Moscow Tip
by gunnar_b
At that time there still something called a black market in Moscow. A guy I met at the airport sold a very old and broken pair of jeans for a bundle of rubles to a Russian fellow who did his best to sound very, very american. Then we went out and had a h-ll of a party at a restaurant close to the Red Square. We hav Russian champagne and vodka and black caviar until we were full. All for a pair of ragged old jeans that he would have thrown away.
Izmailovsky Park
by luiggi
Izmailovsky Park is one of the city's oldest parks and covers an area of 332 hectares. It was founded under the reign of Peter the Great and since then has accumulated numerous ponds and attractions. It also hosts the Izmailovo market, one of the best places to pick up souvenirs.
Visit the St Basil's...
by pacus3rd
Visit the St Basil's Cathedral......in the Red Square.
Try to find some friend in Moscow that hepl you to buy the tickets like a Russian citizen......for them are cheaper and you can save money. :)
National Holidays
by Muscovite
If you are reading this, you obviously have Internet access. And if you have Internet access, you obviously have an access to information.
How does it happen then that I repeatedly get Home Exchange offers for Christmas? Everyone knows our Christmas and your Christmas are a fortnight apart!
Here are Russian public holidays for year 2011.
New Year & Christmas (in this order)
Jan 1 - January 10
Defender’s of the Fatherland (and Motherland) Day
February 23
International Women's Day
March 8
Spring and Labour Day
May 1
Victory Day
May 9
(that's what you have on May 08)
Russia Day
June 12
(formerly the Independence Day, the Russian Federation declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, giving rise to anecdotes, such as 'we are now independent, as nothing any longer depends on us')
People's Unity Day
Nov 4
(that's the latest invention to replace the Revolution Day November 07; our new friends in Poland won't be happy, as the unity happened in 1612 to drive them out of our Kremlin)
* Watch out for changes, the parliament ('Duma' – literally ‘the place for thinking’) may give their brains an effort just for once and scratch at last that winter feast of Courchevel skiing for themselves and heavy drinking for the rest of the country in favour of something more sensible.
Russian visa
by Muscovite
Next to half a dozen questions in the Moscow Forum are:
How does one get a Russian visa without actually taking the trouble to apply for one?
I just fancy myself doing any such trick to enter Schengen.
Unhappy with formalities?
Go ask the Foreign Office folks, they get paid for it.