We arrived in Moscow Friday evening. This is a big city. From our little neighborhood walk to find something to eat last night, my first impression is that Moscow is a mix of Washington DC and NYC.
Like DC in that there are few really big buildings to blot out the sky and the blocks are tight and dense. It has a NYC feel in that it is a big, bustling city with lots going on. The streets do not sleep.
Like DC in that there are few really big buildings to blot out the sky and the blocks are tight and dense. It has a NYC feel in that it is a big, bustling city with lots going on. The streets do not sleep.
As much as I like SPB, and I am surprised to be writing this, I think I may like Moscow more, primarily for the reasons above.
It's late Saturday morning here, and I am moving slowly. We stayed up late Thursday night watching the Ferrer-Tipsarevic match. The "trip" to the train station was physically exhausting, as was moving all our heavy luggage off the train, into the driver's car and then up into the apartment.
We are on the 14th floor. We are certainly not paying for a clean, fresh apartment. We are paying for the view! It is stunning. We overlook Christ the Saviour Cathedral, the Moscow River and the west side of the Kremlin. And as a hopefully portentous omen, there was a complete rainbow over that scene when we ventured onto the balcony after dropping our bags and closing the door on the driver.
However, the apartment has a grimy feel. I am sure we will become accustommed to it, but these first few days will be an adjustment. It's a trade off between the Nevsky Prospekt 88 apartment and this: more room here, more modern appearance at Nevsky, better satellite TV there, better weather here...
We settled on a Georgian restaurant within a few blocks of the apartment. The food and atmosphere were very pleasant.
In one of the rooms, a wedding party was underway with live music and signing and dancing. What a joyous affair!
At one point, a very pretty young woman from the wedding approached our table. My heart began beating, thinking she was going to ask me to dance with her, because she asked if I we were married.
It turns out, she really wanted to know if Andrea was married so that Andrea could throw the bouquet! Apparently, the tradition is for an unmarried woman to throw the flowers to the married ladies.
Once again - it's Russia!
We settled on a Georgian restaurant within a few blocks of the apartment. The food and atmosphere were very pleasant.
In one of the rooms, a wedding party was underway with live music and signing and dancing. What a joyous affair!
At one point, a very pretty young woman from the wedding approached our table. My heart began beating, thinking she was going to ask me to dance with her, because she asked if I we were married.
It turns out, she really wanted to know if Andrea was married so that Andrea could throw the bouquet! Apparently, the tradition is for an unmarried woman to throw the flowers to the married ladies.
Once again - it's Russia!
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