From Russia Without Love
Moscow, a sad, melancholic place we thought. Hard to find a smiling face amongst the locals and when you see where the majority live, it's no wonder. Huge tenament blocks by the thousands with shared toilet and bathroom facilities, the average Moscovite does not fair well with the economic distribution.
In contrast, the "other half, a minority, live very opulently. Un upmarket store mall in the centre of Moscow:
And the pub we stayed in was 6 star and that is also where the oligagchs bunk down:
The most interesting thing we visited was Stalin's (very deep) underground bunker where he controlled things during the War.
After a stint in moscow we journed on their very fast train to St Petersburg through a lot of rural poverty. The Hermitage at St Pete's was amazing but we are very unlikely to be going near Russia again. Our prosposed Trans-Siberian has been cancelled for good ! Some pics at the Hermitage....