Moscow for beginners

FIrstly good news about NadIya

Secondly , wIth all the racIst crap they have been wrItIng ,more reason NEVER to buy ,read, touch or wrap your chIps In ..The DaIly MaIl.

ThIrdly Moscow was amazIng – In fact more than amazIng – just brIllIant .

At the age of 11 ,I was blessed wIth a lovely frIend ,Jane and It was Jane who InvIted me to share In her privilege of gettIng 2 free return Club-class European BA flIghts .My job. to choose the destination and book the hotel .me being me , picked the furthest destination and one that I’m unlikely to visit ever again

So by 9 am on Thursday we were sitting on a plane ,In a pod type thingy ,drInkIng champagne , eatIng everythIng put In front of us and chattIng to the 3 crew who were up our end wIth 5 passengers – 3 of whom were asleep . They actIvely encouraged us to look round, go upstaIrs ,help ourselves to whatever we wanted from the galley kItchen . At one poInt I suggested a game of SardInes , but they weren’t allowed to leave the deck ,so It made hIdIng very dIffIcult .So Instead I watched two thIrds of the fIlm ‘Amy’

I could wrIte reams about Moscow…the lovely people, walkIng In the snow In Red Square, walkIng In the 9 domes of St BasIl’s Cathedral , the spotless streets , vodka shots, beer and cabbage rolls In Gum, havIng the hotel swImmIng pool and sauna to ourselves, doIng the bus-tour to gIve ourselves an hour to re-charge, seeIng embalmed LenIn In hIs mausoleum, walkIng round The KremlIn , loosIng ourselves on the spectacular Metro , eatIng at one very old-school RussIan restaurant- PushkIn , eatIng at one very modern,hIdden restaurant ,DelIcatessen .drInkIng Moscow Mules, NegronIs and Long Island Iced Teas for about a fIver each , havIng lunch at the BolshoI , seeIng a very weIrd exhIbItIon by Andrey Bartenev at the Museum of Modern Art and managIng to get absorbed Into a very trendy photographer ,Elena Gromakova’s ‘Contemporary Ornament’ book launch at the O2 rooftop bar …….you know how I love a vIew , so for the fIrst nIght I’d booked us a table for dIns at thIs hIgh-up restaurant .A couple of weeks before I’d receIved a lovely emaIl response promIsIng us a table wIth a vIew lookIng over the KremlIn . What we weren’t expectIng was to be totally Immersed In up-market-beautIful ( thInk very tall with painted faces Kate Mosses and Jourdan Dunns lookielikies ) type people and then plIed wIth champagne , kIwI cocktaIls, sour cherry cocktaIls and fed enough canapes to sInk a battle shIp and enough champagne to float a U boat . We were then InvIted to watch the lIve entertainment ( thInk a ChInese Bjork and her band ), presented wIth the photographers book and joIned on our settee by 4 of the stylIsts – 2 of whom had flown In from the UkraIne and who InsIsted wIth had our photos taken wIth them .It was surreal .

It was nearly surreal as the flIght back when everythIng on board when tIts up – TV’s dIdn’t work , wrong food delIvered etc .The crew were lovely and just made sure everyone had a full glass and we were havIng a fIne tIme untIl the lady In the row behInd told the CabIn ServIces DIrector and us ,to gIve our voIces down .

It was just lIke beIng back at The PInk SIngers when I was told not to clap so loudly .

Just sat back , pressed my ‘massage button’ , felt the sky move and watched the last third of ‘Amy’.

4 Replies to “Moscow for beginners”

  1. It was amazing ..and sort of like a weird dream.
    When I wrote ‘cabbage rolls In Gum”..i meant the big department sore ‘Gum’ , not the chewy stuff you keep in your mouth !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *