Россия: Land with a difference!

One’s experience in a new country generally starts with the arrival to an airport. As with all things in Russia, this trip of mine started on a different note. I ‘felt’ the country right in the aircraft. My co-passengers consisted mainly of Turks and Russians. I heard a thunderous applause upon the aircrafts touch down on the runaway, an approval of the Captain’s skill at flying. I then see the passenger seated next to me , get up an run along the aisle to ensure that he is the first one to go out. I have seen impatient passengers everywhere, but running along the aisle upon touchdown, was pulling it too far. I knew what I had in front of me, rather I became more certain about the uncertainty that lay ahead of me.


I was to head to Kaluga for work and would spend the next two days there. I met my colleagues at Sheremetivo airport and headed to Kaluga. In order to keep you interested I wouldn’t go too much in detail about my Kaluga experiences. It was mostly work, expect for a few noteworthy experiences. It took us an hour to get out of the parking lot of the airport, again a sign of the things to come (traffic jams in Moscow are common – if you ask someone about the time it would take to reach a destination, the answer is alw ays followed by a condition – “without traffic jams” and there is no exception to this)

Kaluga is a small countryside town with mainly the auto industry there (which is why I was there). The road from Moscow to Kaluga is just wild countryside – no major towns or cities – just the woods. I understand that most of Russia is similar – just woods and snow.
After spending the next two days at Kaluga, I headed to Moscow.

Moscow Is majestic! As the epicenter of everything that happens in Russia, the city conveys the past, present and future of Russia every moment that you spend there.
The first thing that struck me about the city was how different it was from most other European cities in particular and big cities in general. In a flat world, where most big cities and their cultures are converging ( to the fast paced life, fast food, global brands and similar material aspirations), Moscow offers a world of difference. Most Muscovites do not speak English and all sign boards are in Russian, making life a bit more difficult and more interesting. The Moscow Metro was built in 1940, when most big cities were trying to find their way and the metro stations are monuments in themselves. However, you again sense what the country has been through, when traveling in the metro – majestic stations representing the rich history and power the country has had ; rather primitive trains and metro technology, showing that the country lost its way somewhere.

The Red Square is a place one should not miss. It left me in awe. The Red Square has the St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, the State history museum surrounding it – each monument a master piece of history. Most of us would have seen the picture postcards of the St. Basils Cathedral – but when I saw the building in person, I fell in love with it (believe me, it doesn’t happen too often). The state museum has a fairly rich collection of historical relics, right for the ice age to modern day Russia. I checked out Kievskaya for some shopping and the streets around the Red Square – Arbatskaya and Treveskaya. Checking Pushkin’s statue at Old Arbatskya and then a drink in the evening at Treveskaya, would give you a good sense of the Muscovite life.

Dinner at a Czec restaurant ended my rather exploratory day on a perfect note.

Russia is different – very different and it gives you an experience that you may never get in any other country. On that note - Do Svidanya.. (good bye)