One Night in Moscow

The flight to Moscow from Dubai was short but busy – those Russians can drink! When we arrived at the hotel, I got my first introduction to Russia's rather abrasive take on customer service. The unsmiling woman in the windowless ' Bureau de Change' office seemed almost angry as she coverted our US dollars to Russian ruples. I read recently somewhere, that smiling in Russia is seen as insincere if its not a genuine smile for a genuine cause. I wonder what they must think of us cabin crew whose job it is to smile all the time!

Without then knowing this cultural quirk, I assumed the sour blonde woman must just really hate her job, or us foreigners, or both.



Dinner in Moscow
To the restaurant across the road, we headed out for dinner. There, as the captain began ordering his dish, the waitress abruptly cut him off with a loud ‘I No English’, and continued to hurriedly prepare the table with cutlery and glasses for the eight of us dining. Stunned into silence and then erupting into laughter, we tried not to take offense. Fortunately the menu did have both Russian and English descriptions and even a comical picture of Homer Simpson drinking beer.





I had a delicious dish of pan-fried sliced potatoes topped with onion and cheese. Everyone else at the table had sausages. Two daring guys in our group took up the challenge of sharing - the largest on the menu - 72 centimetre sausage! The longest sausage I’ve ever seen inevitably became the butt of many jokes and comical photos. Most of the jugs of beer that were dotted around the restaurant looked like large black espressos' with foam on top. The featured beers on our table were considerably lighter. 

By the time the bill arrived, we were all in a cherry mood and even the sharp waitress had warmed to us. We tipped her and made our way back to the hotel. 

A Night on the Town

On the way back I bought a ridiculously cheap bottle of vodka, which was then mixed with Pespi and shared with the two party-keen guys back at the hotel. The young Russian concierge helped us pick out a club, gave us map and directed us to the subway. With no English on the subway, we tried to match the Russian stations and counted the number of stops circled on our map. On the subway, as appeared the norm, people were openly drinking, so we did too. We chatted to some girls, who were studying English in Moscow who were also on their way to hit the clubs.

Leaving the subway we proceeded to get lost, and at one point stumbled into a dark alleyway. Groups of drinking locals looked at us and I, remembering back to the warnings I’d heard about muggings, and needing to carry extra US dollars to ‘pay your way out of sticky situations’, was rather uneasy. 

This however was the precise place where the guys decided we should buy some drinks. A little kiosk, which was glassed, barred up, and covered in out-dated advertisements presented itself alongside the wall of the covered walkway, or as I found it - cave. I couldn't see through the small opening of the kiosk, but was relieved when I saw three large energy beers appear and we could walk out to the open street.

Young people seem universal in their quest to have a good time, and when we asked for directions from a group of clubbers, we only had to show them our ‘dancing’ moves for them to understand us. Making sense of their directions though proved a little difficult, so they escorted us to the club. We were pleased to have had made some Russian friends for the night.

The club ‘Propaganda’ that our concierge had recommended was all shut up, so our new friends took us with them to ‘Hungry Duck.’ The face ID (the ID check where the bouncers look at you and decide whether to let you in or not) was okay and we were soon dancing in the packed Russian club. The music was a bit different but it was loads of fun.

Red Square in Moscow

The next day, after only four hours sleep, I met the others to go sightseeing. As it happened, it was a national holiday in Russia, and Red Square was disappointingly closed off to the public. Guards in green uniforms, donning the famous green hats surrounded Red Square - with barriers, metal detectors, dogs and stern looks. The roads in the area were closed off too, so Moscow’s busy city streets were free from traffic. This gave us the exciting feeling of being in ghost town. We strolled through the empty streets and took numerous photos. We did get a good look at some of the buildings in Red Square from the oustside, and even the KGB building. 

As the morning neared lunchtime, the eerie quietude gave way to a festive spirit on the streets. But as the people carrying balloons and drinking beer made their way towards Red Square, we had to make our way back, get ready for work and head back to Dubai. 

(Trip from 2009)