, it was rather pricey with all the gold inlay, but beautiful nonetheless. I even saw some very nice replica Faberge eggs. As much as I contemplated purchasing a stunning red and gold musical one, I couldn’t quite talk myself into that big of a splurge.

I’m not sure what this building was, but I liked the geometrically-designed flowers on the lawn overlooking the Moscow River. We regularly passed this building since it was literally across the river from our hotel.

And, when I needed to cross the Moscow River, I often walked across the Rostovsky Most bridge, which was just outside the hotel’s parking lot entrance. The view inside the bridge was also rather geometric with an odd mix of wood, metal and globe light fixtures, but the outside (below) was rather stunning.



Another of several large, stoic buildings dotting the skyline during our travels. I’m not sure what building this is, but since it looks very similar to the Kotelnicheskaya Tower, I wouldn’t be surprised if it shared the same architects -- Dmitry Chechylin (then chief architect of Moscow) and Andrei Rostkovsky.

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the tallest Eastern Orthodox Church in the world, and just a few blocks away from the Kremlin. The original cathedral was completed in 1860, but was, unfortunately, demolished in 1931 to make room for construction of the Palace of Soviets. With the end of Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the cathedral in 1990. The newly-completed, although not an exact replica of the original, church was consecrated in August 2000, and former president Boris Yeltsin laid in state there before his funeral in April 2007.

We also passed the Russian White House, otherwise known as the Russian Government Building, several times. I was often turned around on our travels to and from the airfield since we never seemed to take the same route twice. One day, we’d come upon a particular building from one side, then another time I’d only recognize the same building when we were nearly past it from a different approach. There were even some buildings that I know we only passed a few days, rather than every day.

We even passed right near some of Moscow’s nuclear reactors during our travels. Again, we didn’t pass them every day, but when we did they were literally a stone’s throw away (not so in this photo though)! I was amazed that they were in the middle of the city, in and amongst the busy traffic and buildings.

We also passed Moscow’s casino district several times. We walked through the area when we were searching for the ballet one evening, sped past them during our gypsy cab experience and drove past them at a more acceptable pace during at least one bus ride. One evening, our Russian-fluent speaker misread one of the signs and thought we were entering the red light district. He mistranslated “easy slots” by substituting a “u” for the “o.” Yes, Moscow has a red light district, but this wasn’t it (and we didn’t search it out!).



The mall next to our hotel was rather large. This is the view of one of the elevator banks from the food court area. It’s not obvious in this photo, but there were seven levels!

Even with all its differences, there were a few easily-recognizable sights. The Hard Rock Café – Moscow was on Stary Arbat.

This McDonald’s was just past the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building as we crossed the last street before coming to Stary Arbat. We saw several McDonald’s restaurants in the city, although I didn’t venture inside any of them to compare the menu offerings.

I saw at least two TGI Friday’s restaurants, and did eat at one. It was good to have a Chicken Caesar Salad after more than a week in Moscow.

This Sbarro Pizza restaurant was also near our hotel, although there was another in the food court at the seven-story mall, right next to Baskin Robbins.

Yes, this is the back of a seat, but look closely and you'll see that my taxi driver subscribed to the same philosophy of buckling his seatbelt as Irakli did: it’s buckled behind his seat, and not over his shoulder and lap. I still preferred having mine buckled the traditional way, even on my last ride in Moscow, heading to the airport.

Labels: Russia, Travel