(Currently in Sheremetyevo airport awaiting my flights to Doha > Brisbane.)
With a population of well over 20 million, fascinating history, brilliant public transport, near endless places of interest and modern facilities, Moscow is one of the world’s great cities.
Moscow never seems to sleep with any number of stores, clubs, shows and restaurants/cafes open 24 hours. Roads are also in good condition with ten lane divided motorways criss-crossing the city. And boy, do people use them! Cars galore.
I mentioned in a post on the OT that I had a ‘luke-warm’ relationship with Moscow. It’s a great city but it’s also an in-your-face kind of place. Vibrant and intoxicating, but it never slows down to take a breath. At my age, I find that a bit exhausting. Having said that, whenever in Moscow we always stay in accommodation that is a few hundred metres from Red Square and acknowledge it’s a bit rich to complain about the frenetic pace when you set up camp in the very heart of the monster.
On this trip however, there was one noticeable difference from the Moscow I previously knew. Money, and lots of it. To clarify, Moscow is the home of numerous oligarchs and plenty of rank-and-file millionaires – you can be in no doubt that Moscow is home to plenty of wealthy people. But on this trip, it was immediately apparent that the economy was booming and that the wealth has filtered down to the average Muscovite who was busily upgrading their homes, cars, buying goods etc.
Unsurprisingly and in view of my earlier reports from Syktyvkar and Kislovodsk, the shops are fully stocked and although Russian products dominate, the availability of other global brands is very pronounced. A large supermarket in Moscow looks remarkably similar to a Coles or Woolworths in Australia in terms of overall range and quantity of products available. A comparison of a basket of products is within a few cents (rubles) of the prices in Kislovodsk.
Those who have been to Moscow would be aware of the large ‘GUM’ shopping centre adjacent to Red Square. I was struck by the number of ‘branded stores’ (not just products) which included Hugo Boss, Karl Lagerfeld, Lacoste, Gant, Tissot, Bang & Olufsen, Mont Blanc, Bose, Woolrich and Dolce & Gabbana. There was also a large display of new Smeg appliances for sale in the central courtyard. A perfumery carried vast supplies of Dior, Gucci, Marly, Jo Malone, Herrera and a host of others. I’m not an expert in this field but both Mrs and Ms Speedbox were oohing and aahing at the various offerings. The point is, whether branded stores or multi-product shops, top shelf goods were available in abundance.
Sanctions? Phooey.
I also couldn’t help but notice an Apple store boldly proclaiming it was an authorised Premium Reseller complete with the Apple trademark prominently displayed. I’m not especially familiar with the Apple world but this store was in a prime location and sold only Apple products from phones to computers to accessories etc. It looked legit and appeared to be a clone of the Apple store in Brisbane.
Finally, on the issue of products, we drove past a Mercedes Benz dealership which had around 35 brand new cars on display and for sale. I have no idea of the secondary importer (assuming they came via Azerbaijan or Turkey) but if you want a new Merc, no need to wait. As an aside, there are huge numbers of MB, Audi and BMW on Moscow roads – I’ve never seen so many.
Security is very pronounced in Moscow. There were police and other security everywhere. In Red Square, I counted over 40 police personnel, mostly moving about in small groups of 3-5. And those were just the ones I saw. All were wearing bullet proof vests and armed with pistols and AK-12/15 or PP-2000 light submachine guns.
Speaking of Red Square, there were tourists aplenty. Many were Russian but there were plenty of Chinese, Indian and (guess) Malaysian or Philippine. Beyond that observation, there was also a diversity of languages heard – including the twangy ‘rolled r’ of North American accents. To be fair, as this is the northern hemisphere summer holiday period, it is expected that tourists will be omnipresent.
The Speedbox family stayed in an apartment about 450 metres from Red Square but even closer to Red Square is the Four Seasons Hotel. Out of curiosity I enquired on room rates and availability. Quoted room prices start from $2,300 per night but even if I was willing to pay that, bad luck – the hotel was totally booked out and the next available room would not be available for 3 nights. Even one of the Ambassador Suites, at $4,500 per night, were unavailable. Again, the point is that every room in this large hotel, at high prices per night, was sold out.
Building construction is very active. Cranes dot the skyline with new residential apartment buildings and commercial premises underway. Most of the residential projects are pre-sold ‘off the plan’. It was explained to us that as Russians are effectively considered persona non grata in many European countries, they have diverted their attention towards investing in Russian projects instead. I can’t verify that but the fact remains that these new residential apartment blocks are almost entirely sold before the first brick is laid.
As reported in earlier posts, inflation is still too strong at around 8% and real estate borrowing rates are very high (20%) for new property. Credit card interest rates are a whopping 36.9% although they do offer a 90-day interest free period.
In any case, Moscow is booming. To use a motorsport metaphor: Moscow is firing on all 12 cylinders. I will leave it to others to debate the likely reasons and longevity of this, but it is very noticeable.
