Final Thoughts on Russia

The Church or Christ The Redeemer

Back from Russia now and after a very tiring journey home including a nightmare stop off in Munich, I will no longer listen to people saying the UK is inefficient after being told at Munich that we had to hurry to our departure gate for our connecting flight to Heathrow we had our passports checked twice and then had to go through security – Even scanning the soles of my feet with a metal detector, when I was barefoot – and get our bags scanned, seemed like a lot of security as we were never actually going to be landside of security. Only to get to the gate and find there was a two hour delay on the flight. Needless to say we were not best pleased, particularly as we had no Euros eventually we got onto the flight and added Lufthansa to the list of airlines I will never fly with again (Not a massive list, just Lufthansa and Easy Jet to be honest.) Anyway, Trouble getting back to the UK aside I wanted to write a quick summery of our Russian adventure focusing more on the experience than what we actually did (On the final day our visit to the heart of Moscow was at the same time as the visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister so it was a bit of a wasted day as everything was shut down pretty tight, but we walked around and enjoyed the relatively police free areas away from the Kremlin. If I had to pick five words to sum up the holiday they would be; Cold, Rude, Intimidating, Pricey and frustrating – I understand that these may not seem like very glowing words and I would agree, Russia is not for the casual tourist, I would recommend going to Prague first and getting around without using any English as a way to break you in slowly. But to fill in a bit more detail: Cold – Speaks for itself, it was -10 everyday we were there and there was constant heavy snowfalls, This was not too much of a problem when in the centre of Moscow but the walk to/from the Metro station was often a killer after a long day – Try to visit in Summer or stay next to a metro station. Rude – When I say rude I mean more as a generalisation rather than for individuals, Pretty much all of the individual Russians I was actually able to talk to were friendly, some would simply blank you when they heard English but the others would happily struggle through a bit of conversation in half English half Russian (My only contribution to the Russian part was Spasiba (Thank You) and Niet (No)) However the problem is that I am particularly obsessed with manners even for an Englishman and so the Russian approach was a severe culture shock, If you were to queue up in Russia you would soon find yourself at the front of one of several queues as the Russians would start to queue either side and slowly push you out of the way. Intimidating – This is the police rather than anything else, We were told that the Police supplement their income by fining tourists and as a result we went out of our way to avoid them, or looking like tourists, annoyingly this means I can not confirm this piece of advise for myself as we did not speak to a policeman at any point whilst we were there. People in Uniform however were everywhere and the stress of trying to not look like tourists was quite draining, it really made me appreciate the UK Police who I am very confident would gladly help a lost tourist if needed – obviously if they weren’t busy chasing criminals. In fact at any time when I was younger and needed help I always sought out a policeman and was rarely disappointed, so it was a real struggle to get out of this way of thinking. Pricey – The Pricing issue was an incredible juxtaposition of the very cheap and the very expensive, it seemed to work mostly along class lines where if it was used by the ordinary Muscovites or a necessity (or was handmade) it was very cheap, if it was for the very well off or imported then it was very expensive. Vodka was less than a £1 a litre where as Mineral Water was up to £3, you could pick up a packet of cigarettes for £0.30 but Strawberries would set you back £30 (for about £2 worth in the UK.) Perhaps the most telling example of how people were cheaper then goods an advert for a Lap Dancing Club advertised Lap Dances for 50 Roubles or £1.10, these went up through a Private Dance (£8) up to a VIP Dance for £11 I dread to imagine what that involves. For the most part though everything cost as much if not more than in other world cities so if you are going (Unless it is on a Stag Night) take lots of cash. Frustrating – The frustration was mainly caused as I am very keen on photographing architecture and Russia has a lot of wonderful buildings combining old churches (Both original and reconstruction) with very ambitious Soviet building projects and minimalist design blocks – however not being able to be seen as tourists and the fact that many of the buildings are illegal to photograph (And unless you can speak Russian it can be very hard to know if you are outside a hotel or a government building) I missed out on hundreds of good shots that I would have happily taken if I had been back in London.

Day two in Moscow

For our second day we started off by travelling on the Metro, unlike the tube which is a means to an end i.e. to get around, the Moscow metro is a series of interconnected museums to Russian history, many show statues to Soviet heroes (farmers, soldiers etc..) others have mosaics of scenes from before the revolution. And best of all as you only pay for entrance there is no more cost for jumping around than there is making a single journey. (The best stations we saw were Belorusskaya, Kievskaya, Park Kultury and Ploshchad Revolyutsii)

One of Moscow's Metro Station

Several stations later we came out at Gorkey Park and looked around the several miles - at least it felt like it - of artists selling their paintings.

