moldova – Inner Moldova

Chisinau Fountains, June 2017

About three weeks ago I was having a moody weekend. The best cure for peculiar moods is taking a walk so that’s what I did. It was a hot, hot, hot day. I didn’t even feel like taking photographs until I reached the first fountain.

I love it. You can find it in Aleea Clasicilor (Alley of Classics), one of the two central parks in Kishinev. The fountain doesn’t always operate, but when it does, it certainly adds a charm. As you can see, children play in the water. I’m not sure if it’s encouraged, but there are no signs prohibiting it.

I walked around a bit more, then went to buy myself an ice-cream, and moved over to The National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Moldova. There are two fountains, on each side of the main entrance to the theatre. I was coming in from the left, so this was the fountain I occupied myself with.

I am not sure why, but these photos (especially the third one) basically transport me into the 80’s. Or at least, the fragile peace and happiness of the 80’s that was so well pictured in the technicolour photographs found in the endless books in my family library.

Here, I edited the last photograph for you, giving it a bit of a late 70’s – early 80’s vibe.

See what I mean? So vintage. If it weren’t for the cars in the background, you wouldn’t even be able to tell the photo was taken in 2017. For comparison, here’s a photograph of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre taken in 1980, according to Wikipedia.

I stood close to the fountain for a little while, being hit by droplets of water occasionally. It felt refreshing.

This big huge white bench is a relatively recent addition to the little square in front of The National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Moldova. I’m not sure how recent – if the sticker in the bottom left corner is of any indication, then the sponsoring bank’s been dead for well over a year now – but I don’t remember seeing the bench there before. The bench is huge – you can climb it using a little ladder to the right. I wanted to do just that and selfie the shit out of the situation (duh), but there were kids at play, and I didn’t want to disturb them too much with my juvenile entertainment.

I then left to the direction of the Cathedral Park, where I met some lovely faces.

A cow exhibition! How moovelous. I love these things. I first encountered one over a decade ago in Moscow. This one was organised by a local dairy producer to celebrate its many years in service. (Love their products by the way – not paid to write this.) It was surprisingly busy, with many people taking photographs with the painted sculptures of cows. I took advantage of the two that were unoccupied, and rushed on with my business afterwards.

Snow in Chisinau, 21 April 2017

Friday morning, I woke up to this.

I had to go to work, so I noticed there was no transportation.

And only an occasional car here and there.

Before I left the house, I kept wondering why people walked on the roads. When I saw what’s outside from the ground, as opposed to the window, I wondered no longer.

I had to almost hack my way through the fallen branches that blocked the exit of the apartment complex yard.

At first I attempted to walk on the pedestrian side of the street, but quickly gave up the idea. The branches continued to fall. There’s a crack in the very first video; it’s the sound of one of the branches breaking and falling down.

It took me a few moments to figure out where the photo was taken. The place was rendered barely recognisable by the snow.

Approaching Chuflea.

The snow there was up to my knees. There, I had to sometimes step to the pedestrian part of the street, because people who tried to leave their houses in cars simply got stuck in all the snow at one point.

Somewhere around here I noticed there was a single lonely bus going into my direction, but as I was walking on the other side of the road, facing cars to lower the chances of being hit by them, I didn’t get to catch it. That was the only bus going that way that I’ve seen.

The weather report said the snow level on the ground would be 5-10 cm. As you can see, nature has exceeded expectations. The awkward photo below is so you can scale the amount of snow next to the guy in the red jacket.

Finally reached the office. You might’ve seen in the previous photos that there were some fallen branches in these alleys. Now there were fallen trees.

The office stood majestic.

Taking a break from work, shooting a few photos from the office window. The snow continued falling.

I left work early (after arriving late), because I didn’t know what transport would be like, and really wanted to get home before dark. In these conditions, the entire trip took around 2 hours, if not longer. 2+ times the usual length of time.

I reached my building’s courtyard, and it’s as if it had been bombed.

I reached my flat and locked myself in for two days. I just didn’t want to know what was going on outside. Monday I went for a walk to take some photos of the aftermath. As usual, I took a lot of photos. There will be several posts with those.

Da Vinci Exhibition.

Way back in April I visited a Da Vinci exhibition here in Kishinev. Perhaps because I was way too excited for it, visiting it actually left me a bit underwhelmed. The most enjoyable part, for me, was the intro with the replicas of Da Vinci’s notebooks and a couple of interactive machines somewhere in the middle of the exhibit. I also enjoyed the anatomy prints that had their own corner and covered the entire walls.

I did not have my camera with me, so these were all taken with my phone. Soz.

In theory, my face was supposed to be there for the entertainment of the self and the masses (ergo, you). In practice, I went alone and couldn’t be arsed finding an aid.

Continue reading Da Vinci Exhibition.