The question 'why Russia'? This was asked of us often when informing family and friends of our trip. From my perspective it is a combination of nostalgia and retracing my steps with Ngaire for her to experience some of the things I have in this fascinating and contradictory land.
I was here for 5 weeks in 1989 split between Moscow and Sochi. We are in one of the Hotels in Moscow I stayed in back then and will be in the same where I stayed in Sochi. There are many changes and yet so much still the same.
Here's just a small sample.
Two of the most familiar Moscow landmarks
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| St Basils Cathederal |
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| The Kremlin clock tower |
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| East meets West - U.S. Multinationals |
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| Private enterprise in Arbat St. |
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| A 'Bobcat' in the Kremlin Grounds |
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| A Gucci sponsored swing stand in Gorky Park. |
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| Mechanised street sweeping |
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| Private river boats on the Moscow River |
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Imported Moscow Police cars and sky scrapper skyline. |
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| Statue of Lenin |
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| Sculptures of October 1917 Bolsheviks in Revolution Square Metro |
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| Lenin Mural Kyivskaya Metro |
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| Entrance to Gorky Park |
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| Marshall of the Soviet Union Georgie Zukov. Commanded battles for Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk Salient and Berlin. |
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| Street mural of original photo of mounting Soviet flag on German Reichstag May 1945. |
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| Commemorative metro train. |
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| Tomb to the unknown Soldier at Alexandrov Garden along Kremlin Wall |
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| Artwork in Kyivskaya Metro |
And Something more personally familiar
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| My first Hotel 28 years ago and our hotel. |
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| An unexpected sighting of the second Hotel I stayed in Moscow 28 years ago. |