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Moscow, Russia

Wednesday 14:00

Clear

-14°C = 7°F

I'm beginning to wonder whether my trip to Moscow at the end of the month is entirely wise, it is several years since I last knew 25 degrees of frost and from memory it requires a lot of wrapping up. My boots, for example. A hat. Advice sought by less-than-competent traveler.

FG;1470954 wrote: Moscow, Russia

Wednesday 14:00

Clear

-14°C = 7°F

I'm beginning to wonder whether my trip to Moscow at the end of the month is entirely wise, it is several years since I last knew 25 degrees of frost and from memory it requires a lot of wrapping up. My boots, for example. A hat. Advice sought by less-than-competent traveler.


I'm off to sunny Scotland towards the end of the month, not quite so cold (I hope) but I'll let you know how it goes

Layers, water and wind proof top layer with absorbent and wicking underlayer - definitely a thick had and a hood ...

Bryn Mawr;1470955 wrote: I'm off to sunny Scotland towards the end of the month, not quite so cold (I hope) but I'll let you know how it goes

Layers, water and wind proof top layer with absorbent and wicking underlayer - definitely a thick had and a hood ...


I do hope you enjoy your Scottish interlude.

If I'm wearing all that, the plane had better not be heated!

Tights. That's what fishermen and builders wear to keep them warm in winter.

Yup a couple of good pairs of long johns.

Under Armor makes some good clothing that helps in the cold, I hear.

https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-coldgear/mens

Definitely need a good windbreaker, as well.

The real problem is the high humidity. the cold will soak right through if not properly dressed.

Moscow is NOT on my list of places for winter travel. Average temps in January and February are below freezing for the highs. And average humidity is around 70%

Hence the expression - "Winter Drawers On".

FG;1470954 wrote: Moscow, Russia

Wednesday 14:00

Clear

-14°C = 7°F

I'm beginning to wonder whether my trip to Moscow at the end of the month is entirely wise, it is several years since I last knew 25 degrees of frost and from memory it requires a lot of wrapping up. My boots, for example. A hat. Advice sought by less-than-competent traveler.


OK I will ask.......it may be worth a visit.....anywhere is worth a visit.....but why in the depth of winter ?

Bruv;1470969 wrote: OK I will ask.......it may be worth a visit.....anywhere is worth a visit.....but why in the depth of winter ?


Umm... I've seen Moscow in the summer? Admittedly Nikita Khrushchev was still alive last time I visited but I doubt much will have changed since.

I'm scheduled to be in Warsaw for a fortnight and I wanted to go to the opera. Traveling all the way from Cornwall to Moscow to see a production of The Fiery Angel would be perhaps excessive, but flitting over for three days from Warsaw is almost sensible; by my reckoning it has cost me less than would travel, hotel and tickets to Covent Garden from here, and The Fiery Angel is way up the list of operas I want to see sometime. As is the venue.

FG;1470970 wrote: Umm... I've seen Moscow in the summer? Admittedly Nikita Khrushchev was still alive last time I visited but I doubt much will have changed since.

I'm scheduled to be in Warsaw for a fortnight and I wanted to go to the opera. Traveling all the way from Cornwall to Moscow to see a production of The Fiery Angel would be perhaps excessive, but flitting over for three days from Warsaw is almost sensible; by my reckoning it has cost me less than would travel, hotel and tickets to Covent Garden from here, and The Fiery Angel is way up the list of operas I want to see sometime. As is the venue.


Nobody is "Scheduled" to be in Warsaw...................are they ?

Bruv;1471009 wrote: Nobody is "Scheduled" to be in Warsaw...................are they ?I have something I need to get started and Warsaw seemed the obvious place to go and do it. I found a cheap studio flat by the old market square, Ryanair flies for less than the cost of the petrol and apart from seeing the Warsaw National Philharmonic it'll be all work. Except the three days off in Moscow which is the break in the middle.

That's a relief, I thought you might be a *cough* Agent..............whatever floats your boat.....Have a good time.

If I were a *cough* Agent I'd have had Q choose my cold-weather gear in the first place.

Bruv;1471014 wrote: That's a relief, I thought you might be a *cough* Agent..............whatever floats your boat.....Have a good time.


Careful, Bruv...dangerous ground

theia;1471019 wrote: Careful, Bruv...dangerous ground


But not skating on thin ice..............not with those temperatures.

I could do with a *cough* Agent at the moment. Being on the phone all day is very wearing on the voice.

FourPart;1471041 wrote: I could do with a *cough* Agent at the moment. Being on the phone all day is very wearing on the voice.


Sip honey dissolved in water periodically throughout the day when needed.

