Well, Brad, Leslie, Doug and I are all at the Hyatt in Moscow and are accounted for and preparing for our first day of sightseeing tomorrow am. Doug and I arrived at the airport first at about 13:15. We got through customs and got our bags in and were in the Hyatt limo on our way in 25 minutes. Brad and Leslie arrived at 20:30 and it took them 90 minutes to get through security. The ride from the airport took 45 minutes for both of us, even though we were told to expect 90 minutes.

We were surprised at the amount of English signage, English speaking folks, pretty countryside, and displayed wealth.
Folks have been welcoming and warm and food and service has been excellent.

Flying in, you immediately become aware of huge McMansions and vast amounts of forestation. There are forests of birch trees along the road from the airport to
Moscow. We also passed extensive parklands and lakes. As you get closer to the city, high-rises dot the landscape and you see more variations in housing economies. I was quite surprised that almost 50% of autos seem to be luxury cars (Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Range Rovers) and most are full sized cars and SUVs.

Folks are attired liked New Yorkers and many women are bottle blondes. Our hotel is across from the GUM department store which I thought would be like a Macy's but it is much higher end, perhaps even higher than a Bergdorf Goodman. Everything you find in NYC can be found here--for a lot more money.

Our hotel is a typical Hyatt and is baroque on the outside but modern inside. We ate at Bolshoi tonight and the food was excellent but expensive. Doug had 2 courses and 2 glasses of wine and a small bottle of water. I had three courses, tea, juice and water and the price was over $300. This would have been about one half of the bill in NYC. Doug had a sorrel soup and osso busco and I had cold beet soup, beef stroganoff and cherry raviolis with sour cream ice cream. The beet soup wasn't sweet as in the US and was more tangy, with a sauerkraut like taste and was the best i have ever had. The stroganoff was good stroganoff, which I like a lot. It was served with potatoes-not noodles-and dill pickles. The dessert was both unusual and wonderful. Think traditional very light raviolis filled with tart cherries. .. Just so good. The restaurant was elegant and quiet. There were non- smoking and smoking areas and the smoking area definitely had more folks.

The weather which greeted us was sunnt, in the 70s today and it must have been in the 60s this evening.

As we entered downtown, we spotted some amazing architecture. When I asked what I was looking at, the driver said " the Kremlin." We are a couple of blocks from it and next to Red Square and plan to spend tomorrow just wandering and doing museums. Tonight, the four of us met on our hotel rooftop lounge for drinks and took in the lovely skyline all decked out in lights and gagged at the prices of our drinks.

It doesn't feel alien here at all. The baroque and italianite architecture is both pretty and well maintained and there are displays of vast wealth and westernism that belie my previous visions of the Soviet Union...right down to Nobu, Subway, Valentino, Dior, etc.

Oh well, must get to bed so I can wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed for the real first day of our adventure tomorrow.