Moskva

Our first experience of Moscow was rather a disappointment. Sam came and picked us up from the airport and we took a taxi together to the centre of the city, where their apartment is. The taxi crawled through clogged streets while we sweltered inside. It was flat and grey with a brown, pollution-laden horizon. It seemed to me that the focus of the city was on the roading, rather than on the buildings, a sure sign of urban blight. From the main street we passed into a labyrinth of narrow lanes, enclosed by bluffs of apartment blocks. The taxi slowed further as it negotiated the banks of parked cars that narrowed the street to a single lane. Even here the cars were overtaking the city.

Arriving at the apartment was a great relief. Sam and Row's apartment is spacious and comfortable and — most importantly on such days — it has air conditioning throughout. We passed the rest of the day catching up with them and letting our tiredness overcome us, insulated from the rest of Moscow.

The next day we headed down to the Kremlin and Red Square, a short walk from the apartment. Seeing the city from foot, I immediately changed my early, uncharitable opinion — Moscow is in fact quite an attractive city. The inner city is made up of stately stone buildings, many of them neoclassical or art moderne. It is true that the city is cut apart by huge roads with heavy traffic, but while walking you can look in pretty much any direction and be impressed with the architecture. Even the subway entrances look like museums.

Down in the Kremlin area, the architecture is particularly grand. We still haven't got inside the Kremlin, but most of the buildings around Red Square are very fitting for the capital of a former empire, such as the former state-run department store GUM. Another rather impressive series of buildings is the so-called Seven Sisters — towering buildings commissioned by Stalin, in a kind of neo-gothic style, such as the building in the picture to the right.

There is something of a tendency to the baroque in some Russian/Soviet design however, which occasionally is taken too far. St Basil's Cathedral, for example, is very close to being gaudy, though it is a very cool building. I have to share the most extreme example of gaudiness — a statue to Peter the Great that we saw from a boat ride down Moscow River. It is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty (minus platform) and is absolutely hideous, but wonderfully hideous. Apparently it was originally a statue of Christopher Columbus, but with the head replaced by Peter's.

But enough architecture and tourist snaps.

Russia was in the middle of a heat wave when we arrived. After we failed to get into the Kremlin (the ticket booth was empty), we took a walk through the park underneath the Kremlin walls. It was wonderful. The park was full of people, wandering the grounds and lying on the grass. And drinking — some of the ice cream stalls were selling beer by the pint. Dozens of people were jumping into fountains. The Muscovites were all out enjoying the summer. It was so much fun.

The next day it rained however and temperature dropped 20°, demonstrating that Moscow is a cold city that just masquerades as a hot city in summer.

Moscow is a very interesting city. It is full of people and extremely busy (on weekdays at least — on the weekend most of the population seem to leave for their countryside bachs). It has loads of fashionable shops on its main shopping street (which also functions as a four-lane highway) and there are cafés everywhere. Being good Wellingtonians we had to try them. Coffees in Moscow cafés cost about $7, and we can report that Coffee Mania is pretty good, while Coffee House (spelled Koφe Xays, which I consistently parse as "Coffee Days") is kind of the Burger King of Moscow
cafés.

Our best culinary experience (apart from the meals we've been having in the apartment) was on the evening we took the boat trip with Sam and Row. They took us to their favourite blini stand, where we had Russian crêpes with a variety of fillings.

We're in Moscow until Tuesday, when we take an overnight train to St Petersburg.