Aeroexpress

Last week, I rode the new Aeroexpress service from the airport in Sochi's Adler District to the central station in Sochi.  The ride was quiet, comfortable, very pleasant and at just 50 minutes from station to station, it is shorter than the usual automobile trip.  I think this is a godsend to travelers and will help to reduce traffic on Sochi's main road.  For those who use have used the Aeroexpress service in Moscow between the city center and Sheremetyevo, Domodedov and Vnukovo Airports, the comfort and convenience of the service will be familiar and the bright red wagons will be a welcome sight on arrival at the airport in Sochi.  The train has one stop at Adler, where a new station is being built and costs 200 rubles for standard class and 350 rubles for a business class ticket.

We made a video of the trip.  Please watch it:

March 8- International Women's Day

Russia celebrates Women's Day on March 8 each year.  The day was a holiday for most businesses and schools , which were closed both Thursday, March 8 and Friday, the 9th.  (To compensate, businesses and schools will reopen on Sunday, March 10.)The holiday is celebrated with gifts, flowers and candy for the women in each man's life.  To say it is an important holiday here in Russia is an understatement and one that would be nearly impossible and certainly unfogiveable to forget.  

I spent the day at a party in Dagomis, which is part of Sochi, but northwest of the city center along the coast. There were about 20 people at the party, which centered around a large meal that included, shashlik (barbeque grilled pork), chicken salad, potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, many other dishes and a large cake for desert.  The day cooperated with sunshine, although the streets were wet from the previous night's snow fall melting.

Luke Bodensteiner of US Ski and Snowboard

Late Saturday, February 18, I met Luke Bodensteiner at the Radisson Park Inn at Rosa Khutor and we spent a few minutes talking about the Audi World Cup results, the mountain and the preparations by US Ski and Snowboard for the 2014 Winter Games.  Luke told me that after Saturday's results,  Lindsay Vonn now has her fifth straight World Cup downhill title clinched.  Congratulations to Lindsay and thanks to Luke for the generosity with his time!

Video of Red Rocks Festival

 Saturday at Gornaya Karusel Ski Resort near Sochi, Sberbank hosted the Red Rocks Music Festival.  The setting was spectacular and dramatic, with the mountainside stage sitting at about 1,500 meters above the Black Sea. We took video of the event and interviewed performers and spectators.  Groups performing included the Scissors Sisters from the United States, the Norwegian group Royskopp and English indie group, White Lies.  Please take a look at the video of the performance and interviews of performers and spectators. 

Pavel Lesnevsky

Physicists say that a perpectual motion machine is a natural impossibility.  None seem to have met Pavel Lesnevsky.  This human beehive with phones stuck to each of his ears, multiple architectural projects on his computer, people sending him messages, a rambunctious golden retriever at his feet and a beautiful, serene business partner wife at his side, never stops moving. 

Pavel comes from a family of architects.  His father is an architect, so his sister and an uncle.  His mother seems to be the only one who strayed from the path, but as a well-known Russian painter, she is creative, too.  Anya Suhorukova, his wife, comes from an architectural family, too.  Her mother is an architectural engineer. Her father is an architect.  Her brother is an architect.  Her brother's wife is an architect.  I almost asked Pavel if they were going to try to get Sam, their Golden Retriever, admitted, too. 

 Anya and Pavel live in Sochi, where her family has one of the most well-known and successful architectural firms, SochiArhProekt, in the city.  Pavel, born in Saint Petersburg, moved to Sochi in 2006 from Rostov, where he studied architecture at the Southern Federal University and finished an advanced degree in Modern Design Technology.  During the university period of Pavel's life, he spent his evenings and weekends developing a thriving music business.  He was a successful and well-known DJ in Russia and Ukraine and was invited to perform at clubs in western Europe numerous times.  Pavel performed at the huge festival KaZantip in 2006 held annually in the Ukrainian resort city of Popovka.  He and his musical partner, Anatoliy Shemuratov, also signed a recording contract with Sirup Records, the leading Swiss dance music company, and is listed on their site.  Pavel's musical specialty is Electronic/House/ Techno and although he has a busy career as an architect, he is very active in the music world through his own music and by producing the music of local talent, like Lux Leopard.

I asked Pavel about working as an architect by day and a music producer (ClubStars) at night.  Besides the obvious fact that he is both talented and hyperkinetic, Pavel told me that the creative process and vision are what unify his two professional worlds.  He relishes being at the center of activity and using his creative vision to help his architectural clients and the musical talent he is finding and nurturing in south Russia.

As if that is not enough to keep him busy, Pavel is a well-known blogger and social media expert in Sochi.  His site LookSochi has a devoted following in Sochi's hipster crowd.  It is easy to see why, Pavel is both connected and socially-skilled and in the emerging Olympic boomtown of Sochi, he is a Sochisider with a future.