Some Moscow/Russia impressions:
I didn't see many Russians smiling. The word stoic comes to mind. Most everyone seemed very intense--like they had somewhere to go or something to do. Maybe that had something to do with the difficulty of getting around the city. All of the Russian men I came in contact with seemed to be hard working. Virtually all of the Russians I came in contact with spoke English. We were told Russian children now are taught English beginning at age 7. None of the Russians seemed interested in America or how we lived. I don't recall a single question asked of us in that regard. The only comment that was made came when we were in our business meeting and we mentioned that certain shipping containers were tied up by the U.S. military and unavailable. They responded by saying "then the war should stop so we can do business". But that was said with a smile on their face.
Russian women are very good looking. Many are stunning. Think of Maria Sharapova but in every size, shape, and hair color. The stereotype I had in my mind of Russian women was totally wrong. I saw no overweight women (or men for that matter). And the Russian women all seemed to dress extremely well--often in business suits and dresses and usually in heels. I think Russian women rank right up there with the most beautiful women in the world.
It was clear to me that the Russians were very proud of their city and their country. They badly wanted us to see the beauty of their city/country and they tried very hard to impress us. But frankly Moscow is an ugly and dirty city and that's being generous. Those years of communist rule apparently led to a lot of plain, functional looking buildings that often looked like they were in need of repair. Aside from the cathedrals and Kremlin the architecture seemed to reflect the lack of individuality associated with communist rule. It was just plain at best and downright ugly at worst. The city is smoggy too and I left with a raspy cough. As one of my traveling buds pointed out on our way home the city just wears you down.
Red Square and the Kremlin were most impressive (see Flickr link). Kremlin means "fortress" in Russian and that it was. Americans think that the Kremlin is the seat of government but it's much more than that. First of all, only Putin's office is there. The rest of the government works elsewhere. The Kremlin has many churches inside it's walls. Most were grand cathedrals dating back hundreds of years and simply stunning in their beauty. I consider the Kremlin as the highlight of my city tour.
Moscow is extremely expensive. Our cab ride from the airport to our hotel was $77 and took about 2 hours. The distance was only about 15/20 miles. Traffic there is the worst I have ever seen. A glass of orange juice in our hotel was $12. We had lunch in our hotel one day and a hamburger by itself was $30. When we ate at Russian restaurants the prices were extraordinary as well. I never saw any of our tabs but I can imagine what they totaled since I saw the individual prices. And speaking of restaurants the first place our hosts took us had live chickens inside, apparently as part of the theme. Fortunately they were penned up. And here's a partial list of menu items from the last restaurant we ate at (Middle Eastern): lamb testicles, horse sausage and one memorable item that simply said "lamb--you pick the part". I passed on all three of those items.
The Russians talked openly about politics and their leaders. Putin seemed to be universally liked. Gorbachev seemed to be universally disliked which I never really understood and they didn't explain. They didn't seem to want to discuss Yeltsin. I sensed there might have been some shame about him but I'm not sure. Our Russian tour guide took us to the spot where he challenged the Soviet tanks but she didn't want to talk much about that historic time and I really don't know why.
August 28, 2007 in
Travel |
Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451d33c69e200e54ed2a12c8833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE:
Your Comments
Very nice post Lewis. Interesting to get an insight into how the Russians think of things.
Posted by: Ridge Walker at Aug 28, 2007 12:19:12 PM
wow. all of it. I don't know what I thought or think Russia would be like. I think I read Gorky Park too many times to think anything but spies and cold and blood in the snow. I took Russian in the eighth grade. It was the middle of the cold war and still we talked about taking a class trip to Moscow anyway. Of course we didn't, but I wonder what we would have seen in 1978 if we had?
Posted by: Alecto at Aug 28, 2007 3:35:12 PM
I really enjoyed your photos of Moscow. It's a reminder of how young we, as a nation, are.
Posted by: Craig at Aug 29, 2007 9:10:08 AM
Post a comment
