Moscow by night..flight!
(I evidently didn't took this one..though I confess I had loved to)

This blog was never meant to be a diary, where I would confess my every day thoughts und meaningless adventures. I thought about it more as a Mood board where I’d publish reflections and scribble anecdotes…
I’m relieved about this choosing…now that half the office read it and made some hints about it…no naughty thoughts or suggestive casualties feeds their imagination! sorry guys !

The past three days the sun was shining, bright and sincerely in the moscovite skies…Damn! The city’s aura is radically different! Long shadows and a range of colors unseen previously, finally gave me the feeling that this city isn’t only about drastic and desperate contrasts.
There is an ambivalent charme about Moscow that emanates at the first ray of light - pleasant…
Nevertheless, I didn’t discover the hidden beauty of it (– yet !), no lovely neighborhood to run to on a depressive sunday, no harmonious old town to run for shelter !
Just a few cozy bars scattered along those endless boulevards without any personality…

Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking..

Here’s an interesting article for those who have time..
http://www.liberation.fr/transversales/grandsangles/236096.FR.php

just realised I completely forgot to show you some pictures of st pete!
I was there for X-mas...on my own...(cos my "friend with the scar" was too drunk to join me...) so I kept running up and down the channels of that frozen Venice
enjoyed a classical "la Bohème" in the Mariinsky Theater and used the gum of my shoes walking up and down the impressively rich and labyrintical Ermitage museum!

if up to now I used to make use of the word "ABSURD" in a very thoughtless and inconsiderate way. three months in Russia cured my inaccuracy....
I spare you my long philosophical meditations...and deliver to you the essence:

a long dialogue ( again, I had the delicate attention to cut it shorter) between myself and a guardsman at the entrance of a restaurant I fancy...

- Hi
- .....
me trying to get in
- Do you have a reservation?
- No
- No reservation, no entry!
- I understand, but I'm a member!
- your card?
- well, I did it before Christmas, but never picked it up so it's inside...
- no reservation..non entry
- ok. but can I pick up my card and then I'll get in?
- where's your card?
- Inside!
- No card huh? ...well you don't get in...plus we're booked out!
- my friend and I, we come every week, you know me! plus it's wednesday... let me in please!
- no reservation, no entry
- You know it's not booked out..I can eat at the bar, I dont mind..please!
- NO!
- com'on! I'm a member ...just let me in and....
- member card pick ups on tuesday from 17 to 19

you can imagine my face, staring at him and trying to make him understand how wrong he was
(good luck!!) and how absurd it was (forget about it..)

Eventually I got in..with my friend...'cos he's got his member card ..
stamped on the forhead!
....in form of a scar; since he fell on the restaurant stairs when he was drunk once...
so the scar confers him the most wanted "all access"!

I think i twas Chiurchill who described Russia as a « riddle wrapped in a mistery inside an enigma »

Today I asked my colleague at work how was his birthday party ...
-"the first three days were ok, afterwards, I don't remember"
that should give you a rough idea...

As times goes by, I get very sloppy with the updating of my blog
mails and sms prevails in a world of instant communication...
is anyone reading anyway?

just came back from Kiev, where I had to exile myself for a few days
just to extend my russian visa since I became an unofficial resident in Moscow
(please don't laugh about security, police and bureaucatic matters
it has to be taken very seriously here!!)

Every city after Moscow, feels good, laid back and tranquil...people
relaxed and easy going....streets deserted....

Ukraine's capital is beautiful. It's narrow paved streets, multicoloured, reasonably high buildings gave me a very homely feeling! the famous Dniepr runs through the center, makes the view out of my window very scenic! (see pitures..even though I know my pictures don't give you the least clue about how it looks over there...sorry!)
almost frozen...
One say it's beautiful in the springtime, when the chestnut trees blossom...I'll give it a thought
and might return there...

In the meantime I'm back to work...and, it might sound completely aberrant to you,
but I'm glad to be back in this vampire babylone...


soon,
I promise!