1. The famous Moscow traffic jams deserve their reputation.
2. The folk tales you hear about people not smiling on the Moscow streets? Those are true, too.
3. So are the stories you hear about sticker shock regarding restaurant prices, and other factors which go into
making this the most expensive city in the world: on my first night, a five-minute, approximately 500 yard cab
ride cost me 900 rubles (approximately $31.99 -- I say approximately because the exchange rate changes daily).
And free internet in your hotel room? Forget it: this is Moscow, pal. You can pay 250 rubles ($8.72) for an hour of "up
to" 512 Kbps.
4. The Kremlin is big. And in pictures you don't see the microwave dishes on the towers.
5. The people actually respond positively to my attempts at spoken Russian, and I've even received some compliments
on my pronunciation. Just don't try it on the street at 10:30 in the evening: you'll be taken for a scam artist.
6. Jaywalking on the major thoroughfares is sure suicide. Motorists don't give a damn about pedestrians, and many
of the intersections have no traffic lights. You have to use the underground walkways.
7. On the other hand, using the underground walkways after about midnight is an invitation to a mugging. Better to
try your luck with the traffic.
8. Everybody smokes. I'm sure the hospital beds have ash trays. Wouldn't surprise me if the baby strollers had ash
trays, too.
9. The women show their legs in this weather.
10. It's worth looking.
I can remember when, during the Cold War, Apple IIe computers were controlled-export items to the Soviet Union -- and this morning I stopped at an authorized Apple reseller on my way to work. Times do change, in this case much for the better.
Posted by Craig Ceely at November 13, 2009 06:30 AM