Moscow Day 1: Arrival
I went to sleep in Singapore and woke up in Moscow today. Our plane arrived at 8am after a quick pitstop in Dubai. I'm here for a meeting with the other laundry BMs around the world but we (Ezer, Raffy, Akshay and his wife Priyali) arrived a weekend early to see Moscow.Weather reports put Moscow at a rainy 17degrees. Good thing it didn't rain though it still felt like 13degrees - and this was summertime for them! I was walking around in a long trenchcoat and even (I'm ashamed to admit), gloves! And there were Moscovites in shorts and sleeveless shirts rollerblading! And most natives had already retreated to their daschas (summer country homes) to escape the "heat". They must have incredibly thick skin.
P&G put us up in the Russian World Trade Center Hotel since it was just a 5minute ride to the office. This is the view from my balcony - not bad - with the Moskva River and one of the 7 sisters, 7 buildings built during Stalin's period in the most prime locations around Moscow. Now, these buildings been converted to hotels or apartments for the many millionaires living in Moscow (this city has the most # of millionaires than any other city in the world).
We took a walk around the old Arbat area to start souvenier hunting and find a decent place for lunch. We didn't find it - food was tasteless (as is most of Russian cuisine) though the beer was decent. That's Akshay eating the house specialty - ox tongue with horseradish. Our lengua is much better.
We did a little people-watching in the restaurant -- Raffy enjoyed the girls a little too much with his camera lens getting longer as the girls got prettier -- and I'm talking literally here! :)
There were some interesting odds and ends to see as you walked around: Russian matryuschka dolls or nesting dolls of all kinds (nba stars, footballers, presidents, the Simpsons), Russian women with big breasts (not that they were for sale) and old World War II spy masks.
Next stop was their gourmet supermarket. I'm sorry if I don't know the names - I can barely pronounce it, much less spell them. The store looked like Harrod's except all they sold was food. And like Harrod's, I walked out empty-handed bec everything was so expensive! But this is the place to buy caviar and every type of Russian vodka your heart could ever desire.
I felt the Pushkin museum was overrated. But that might just be because the masters section of Rembrandts and Monets were closed off and the sculptures were all plaster replicas of the real thing - like this one of Michelangelo's David.
We had dinner at a very lovely restaurant called Tiflis. It was actually 9pm already when these pictures were taken but the sun doesn't set in Moscow till midnight. Food was ok - nothing I'd dream about having again, even though this was already one the best restaurants and serving Georgian food on top, which is the tastiest of all Russian cuisine.
Some observations:
1. Russian women and men for that matter, never smile. I'm actually afraid to haggle because one man sent me away saying "I know its too expensive for you so just go buy somewhere else".
2. Everything in this country is on a LARGE scale! From the palaces to the monuments, the squares to the roads to the parks to the buildings - everything is just enormous!
3. Weather is erratic - one hour it'll be hot as Manila and the next, a cold cold cold reminder that the Russian winter can drop to 37 below 0. Brrrrr. Or maybe that's just because of the people.
posted by moan @ 10:16 PM
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