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-Subways are cool - chandeliers, mosaics, domes, lights, marble, granite, every station is different. Despite our lack of Russian knowledge, we braved the subway every day, and even switched lines a few times today. We made it everywhere we were trying to go.
-Women are hot. Lots of hot bodies. And they dress pretty saucily. I can’t imagine walking around in heels like that and pounding the Moscow pavement, subways, etc. It’s impressive.
-There is white pollen-stuff flying through the air like crazy. Looks like snow at some points it is so thick. It comes from some tree that no one can seem to remember the name of. We saw one today. Today was the worst day of it. In your mouth, in your eyes. Twirling around the streets and through the air.
-Our hotel has an incredibly gorgeous and ornate lobby. We’ve hung in the lobby bar area a couple of days in a row to people watch, enjoy the scenery. Serious chandeliers, gold gilding, humongous marble columns that appear to be solid pieces. This Sister (of the 7 Sisters) is not too shabby.
-We passed several embassies today: Tanzania, France, China, Uzbekistan, Israel. The French one was really ornate
and my favorite. Tanzania was very pretty also. Uzbekistan was a fortress.
-We did Lonely Planet’s Church Walk today. I was proud of ourselves (mostly Dave) for navigating us. Again, not knowing the alphabet is a fun challenge. We’re like “it’s Pogo but it looks like Hobo” - but it worked. We saw about 10 really cool churches - very old, very different in styles. We walked into the ones we could (I had to put on a babushka - lucky for me, I have those anyway, or at least plain bandanas that will pass). Gorgeous little gardens around the churches, amazing to think that some of these buildings have been standing there for hundreds of years.
-Moscow in the summer is for layers. It’s warm, it’s cold, it’s windy, it’s sunny, it’s cloudy. I can’t keep up.
-Mullets seem to be still hanging around. And parachute pants - or MC Hammer pants, whatever you want to call them. Seriously! I can’t tell if they’re way ahead or way behind in fashion. I’d like to think we have left mullets and MC Hammer pants behind, but I guess time will tell.
-Dave loves the fact that every restaurant offers toothpicks!
Mostly on each individual table. I think he might move here just on account of this fact.
Dave’s additions:
Today we were “dripping with culture.” We decided to follow the Lonely Planet walking tour of churches. It was fun, frustrating, and challenging. First the Russian alphabet is completely different than English. Letters that look like English are often a completely different sound. So it was kind of like a treasure hunt! First we took the Metro and did our first transfer. Challenging because we can’t read the Russian signs, and next, they do not use North, South, East or West as a marker. So we just fumbled around and took our time. We never got on the first train at our stop. Just let that one go and made sure that we were heading the right way. We arrived at Zanoskvorechie neighborhood and started on foot. Of course we headed the wrong direction at first, and ended up finding the Tanzanian embassy before we figured out we were going the complete opposite way. No big deal, just a few kilometers out of the way. When back on track, we twisted and turned thru 10 different churches and Tanzania, France,
China, Uzbekistan and Israeli embassies. Only once did a complete stranger walk up to us and say in broken English, “do you need help?” We declined because ½ the fun was navigating thru the streets trying to figure out where the hell we were going. At the end of the walking tour, we stopped at a coffee house (kofe in Russian) for the slowest service of all time. If there was a pay-no-mind list, we were on it.
A couple of interesting things we discovered about Moscow that I never would have thought. Amanda has written several of these above. I’ll add that finally, as Americans, we always envision Russia and the cold war, but in reality it’s no different than any European city. They have everything that we have in the States. No lines, no food shortages (saw a Pizza Hut today that served wine and had nice tables), no police asking for our papers. It was very similar to Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, or New York. Lots of shopping, restaurants, and people trying to keep up with the current trends. Though, the “Pet Shop boys” seem to be huge here…still can’t figure that out. Enjoy the pictures.
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Joe Koufman
non-member comment
Moskva
Gdye are all of the pics of the hot Russian ladies you referenced, Amanda?