The former McDonalds near Red Square has removed the ‘Golden Arch’ logo but is otherwise unchanged as shown in the photo below. I have circled the new logo. Out of curiosity we had to try the product and I can report that the taste associated with McDonalds everywhere, prevails. Edible, but you couldn’t live on it. I did note that the hamburgers were a bit larger in diameter than seen in Australia.
I can also report that Sheremetyevo airport is in lockstep with the price gouging so common at airports around the world. One café charged 550 rubles ($9) for a 220ml Coke and 980 rubles ($16) for a simple cheese croissant.
Moscow is a great city and part of me loves it – I just couldn’t live here. Kislovodsk for me.
Jetlag aside, I will submit my post on the Russian attitude to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a couple of days.
Thanks for the posts, I am really enjoying them.
Oops. Looks like the circle I drew around the logo didn’t translate onto the photo when posted. Check lower left corner of the ordering screen in the photo. It is the orange ‘dot’ and two yellow stripes.
Speedbox, what’s the weather like in Moscow, Syktyvkar and Kislovodsk in summer and winter? I’m going to guess that spring and autumn are as beautiful as they are anywhere, but is the summer too hot and/or humid and is the winter too long?
Dover
Moscow was great. About 25C or so during the day and dropping to a chilly (ish) 13-14C overnight. We didn’t have any rain whilst there. Mrs and Ms Speedbox are still there and I spoke with them via WhatsApp a moment ago. They say the weather (today) is lovely.
Syktykar was also nice weather when we were there (very early August – around 22/23C day, 12/14C night ) but I understand that the weather has started to change. Daytime temps have already dropped into the 18/19C and 10/11C at night. The summer ‘season’ is very short in Syktykar. Temperatures will fall away quickly over the next month or so.
Mrs Speedbox’s brother lives in a the far north east of the country and he was showing me a video of his kids going to school in early April of this year and the snow was still about a .6 metre deep.
Kislovodsk, being about 1500kms south of Moscow, is entirely different. The weather reminds me of Adelaide but not quite as warm during summer. We had 30/31C days and 17/18C nights. Sunshine every day and clear heat – no humidity. The temps are still fairly strong now at 26/27C and 14/15 night. Warm temperatures last much longer.
Russian summer holidays finish this weekend and the kids go back to school. Kislovodsk gets its ‘second wind’ in that those who want to avoid the family groups of summer, visit from Moscow/St Petersburg etc where the temps are falling fast but Kislovodsk is still (relatively) warm. This will last until mid/late October before the winter begins to envelop Kislovodsk. It snows in Kislovodsk in winter and many people love the “Banya” (sauna) experience then out into the snow, drinking mineral water and then off to the masseur.
Very interesting. I’ve never been to Russia but one of our sons loves his flying visits to Moscow.
Nothing like a bit of death and destruction to highlight a holiday.
Maybe you could livestream a funeral, or a wake? Either side doesn’t matter. Ukrainians or Russians? Meh. There’s plenty of corpses to go around. Well over 100,000 on either side by now.
Just go with the flow, and admire the architecture.
The FIL flew the MOSCOW/TEHRAN/TOKYO/NEW YORK route for 15 years prior to 1979. He also went into Berlin in 1945 on the back of a Russian tank as an American interpreter. He spoke 7 languages. He was 21 years old.
He saw the rape of Berlin, and was forbidden to intervene. The Russians were our “friends”, and there were hundreds of thousands of them. If you have ever seen a man’s eyes change from blue to grey, you will know what I mean,
Once a meat grinder is started, it’s difficult to stop. On both sides. Revenge is revenge. Speedbox, look into their eyes, and tell us what you see. I suspect they are filled with tears, or they are grey.
We were there about nine years ago, stayed in the Ritz Carlton on a high floor overlooking the Kremlin and Red Square. It was during the Great Patriotic War Day celebrations and two ICBM’s were parked for a while outside the front doors waiting for the parade. The driver taking us in a Ritz Merc from the airport drove like the clappers at midnight darting between lanes on the ten lane highway which was still in peak hour. Fast moving traffic everywhere. Terrifying. The pace of life, as you note, was extreme even back then, though the hotel was a refuge. No beggars, no people with tatts and steel facial decorations in any of the trendy streets nearby. It seemed like life in an earlier time, but as you say, with modern shopping and fast food and all done in a flurry of activity. We went on the grand people’s Metro as Hairy had studied Russian at school, had visited Moscow on a school trip years before, and could work out the Cyrillic station names of those palatial edifices of the communist era. The trains were old, maybe that has changed now.
Speedbox, many thanks for the report. I’ve not visited Russia and my dated impression of Moscow from afar was the capital of a post-Soviet gangster economy dominated by the government, much like the fascist, government-dominated gangster economy Anthony Albanese is attempting to impose on Australia (where 80% of new jobs are in the public service) — the chief gangster being the government.
By your account, the Russian capital is booming and sanctions imposed by the gangsters in Washington and Brussels are having zero effect.
I don’t know what the official figures are but, by this account, Moscow and Russia are one of the few places in the world with strong economic growth — where government red and green tape hasn’t been allowed to strangle the free market.