We drove down town Moscow today ( no traffic so it only took us 20 min... Amazing) Parked in our old neighborhood at Shabolovka and walk to Gorky Park. Gorky Park is my favorite place in Moscow. A park full of life and always somethig cool going on. A modern and artistic park with great food places, Garage Contemporary art museum, play ground and view over Moscow River. Today it was boiling hot sunny weather and we had a great time. It was fun to see Garage museum new building impressive and funky. The Urs Fischer clay YES project outside was super cool. 200 ton clay used for the project. 

We are back in Moscow and will be here for a few weeks. Great to be full team all together and to hang in our second home for the last time before we move from here. It feels like home vacation, home but at the same time far away. Crazy how much stuff we have with having furniture's and equipment for two homes and now we will soon have to store everything from here in Lundsätter.  The flight over went well but it is certainly no walk in the park travelling by myself with 1 year old and 3,5 year even it only takes 2 hours ( thank God!) I have a lot of experience travelling with and without children and here is my best advice: Plan your hand luggage well with snacks, toys and more snacks Trunki bag is the best invention ever (expensive hard plastic bag for kids with wheels that the kids can ride on) I don't know what I would do without Trunki with a tired 3,5 year old and hundred kilometers to passport control. With Trunki she can just hop on and ride and me easily pull and h...

I came from Moscow to Vingåker, Sweden, in March Spring came and my belly was growing The builders came and finished great and necessary projects on our house Baby Filip arrived in May like the brightest sunshine in our life Summer and the light nights came Or actually the summer never really came as it was raining and pretty cool all summer but great weather when having a small baby and a 2,5 year old who likes to ride It was hard to adjust to our country life and it was even harder being a part with Loren working in Moscow and me and kids living in Sweden We got used to and formed a very nice country life and spending a lot of time and bonding with grandparents Seeing family members on regular basis Blessed with not only reconnecting with old friends but also making new great friends Although of course still very hard spending so much time being apart as a family September came and offered great autumn weather and lots of chantarells and berries in the forrest It feels s...

Big part of Team Nikolovski will be out of town for sometime now when finally the beautiful spring season is coming to Moscow ( no not bitter that we survived the ugly cold winter season and will miss from what I have heard the best season in Moscow) We have done I don't know how many pro and con lists what to do and came to the decision that we will use our Sweden home as base for sometime while baby number two will be born. Logistic reasons and to have family close when we go from three to four is the main reasons behind. We have during these few months after Christmas managed to get more use to our Moscow life and so it feels a bit strange to leave for a while. But also great to be able to have the best of two very different worlds.  What I have learned from our time in Moscow so far is: - All the Russians I have met is much nicer, helpful and service-minded then my expectations - In the playground all kids are everyone's, babushkas will make sure that the kids are dres...

Here comes a little spring illustration I made a couple of years ago just to hurry things up a little. Here in Moscow you can feel the spring in the air and yes most of the snow has melted but still quit a lot of icy and ugly traces here and there. No sign of spring flowers yet that I have managed to spot anyways but I have limited places to find them at as I am not that close to nature where we live. I will check in Gorky park later this week. Feels good to leave February behind and I am welcoming March with open arms.

Here is some pictures from last weekend when we headed to Red Square. It was pretty busy as we arrived and the main street was closed of because of national holiday in Russia, Defender of the Fatherland. The holiday celebrates people who are or were serving the Russian armed force but also like a Russian version of Fathers-day. It was a lot of men in uniform waving flags on the streets and people watching them.

Yes today I could feel the spring in the air here in Moscow. I know that this normally happens in February and that you get terribly disappointed when the winter comes back as a boomerang. But hey lets nit be to negative about it and enjoy the spring signs instead. Me and Mila walk to Gorky park where we enjoyed the sun, coffee, danish smörrebröd, play ground and nice big puddle of water.  

Here is some pictures from our Moscow home. We live on Shabolovka street in a small complex of 4 pretty tall buildings. And everything you need you have in reach within these buildings. Small shop which we use more frequent then we would ever dream off, like an extra fridge. Yoga and kids studio which I am planning to utilize but still haven't. Hairdresser and beauty saloon. Dental cosmetic clinic and ski shop ( I know very random..)  We live in building 2. Our building has 20 floors and amazing view over Moscow center from the top, so I have seen on Instagram, we live pretty close to the ground and have a horrible view over a factory on one side and new very tall fancy colorful building complex on the other side which is still under construction. Our dinner table next to the kitchen. The built in art work window that I hated when we moved in I am slowly starting to not only get use to but actually like I like our kitchen and especially this part with ...

