Google Supporting Equality at the Sochi Olympics

 

The above was the Google Logo this morning on the day of the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, with all of the coverage on Russia's appalling homophobic policies it is good that some companies are willing to make a stand for what they think is right, I think the logo itself being the rainbow flag shows their support for the LGBT community in Russia but adding the quote from the Olympic Charter will hopefully make the IOC look more carefully at their own charter when they think about where they host their tournaments.

Hopefully Fifa will put some pressure on Quatar and Russia ahead of more global showpieces being held in areas where equality is a word rather than a way of life.

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.

Why FIFA should Ignore Russia Bid

The FIFA delegation has arrived in England to view the Bid for England to host the World Cup in 2018, it would appear that it will come down to a straight fight between Russia and England, whilst I obviously have to declare a bias here I do think that FIFA must think very carefully before handing a tournament of this prestige to Russia. Whilst I think that the UK bid speaks for itself with world class stadiums such as Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates along side our much complained about Public Transport System (Which if we are honest is actually one of the better ones in global terms.) but the simple fact is that Russia has a real problem with racism in their football supporters, And not just a little problem with most BME players coming in for abuse and several recorded offences against BME fans who are following their teams. It would be amiss of FIFA to announce that as the World Cup in 2018 is widely believed to be one in which African teams will start to make real progress that they should have to come into an environment that is violent towards them (It reminds me of when they tried to hold Miss World in a Muslim country – clearly no thoughts required.) Now all that said it is true that Russia are improving and that Neo-Nazism is on the decrease however I think until they get the situation under control it is irresponsible and FIFA are not meeting their duty of care to consider it.

FIFA should take the stand once and for all and say ANY federation who can not show that they take racism seriously can not hold any major tournament or final. I understand that there are occasional racist incidents in this country but they are dealt with quickly and strongly, not denied like they have been of late in Russia and Spain.