I have, I fear, been snowed on today, and this is the Warsaw leg. The snow fitted well with visiting the old Gestapo prison which is now a museum. English schools should send trips here, nobody should leave these events to be forgotten by new generations.

My shopping is a bit random. What I took to be Tartare Sauce is, in fact, very vigorously Horseradish. Still, waste not want not - I have long thin exciting Kabanos to chew too.

spot;1472282 wrote: I have, I fear, been snowed on today, and this is the Warsaw leg. The snow fitted well with visiting the old Gestapo prison which is now a museum. English schools should send trips here, nobody should leave these events to be forgotten by new generations.

My shopping is a bit random. What I took to be Tartare Sauce is, in fact, very vigorously Horseradish. Still, waste not want not - I have long thin exciting Kabanos to chew too.


I am of a view that horseradish should be as vigorous as nature can possibly muster and should never be adulterated with any cream or confection designed to temper its ability to clear a woolly head

There !

Snowfire;1472408 wrote: I am of a view that horseradish should be as vigorous as nature can possibly muster and should never be adulterated with any cream or confection designed to temper its ability to clear a woolly head

There !As an accompaniment for steamed Dover Sole it raises a lot of questions, I can tell you.

I have ironed a shirt and applied a bow tie. I have no comb or brush. The woolly head is singularly apt, having just showered. Back to fingers as usual.

That was, in fact, a good evening out. The Filharmonia hall is elegant in the extreme, I can think of nowhere in Cornwall comparable - granite is not really on a par with an acre of polished marble. I checked in my coat and hat, having walked despite the nip in the air, and ordered a coffee.

The first half was 20th century, a Janacek soufflé preceded a 1944 piece by Martinu which fitted pretty well with my museum trip. The orchestra had a visiting conductor, Jonathan Darlington - whom I'm slightly surprised I'd never seen conduct until today, having had several opportunities by way of overlap - who dances while the orchestra plays. Some conductors step and shuffle, Mr Darlington could have auditioned for Pan's People. In fairness he did get a good response from the players, which is what he's there for. The players were a class act.

The second half involved a mid-twenties lad from Łódź starring in Dvorak's 1895 Violin Concerto. He was sat very far forward which made the occasional eye contact with Jonathan Darlington a bit of a neck-stretch, I thought, but that could just have been impassioned fervour on his part. He was startlingly good, firing on all cylinders from the off and getting more ardent as time went by. There was a point during the second movement when the entire orchestra, and Mr Darlington, just stopped and watched while he went at it. He - Mr Daroch, the cellist - grew quieter and more intense. Misery poured from his instrument. Fortunately the flautist - I'm sure it was Dvorak's intention from the start but it was awfully dramatic - threw him what seemed a lifeline, a theme he could enmesh himself with, and the two of them spent quite a while warming the room with their intimate chat-a-deux. Mr Daroch visibly inflated as the duet progressed, it was almost operatic. I think he mopped his brow with his kerchief when the orchestra as a whole took up the reins again.

I walked back through snowflakes. I hope they've not settled.

I bought two cans of beer at the local shop yesterday, along with food. Each can is a half litre and cost 32p. It's 6.2%. It's labelled Strong Premium Romper and it's sufficiently good that I would recommend it to my friends.

I have no intention of opening the second can this evening.

Some things puzzle me. How to wash and dry my trousers while only having the single trouser filled my thoughts this morning. I walked to some shops.

There's a shop-row in the centre - or "Centrum", apparently - which includes a M&S, H&M and C&A. I went into M&S. The prices are double what they'd be in an English M&S, I was appalled. I went into the local fashionista outlet three doors up and got some startling strides for £10. And some socks. One can never have too many socks.

I can now wash the original trouser. Problem solved.

Monday is, according to their website, the birthday celebration for the club which attracts Jazz people. I think I'll give it a try. Tonight, by contrast, I'll go back to the basement club round the corner and listen to the chap with the Hammond keyboard and the miserable lyrics. To be fair, I have no idea what the subject matter of the lyrics was, but they sounded miserable. I took them for the local equivalent of Woke Up This Morning, My Woman Done Left Me Again. My sort of sound, that.

That raises another question.

Why is it that clothing for the lower part of the body is referred to in the plural (a pair of trousers... a pair of underpants etc), while the upper body is in the singular (A shirt... A sweater - or even A Bra).

Yes, when it's 2 different items, such as shoes, socks & gloves, it's understandable, but everything else are single units prforming essentially the same sort of function in the same sort of way.

English as a foreign language is reputed to be a mystery. English from birth is a privilege.

Yesterday's newspapers in Poland had "Daily Mail" and many exclamation marks. They were not pleased. The Daily Mail seems to think calling Treblinka a "Polish Extermination Camp" is acceptable.

