Journeys Around the Moscow Countryside

The Konstantin Paustovskiy museum in Moscow. Do Muscovites care about Soviet literature? Moscow region resort hotels are making a comeback. Are they popular with Muscovites and why? Nataly and Vasily recall how they joined Radio Moscow World Service. What did it mean to them? The enigmatic Russian character. Are all Russians stern and unfriendly?

The Konstantin Paustovskiy museum in the Moscow Kuzminki park. Do Muscovites care about Soviet literature? Moscow region resort hotels are making a comeback. Are they popular with Muscovites and why? Nataly and Vasily recall how they joined Radio Moscow World Service almost 35 years ago. What did it mean to them?  The enigmatic Russian character. Are all Russians stern and unfriendly?

Konstantin Paustovskiy, a prominent Soviet writer, whose talent was chiseled by the two great cities – Moscow and Kiev. There is a museum named after him in the beautiful Kuzminki park in the Russian capital.

Moscow region resort hotels are making a comeback, as Vasily discovered in his recent travels around the area. Muscovites are ready to pay a little extra cash for a comfortable countryside weekend of fresh air and fun. Can this be connected with the current international climate, when Russians no longer feel like travelling abroad?

It has been almost 35 years since Nataly and Vasily joined Radio Moscow World Service. In this new weekly segment, the presenters recall how they started work at the international broadcasting radio station and what it meant to them personally.

Foreigners visiting Moscow, often complain about stern looking Russians, who have a hard time smiling.  Are all Russians tense and are there any historical and cultural reasons? 

Mailbag answers a listener’s question about the Russian space program.

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