Statues at Gorkey Park

For dinner we went to Maki Cafe (Glinishchevskiy Pereulok 3) for Stroganoff which we washed down with a very reasonable bottle of "Soviet Champagne" - we thought it might be something strange but it was just a very nice sparkling wine. - only £10 a bottle which is half the cost of most wine here (they don't grow grapes so all wine is imported) The food was of a good quality and at just over 1000 roubles (£22) not a bad price. Of cause it does take some time to get used to people smoking around you whilst you eat, although it has not been that long since it was banned in the UK the practice seems particularly alien when you first walk into an establishment - and when you arrive back at the hotel and wonder how the smell followed you, usually as your hair and clothes stink of it.

First day thoughts on Russia

Today was our first full day in Moscow, we visited Red Square, the Kremlin and because it is a tradition McDonald's.

Now I know it can seem a little common or unadventurous to visit McDonald's however we always visit in each country as it is the one constant and shows better than anything else the difference between countries - the food is (nearly) always the same and yet there are always differences. Anyway this McDonald's was very much a Russian version, in place of the queue there was a scrum! That is the way with Russia, if you queue behind someone within a few seconds you are standing at the front of one of three queues, and if you're not forceful it will be the slowest moving one too.

Red square was a good day out and after the fight for tickets and The fight to get in the Cathedral of St Basil was very interesting, the other end of the square was the museum of history which gave a strange symmetry of a church followed by an exhibit on evolution.

Overall my view of Moscow after one day is that it is functional, there is the old joke about the US spending millions on developing a space pen to use in zero gravity and the Russians took a pencil, although I know both are false - a ball point will work in zero gravity - I do now see what they mean, as we arrived in Moscow there was heavy snow fall and several of the passengers remarked that in the UK the airport would be closed, the fact it wasn't in Moscow was due to a fleet of snow clearer's in ancient tractors and men walking along with large bundles of sticks knocking the snow off the tarmac. Clearly a low cost solution but one that works, in the UK however it would be a matter of hours before the unions were in the management offices screaming about health and safety - the result we can't afford the solution so we don't get one - this practical attitude is probably most clearly felt in the Metro system which is quite remarkable, the stations are like palaces and the trains are like trains, they are not new, not comfortable and very crowded. However they are rarely out of commission - no upgrades means limited closures - they run every two minutes and they are very cheap (55p per journey no matter how far) the Russians do not seem to ask for new carriages, and they don't get any, the staff are paid an average wage (tube drivers get nearly double the national average) and as a result prices stay low. In short the Metro like Russia is functional.

Tomorrow we are going to Gorky Park, the Zoo and on a tour of the most palatial metro stations.

2011 - My Predictions for the Year Ahead

So here goes, My predictions of the Headlines we will see over 2011.

Unions make reasonable Demands to avoid strike – Only joking of cause they won’t.

Sarah Palin seeks Republican Presidency Support
We should get a better idea of who will face Obama in 2012, Front runners at the moment seem to be the news papers favourite Sarah Palin and Mitch Daniels who is primarily an economist and will appeal to large areas of Republican Support (Daniels was the Budget Director for George W Bush which may work for or against him its hard to tell at the moment.) either way this time next year we should have a much better idea who it will be that starts the race for the Whitehouse. Although I am predicting that in the End Celebrity will beat competence.

Two Tier Euro Zone
After a very troubled couple of years it will be put up or shut up time for the Euro, in 2011 Germany and France will have three choices; first is to give the struggling Eurozone members all of the money they need to survive and therefore practically tie all of the Eurozone countries together in a truly single financial unit; second choice is to abandon the project and all go their separate ways after much cost and a great deal of embarrassment or Third (And what I consider the most likely) To create a 2 tier Euro with Germany, France and the Benelux states having the Euro with the Med Countries and Eastern Europe switching to a separately managed single currency.

Wide Spread Flight Disruption
Two sources for this one, The BA strikes will be returning next year as Unite once again seem to think that with BA leaking cash through every orifice that they should continue to be overstaffed and over paid. The main source of disruption I am talking about however is another Ash Cloud, during the last Ash cloud incident (I don’t feel it really deserves to be called a crisis) it was pointed out that the much bigger Katla Volcano was over due for eruption and I am predicting 2011 to be the year.

North and South Korea on the brink of war
I very much doubt that hostilities between the two Korean Republics will restart however with Kim Jung-Un taking over from his father as dictator of the Worlds least stable nuclear power I am predicting a fair amount of attention to be on the Korean peninsular and as China takes it’s place as the second superpower I imagine that they will want to limit the damage to their blossoming economic superiority which may well see China and America leading the world in a beneficial closer working relationship.

Widespread Protests (Of a minority)
I think we will get a great deal of noise from a very vocal minority of Union bosses and left leaning individuals still convinced that the country should not be trying to balance it’s budget, Whilst these deluded individuals talk about these great disruptions however I also predict that the rest of us will simply get up and come to work (despite their efforts to stop us.) and whilst Labour and the Unions bleat on about how unfair it is that those who are receiving state money are receiving slightly less for a while the rest of us just get on with paying for it.

Happy New Year

Wishing all of my Readers (Both of You) a Very Happy New Year and a delightful 2011.