"Although the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds every time concerning the misnaming of German camps, it continues to appear in the media". Especially pig-ignorant anti-European tabloids like the Daily Mail.

On behalf of the United Kingdom, I apologize for the gratuitous, deliberate and blatant offence. The fault lies entirely with those who buy the paper or use its website.

You must remember the Daily Mail supported the Nazi Blackshirts during the war. They're not likely to want to pass the blame of History onto their idols now, when they can imply the Poles (who were invaded & occupied by those heroic Germans) now, are they.

spot;1472619 wrote: Monday is, according to their website, the birthday celebration for the club which attracts Jazz people.


Monday night at the Tygmont was wonderful and just what I'd meant to find while I was here. At some stage I hope there will be a review - the press seemed to be out in droves - so I can find out who was playing. The feel of the evening was very much of a celebrated anniversary and the jazz came straight from the 70s.

I did look through the windows of Paparazzi and thought, I'm just a plain chap more used to straw on the floor and no light beyond a candle after twilight, but I might stop in toward the weekend for a half hour.

This evening I went to the performance with which I timed my visit to Warsaw to coincide. The National Opera have a stripped-down emotionally wringing 2009 production of Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice. The words and music are 250 years old. The story - trimmed to take out the original Holywood-compulsory happy ending - is shockingly modern. It's too late to attempt to write up my reaction this evening, I might have a try over lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to a theatre about 400 metres north of the Barbican not far from a beautiful statue of Marie Curie overlooking the river, which may or may not be a dramatised Saul Bellow short story.

spot;1473051 wrote: Monday night at the Tygmont was wonderful and just what I'd meant to find while I was here. At some stage I hope there will be a review - the press seemed to be out in droves - so I can find out who was playing. The feel of the evening was very much of a celebrated anniversary and the jazz came straight from the 70s.

I did look through the windows of Paparazzi and thought, I'm just a plain chap more used to straw on the floor and no light beyond a candle after twilight, but I might stop in toward the weekend for a half hour.

This evening I went to the performance with which I timed my visit to Warsaw to coincide. The National Opera have a stripped-down emotionally wringing 2009 production of Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice. The words and music are 250 years old. The story - trimmed to take out the original Holywood-compulsory happy ending - is shockingly modern. It's too late to attempt to write up my reaction this evening, I might have a try over lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to a theatre about 400 metres north of the Barbican not far from a beautiful statue of Marie Curie overlooking the river, which may or may not be a dramatised Saul Bellow short story.


My knowledge of Opera is almost non existent. Is Dance of the Furies part of Orpheus and Euridice ? I'm familiar with that piece.

Wonderful piece that. Stirring stuff

Snowfire;1473122 wrote: My knowledge of Opera is almost non existent. Is Dance of the Furies part of Orpheus and Euridice ? I'm familiar with that piece.

Wonderful piece that. Stirring stuffIt is. I used to play it in the School Orchestra, along with the preamble to Act 2. The opera is not without well-known tunes.

So, let's write it up and get it off my chest. Gluck's Orfeo and Euridice, 1762, as interpreted by Director Mariusz Treliński and sung by Wojtek Gierlach, Olga Pasiecznik and Bożena Bujnicka.

Euridice, we are shown in the first scene, is extremely, agitatedly unhappy and dies. Her husband, Orfeo, a writer incapable of writing, watches miserably as her casket is consigned to the flames of a formal cremation. The Gods, handing out home truths the way they do, set the ground-rules for how Orfeo can have her back: no eye-contact, no direct speech and no explanation by Orfeo that he must do as he's been told.

Euridice returns and the reason for the rules becomes clear. Having no eye-contact and no direct speech is why she became extremely, agitatedly unhappy the first time round. She dies, again. And again and again and again and again.

Orfeo finally refuses to participate. Either he no longer sees this cycle re-enacting or he chooses to ignore it, the audience can't tell and Orfeo certainly isn't going to open up. He returns to his laptop and finds he can write again, leaving himself and Euridice back inhabiting the same space as before. One can fairly presume she's no happier than when we first saw her at the start of Act 1. Orfeo has failed to discover even one admirable or heroic trait in himself, though as the lights fade he is either unaware of that or just very good at resignation.

Speaking as a widower, this is not an easy production to enjoy. I imagine quite a few in the audience found it a difficult production to enjoy. I expect that's why Mr Treliński trimmed the text to allow this performance to tell his version. It is, if I may say so, not be exactly what Gluck had in mind 250 years ago, but theatrically it's explosive stuff so well done to all concerned.

While returning to "Dance of the Furies" it seems I'm familiar with "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" too.

I've always shied away from Opera, preferring to pick and choose certain movements within Classical music in general.

