LiveATC.net just added UUEE (Sheremetyevo) Approach to their live feeds, so you can listen to what’s going on in the sky above you. Moscow Approach is (the pilots among you please correct me, if I’m wrong) the controller, which guides the airplanes to and from the Moscow airports, right after Takeoff or until the final approach to the runway. http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=uuee

There are many ways of getting around Moscow and most of them are confusing for tourists and newcomers.
The Airport

This video is a bit older. You’ve probably seen it on my old blog. Well, I’ve been in exactly the same situtation this morning, so I decided to re-post it, especially since the old blog is gone.

I know most Russians hate me saying that and not because I am wrong, but me as a foreigner, I don’t have to criticize Russia or Russians (at no time). Yes yes, I will earn discredit, but I’ll do it again anyway. In my opinion most Russians seem to have an identity crises. Period. They seem to have lost their identity sometime after the fall of communism or even much longer before. Nowadays most Russians follow role models projected in the mass media (mainly by Western companies) and they do this with a passion and energy that searches its comparison somewhere else on this planet. Men are trying to be some type of alpha male rich guy or an overly fashionable heterogeneous metro sexual. Women try to copy any of the characters in Sex in the City, Cashmere Mafia or others related role models. The best thing I have seen in a long time, were Paris Hilton style twins with little Mexican dogs in their handbags shopping at Metro. Its all about status symbols and showing off, which fits well into the original Russian culture. Yes, I hear my critics say it already: You just don’t get Russians.

This guy is the best example. He is a Russian RnB and Rap star. A rich kid, pretending to be Snoop Dog or something like that. Sorry for taking Timati as an example for ALL Russians, ha ha, he’d probably be proud of that. Representin’ Russia, ya know. Let me say upfront that I love Hip Hop and Hip Hop culture. I have been growing up with it in a German town with a US Army base and followed its development since I’m 12 years old. I turned away from Hip Hop, when it became Gangsta style and Turkish kids in my neighborhood pretended to be hoodlums from the South Bronx or South Central LA. It was a joke, because Munich or Berlin (even their worst dirty parts) are not like a ghetto in NYC or LA. In general I’m not a big fan of the Snoop Dog types, although one has to acknowledge his special style in particular.
I only found back to Hip Hop years later when I lived in New York. I met many people who were involved in Hip Hop and most appreciated the way, they didn’t take themselves serious. Even though some of these guys were drug dealers aka gangstas aka hoodlums or monkeys, how they called themselves with a self ironic smile, because of their funny walks. As a white boy, I’d never been allowed to use that expression, though. So what is it with black guys (Michael Jackson) wanting to be white and white boys (e.g. Timati) wanting to be black? What is it with Russians being so proud of their nation and still trying to be Americans so hard? Sorry, I just don’t get it.

This guy claims he is racing Timoti (orange Cayenne) and he is so proud that he won the race after all. It doesn’t occur to him, that there may be many Orange Cayenne’s in Moscow (even with a special paint job).
Racing in the crowded Moscow traffic, is not only incredibly stupid, but also potentially killing others. I have seen so many heavy accidents with innocent people being hurt or killed, because of idiots like these two guys. The Police should take their license and their cars for good. Where the fuck are they anyway? Usually they are hiding after every corner. Why they are not stopping them, but fucking me over for some missing document on a routine check? There are too many videos like this on Youtube and Russian video portals, but the GUI doesn’t seem to watch Youtube (the license plates are there!) and watching away in real life as well.

Timoti stopped by the police. Probably he was racing someone again. Well, by the amount of police cars you see around in this vid, it seems he was trying to run away, but got caught after all. In other countries, you’d lose your license and go to jail. Not in Russia. No drugs in the trunk? Not drunk? OK, give me a few hundred rubles and you can go.
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Technorati Tags: Hip Hop, Identity, Moscow, Racing, Speeding, Traffic

It was so quiet on Moscow streets in the past 2 weeks. Today we start a long work week and after the holidays we are back to business. No matter if you drive or take the metro. Its going to be painful. have a good and successful 2009 and hopefully your streets are free.

Sonia takes this turn at Kremlin when she goes to work every day. Its purely painful.
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Technorati Tags: Moscow, Traffic, Work

Wow! I’m impressed. Just found this really cool tool and from the looks of it, its from the official Moscow Metro authorities. Its a flash based map, which allows you to plan a trip. Its looking for the fastest way and calculating the time you need from A to B. This is a great and useful tool and even in English! If it would only load a bit faster and be printable, but nothing is perfect.
Here is it http://engl.mosmetro.ru/flash/scheme01.html
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Technorati Tags: city life, English, Metro, Moscow, moscow metro map, moskau, moskva, public transport, Route, route planning, ru, subway, time calculation, Traffic, Travel