And so came the most beautiful February day along, with the strongest and brightest winter sun The feeling of being privileged came over me as I walked along Moscow river Privileged to be able to experience and explore life in a city and country which I never even thought I would even visit. A city and country with a long history which is very unknown to me.  Every place has something to offer I think and to be able to explore what Moscow has to offer good and bad is something I am enjoying more and more as time is passing and I am feeling more comfortable and home here. The sun helps of course! So maybe I will love Moscow by the time the summer comes.  We live close to Gorky Park, Moscow's central park of culture and leisure, only 15 min walk from our apartment. During the winter you can find Russia and Europe's largest ice skating rink here, 59 000 Sq feet. Also great café's and fun pla...

Loren who loves nice, fresh and natural groceries has done some great research about Moscow's supermarkets and farmers markets since we moved here.  Danislovsky market is one of Moscow's oldest and biggest indoor markets and the best thing is that we only live 15 minutes away. Located on Mytnaya ul 74 with nearest metro station Tulskaya. Last Sunday Team Nikolovski did our premier exploration to this fresh products paradise. An explosion of colors from all the fruits and vegetables met us and the atmosphere was great. For me coming from Sweden this is very exotic as we don't have this kind of markets but also for Loren who has been living away from Macedonia for a long time. You can find more or less everything here not only fruit and veggies but also eggs, meat, fresh cheese and bread. Also babushkas selling homemade marmalade, jam, pickled vegetables and many other for me unknown products. An Colombian restaurant and a couple of interesting café´s with fresh products an...

One new year resolution was to make the most out that we are living in Moscow. It is a lot to see and explore in and around this big city and most of it is unknown to me. A must see places in Moscow is Red Square with it's famous cathedral (Saint Basil) building with its colorful tops. Team Nikolovski finally made it here last weekend.  It was a grey but not so cold day. The Christmas music, decoration and lights were still in full bloom which felt a big strange as I feel very done with Christmas for this year. Mila got to go on the old fashion carousel before we had some nice soup and coffee in a café close by. Quick short facts   400 by 150 meters big square  Established in 15th Century Located in the heart of Moscow On its four side of the square you find Kremlin, GUM department store, State Historical museum and St Basil cathedral (centers of government, commerce, history & religion)  On the square you also find Lenin´s tomb a big grey granite mausoleu...

It has been so hard to update something on the blog since we moved. Not because I don't have illustrations, thoughts or ideas but because I have too many ideas and not enough energy and time to put pen to paper. But now it is a new year and with that comes new years resolutions and a feeling of a new start. Right?! Happy New Year 2015! Team Nikolovski is back in Moscow after a long and relaxing winter vacation in Sweden (more about that in another post) Back in Moscow we have pretty wintery weather with snow but very mild so the snow is now as we speak turning into brown slosch very unpleasant for shoes and not so pretty. I never had chance to write about my first experience with Moscow and living here so here is a short summary of my thoughts before I moved connected to this illustration I made ages ago: I was pretty scared of Russia and Moscow before I move here (maybe I still am, who knows!!) coming from Scandinavia where something bad is written in media everyday about Ru...

Reusing this autumn illustration of me  Team Nikolovski's adventures continuous and it has been a lot going on with moving from Prague to Moscow with a longer then planned stop in Vingåker, Sweden. Updates are coming very soon I promise!! While staying in Sweden a lot of creativity as a result of the limited access to internet but to show it I have to transfer creativity to computer ( not my favorite part of the process). Also I am drowning in boxes to unpack here in Moscow apartment. God damn it I am so super extra bored of unpacking boxes and trying to organize things as I want it. I know it is fun to make it nice and home but first Lundsätter and now here, is there an end to it? And I still can't find my stars and advent lights for this weekend. Moscow has treated us well so far, but we are just getting use to the neighborhood really and UNPACKING BOXES. I will be back soon with more moving details and moving thoughts. Mila and neighbour cat at Lundsätter on of many...