Running through my preferences, Baroque features rather highly

Snowfire;1473138 wrote: While returning to "Dance of the Furies" it seems I'm familiar with "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" too.

I've always shied away from Opera, preferring to pick and choose certain movements within Classical music in general.

Running through my preferences, Baroque features rather highly


If you click the link in my second paragraph you'll see several stills from the production. It was, as you can tell from the pictures, a riveting display.

I'm more into Operetta than Opera. I'm not into Shrieky Sopranos that pretentiously sing things you can't understand, even if you speak the language. Give me something like G & S, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and the like any day.

FourPart;1473141 wrote: I'm more into Operetta than Opera. I'm not into Shrieky Sopranos that pretentiously sing things you can't understand, even if you speak the language. Give me something like G & S, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and the like any day.


Actually, it's never bothered me that its in a language I cant understand. It doesnt detract from the music that I don't know what they are singing about. Sure it would help to understand if I watched an opera but that is what the libretto ? (is that the word I'm looking for) is for

FourPart;1473141 wrote: I'm more into Operetta than Opera. I'm not into Shrieky Sopranos that pretentiously sing things you can't understand, even if you speak the language. Give me something like G & S, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, and the like any day.


You are addressing one who walked out of Evita before Act 1 finished.

I came to hearing and loving the works of J. S. Bach, through an album I bought in 1970, or there abouts, called "Switched on Bach", a synthesised album, played on an early Moog by Wendy Carlos.

The Brandenburg Concerto still gives me goosebumps

Snowfire;1473145 wrote: Actually, it's never bothered me that its in a language I cant understand. It doesnt detract from the music that I don't know what they are singing about. Sure it would help to understand if I watched an opera but that is what the libretto ? (is that the word I'm looking for) is for
The Libretto is the script for the words of the 'play' part between songs (as well as sometimes including the lyric of the songs). Opera doesn't tend to have any spoken links & consequently doesn't usually bother with a Libretto.

Snowfire;1473148 wrote: I came to hearing and loving the works of J. S. Bach, through an album I bought in 1970, or there abouts, called "Switched on Bach", a synthesised album, played on an early Moog by Wendy Carlos.

The Brandenburg Concerto still gives me goosebumps
I've been impressed by that album, and the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, since they came out. It was one of those sounds which separate before from after.

FourPart;1473141 wrote: I'm not into Shrieky Sopranos that pretentiously sing things you can't understand, even if you speak the language.We had a soprano playing Euridice but she didn't shriek. The singing was in Italian, the surtitles were in Polish, I speak nothing of either language but, as my summary indicates, I had no problem following the gory details. Unlike a disastrous performance I once saw of the English National Opera destroying Mozart's Magic Flute, in English, a work I already knew, very little of which came across at all. You'd have thought the storyline was indestructible but I tell you from experience it's not.

Having flown into Moscow at 3pm yesterday I note I'm now three hours adrift from English time, and that getting up today for an 8am breakfast really does feel like 5am. I'm now fed and headed out to explore. Moscow, compared to Warsaw, it huge, it has a London feel to it. I shall need Metro tickets.

I managed to mis-shop yet again. The Cryllic lettering for Salt is no different, as far as I can tell, from that signifying Sugar, and to sell the two from the same shelf is just inviting error. Since discovering my mistake I have had two more cups of coffee, neither of which was sweetened, to take away the taste of the first. I know, I know, I shouldn't take sugar in the first place.

spot;1473255 wrote: I know, I know, I shouldn't take sugar in the first place.
Or salt, for that matter.

spot;1473255 wrote: I managed to mis-shop yet again. The Cryllic lettering for Salt is no different, as far as I can tell, from that signifying Sugar, and to sell the two from the same shelf is just inviting error. Since discovering my mistake I have had two more cups of coffee, neither of which was sweetened, to take away the taste of the first. I know, I know, I shouldn't take sugar in the first place.


Never mind that! What about the weather?

Betty Boop;1473308 wrote: Never mind that! What about the weather?


There's about three inches of crisp snow out there this morning, the streets are well cleared but there's occasional pavement ice from re-frozen melt water off the roofs which is slippery. I have so far stayed upright when my feet have missed their footing on that, which surprises me. I'm sufficiently well wrapped to stay out a couple of hours at a time, but the sub-zero wind is uncomfortably cold on my face - I'm glad I have a hat on. I leave for Warsaw tomorrow afternoon.

And now I'm headed for Warsaw Modlin airport to get back to Bristol. Slowly. I've emptied the apartment ready for the cleaner, my cab arrives an hour after dark so I have the day to walk around and see a few more things. I went to the Zoo yesterday. I'll leave my case here while I'm out. Stashing the laptop in it is the last bit. And, while I remember, my toothbrush.