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Neil McGowan
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« on: November 24, 2013, 10:42:55 pm » |
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A sales pavilion has been erected on Red Square, in the shape of a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase. Apparently the pavilion is to be temporary, running through until the end of the Russian Christmas in mid-January. This disgraceful eyesore is pictured on this page. Muscovites are left angry and dismayed. No explanation of how this occurred has yet arisen. Probably ardent defenders of unrestrained free enterprise can explain this to the rest of us? |
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Jolly Roger
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« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2013, 11:27:17 pm » |
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A sales pavilion has been erected on Red Square, in the shape of a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase. Apparently the pavilion is to be temporary, running through until the end of the Russian Christmas in mid-January. This disgraceful eyesore is pictured on this page. Muscovites are left angry and dismayed. No explanation of how this occurred has yet arisen. Probably ardent defenders of unrestrained free enterprise can explain this to the rest of us? I'm sure the goverment has had equally distasteful displays of mindless propaganda in the past. |
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2013, 03:45:02 am » |
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Horrendous ::)
From the angle the photograph was taken it appears to dwarf even the walls of the Kremlin-though I can't think that is true ???
Tell me, since it was in 1991 and 1993 that I last visited Moscow, is the GUM Department Store still as grand but still as smelly inside ???
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Jolly Roger
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« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2013, 03:47:24 am » |
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Horrendous ::)
From the angle the photograph was taken it appears to dwarf even the walls of the Kremlin-though I can't think that is true ???
Tell me, since it was in 1991 and 1993 that I last visited Moscow, is the GUM Department Store still as grand but still as smelly inside ???
please explain, how does all this relate to music? |
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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2013, 04:10:13 am » |
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please explain, how does all this relate to music?
This is the Architecture section. Part of the "Other Arts" area of these messageboards. It says so above. |
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2013, 04:04:36 pm » |
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........and, on the subject of architecture, the GUM shopping centre, Neil........... ???
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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2013, 08:46:11 pm » |
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........and, on the subject of architecture, the GUM shopping centre, Neil........... ???
I typed a longish reply, then I got timed-out by the site server and I lost it :( Anyhow yes, GUM... large C19th shopping arcade, restored to its former glory now. Lots of pretentious international brands there, but also a couple of nice patisseries with views of Red Square (a nice way to treat guests to the city)... and the old art-deco Cinema Hall has been restored, programming art-house films these days. So not an entirely reprehensible place at all :) |
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Jolly Roger
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« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2013, 09:18:17 pm » |
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sorry, did not know this section existed..
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Dundonnell
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« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2013, 03:00:07 am » |
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........and, on the subject of architecture, the GUM shopping centre, Neil........... ???
I typed a longish reply, then I got timed-out by the site server and I lost it :( Anyhow yes, GUM... large C19th shopping arcade, restored to its former glory now. Lots of pretentious international brands there, but also a couple of nice patisseries with views of Red Square (a nice way to treat guests to the city)... and the old art-deco Cinema Hall has been restored, programming art-house films these days. So not an entirely reprehensible place at all :) And-one suspects-full of shops stocking goods which many Muscovites will be unable to afford :( I vividly recall, back in 1991, taking around 40 16-17 year old school students to Moscow and St. Petersburg(one month before the coup against Gorbachev-good timing ;D). While in Moscow we "arranged" an evening at the Bolshoi Ballet. The tickets arrived as we were preparing to leave our hotel. They were brought by a man in a leather overcoat who screamed up in his car at the hotel door and, somewhat furtively, shoved the tickets into the hands of our guide. All deeply suspicious ;D ;D I wonder how much has changed ;D |
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Neil McGowan
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« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2013, 07:30:52 am » |
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And-one suspects-full of shops stocking goods which many Muscovites will be unable to afford :(
Agreed :) But on the other hand - how many Londoners do their weekly shop at Fortnum & Mason's ;) Nor is the economic situation of the majority of Muscovites that parlous, in fact. At more sensibly-priced shopping centres - I like "Metropolis", which is at Voikovskaya metro station - there are thronging crowds packed into mid-price shops like Zara, Gap and so on. And these really are 'majority Muscovites'. "Shopping Centres" are very popular in Russia because of the climate - it's winter here for 5 months of the year, so wandering around freezing your fingers off outdoors isn't conducive to "retail therapy". |
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