To keep that summer feeling going a bit longer, Moscow is awash in flowers. The annual Flower Fest has covered more than 2,000 venues in colorful, fragrant, beautifully designed flower beds, walks, and installations.
You can simply walk among the blooms, but if you want to get more engaged, you can take one of more than 1,000 master classes in landscape design, flower arrangement, botany or the culinary arts. Or you can join a tour of one of parks.
Or you can eat. Literally tons of fruit, jam, berries and other late summer treats have arrived in the city from more than 40 regions of the country. Jam is king, but honey is in second place, and ice cream — more than 160 kinds — come in a sweet third.
This year landscape designers from nine countries have joined their Russian counterparts. Tverskoi Bulvar was designed by Matthew Childs and Peter Fink from the U.K. Giant footprints and handprints “walk” down the center of the boulevard, some filled with flowers, some with balls, and some with sand. There are all kinds of play installations, a laboratory with microscopes and other tools, and plants waiting to be planted. There is also a magic forest tunnel, where adults appear to be elbowing out the kids in order to take selfies.
The idea, Childs told The Moscow Times, was to give people a chance to slow down and not just smell the flowers, but talk, play, and explore. “There are play installations, places to pause on your way, seating in circles to allow people to chat. And lots of color — bright colors in the trees, in the flowers and in play areas.”
All of these glorious gardens will be around through next weekend, when Moscow celebrates city day.
For more information see the Moscow festival site.
