Last time I was in Moscow was late nineties. You had to travel by a company-booked taxi anything else and you disappeared. Even the big banks I was working for had to pay protection money to the mafia, and most gave up on the place because there was no profit to be made despite the ludicrous amounts of cash slopping around.
The nightclubs were good though - open a wallet full of USD and you instantly had two or three supermodels all to yourself for the night. Fun when you're young.
If you go there for the world cup you are an idiot, and if you take your kids you'd better start saving up ransom money.
Panorama
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A-Ro
- Grumpy old git
- Posts: 2594
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:59 pm
- Location: Beset by fools and ne'er do wells.
Re:
I wasn't there for football, I was with TCMA-Ro but I did look a bit touristy which was the cause of the discomfort. We hurriedly made our way back to the waterfront where all the rest of the tourists were."SmileyMan" wrote:Last time I was in Moscow was late nineties. You had to travel by a company-booked taxi anything else and you disappeared. Even the big banks I was working for had to pay protection money to the mafia, and most gave up on the place because there was no profit to be made despite the ludicrous amounts of cash slopping around.
The nightclubs were good though - open a wallet full of USD and you instantly had two or three supermodels all to yourself for the night. Fun when you're young.
If you go there for the world cup you are an idiot, and if you take your kids you'd better start saving up ransom money.
I spent an enjoyable few days in Kaliningrad a few years ago, but not enjoyable enough to ever make me want to go back to Russia it has to be said. We visited virtually the only pre-WW2 building extant - a cathedral, and the welcoming feeling in the tour round the place was confirmed when the guide blamed the destruction of the city on the British ("barbarians"). Elsewhere, the city was notable for the House of the Soviets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H ... liningrad)
, plus the (perhaps apocryphal) bridge which was booby-trapped by the Germans and has never been touched since.
Tough, grim, and not a place to get into arguments...
, plus the (perhaps apocryphal) bridge which was booby-trapped by the Germans and has never been touched since.Tough, grim, and not a place to get into arguments...