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Published: August 21st 2008
I’m in Kiev now, which btw is a very cool city! After leaving Kazakhstan I headed to Moscow and then Saint Petersburg before arriving here. Moscow is a beautiful city filled with striking architecture, striking people, and striking prices for everything. It must rate second only to Hong Kong in terms of Ferrari’s per square inch of road surface…the Russian’s are rich right now and they love to show it! Still I loved this city, and even though it’s filled with Russians, I would still come back here and happily spend a week or so. There are little outdoor cafes everywhere and everything I ate during my stay was fantastic.
As for St Petersburg…they say it’s supposed to be one of ten most beautiful cities in the world…but I didn’t come away with that opinion at all. A nice city yes, but certainly not top ten….I thought Moscow was easily prettier than SPB. The other thing that kind of tainted the whole city experience was simply the sheer number of tourists running around. The day I arrived the main square alone was packed with over 100 big huge tour buses. The Peter and Paul cathedral was only steps from hotel
but I never went in because there was constantly a line over a block long waiting to buy entry tickets.
Final thoughts on Russia; communisms is definitely dead, you see the signs of capitalism everywhere. I walked by the old KGB headquarters and there’s a giant 200 foot long American Express ad topping the building exactly on the opposite side of the street. American culture is creeping in as well- there are McDonalds, KFC’s, Subways, and Starbucks everywhere- sad that the extent of American culture in a foreign society is always measured by the number of fast food outlets found! Even sadder in this case might be that the Russians have clearly one up’d us when it comes to fast food- every Subway, KFC, McDonalds, etc serves beer!!!!
Kiev seems a lot like the Russian cities I visited but only much better because it’s not filled with Russians! The architectures just as grand and people are just as beautiful, only much nicer…they actually talk to you here!
Ok, now about the “Russian Tanks”. I leave in few hours for Tbilisi in Georgia. My goal is to get some photos of the Russian Tanks before they leave…if they
A long walking street in Moscow
I'm not sure how long this street was but I'm proposing a new universal measuring system for streets worldwide...forget miles or km's...this was a three Starbucks long street!ever leave!!!
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Alicia McDonald
non-member comment
The Fam Bam
Heya Uncle Scott, what iz it?! lol Jenn and I had breakfast with the gp's last weekend... and it seems your father NEEDS to hear your voice. It seems that way because it's exactly what he told us! I'd write more but I'm a lil sleepy. Love, Alicia