from Russia with love

[stellah]

My girlfriend just visited Moscow, the big capital of Russia. She made some interesting notes about the country, which I try to summarise here. The heels part is in the end Anyone who has been to Estonia knows that the living standard is quite poor compared to Western Europe and USA. But compared to Russia it is a wealthy place… Since there exist only very poor and very rich people, there is practically no “middle-class”. There is no service culture for regular customers, the salespeople say that biggest problem is always the client! Food is sold in the streets right next to public toilets (not WATER closets), flies fly around food everywhere. Did you know that in Russia there are no self-service stores? Everything you want to buy you have to stand in a line and ask! The traffic is your worst nightmare! Besides the cars which are 25 years old (new Lexus models appear only at night) there are no rules. You can clearly see the 4 lines in the street but it is considered as 10 lanes! Pedestrians can never cross the street anywhere – only when there are no cars at the moment. Be quick or be dead! :x Thieves everywhere… everything goes! Old socks even! And all the stolen things are sold in public markets. The police are not very fond of doing their job either… Food… no guarantees for your health. All tourists say that if you want to eat good food you can only trust restaurants, which cost about $50 for dinner. Most people act really hostile too... they have a truly grim face that makes you want to keep a distance... And yet all the women and girls wear really nice highheel shoes and boots! They don’t wear any flat ugly shoes – oh no! Only the most beautiful stiletto boots rule. And actually they are quite cheap – you can get a fine pair of your favourite footwear for about $30! So my girlfriend said she has never seen so many beautiful highheeled footwear anywhere else in Europe! Any they know how to wear them… its is the Slavian race feature – the women have to look sexy and not repulsive. Foreign tourists might think they see a lot of hookers, but actually normal women wear these fabulous shoes. Damn I wish I had gone with her! Oh well… next time maybe. You wouldn’t want to stick around for too long – it is quite hazardous. But grabbing some good shoes and seeing the heels is a must… So good luck to anyone taking up a trip to Moscow! P.S. There is practically no access to the Internet there, sop unfortunately we cannot have any people from Russia taking part in this newsgroup

[Firefox]

I went to Moscow this summer and just to prove it:

There's me in 4" heel boots outside the Kremlin.

Here's my own comparison of things based on Stella's girlfriend:

>>>Since there exist only very poor and very rich people, there is practically no “middle-class”. There is no service culture for regular customers, the salespeople say that biggest problem is always the client! Food is sold in the streets right next to public toilets (not WATER closets), flies fly around food everywhere.

Service: false. Food & flies: sometimes, but that's true of anywhere.

>>>Did you know that in Russia there are no self-service stores? Everything you want to buy you have to stand in a line and ask!

False, in Moscow at least. There are some American type shops and restaurants in Moscow, though true in the most part.

>>>The traffic is your worst nightmare! Besides the cars which are 25 years old (new Lexus models appear only at night) there are no rules. You can clearly see the 4 lines in the street but it is considered as 10 lanes! Pedestrians can never cross the street anywhere – only when there are no cars at the moment. Be quick or be dead!

Definitely true!

>>>Thieves everywhere… everything goes! Old socks even! And all the stolen things are sold in public markets. The police are not very fond of doing their job either…

True

>>>Food… no guarantees for your health. All tourists say that if you want to eat good food you can only trust restaurants, which cost about $50 for dinner.

False. We ate in loads of cool places for next to nothing ($5) and the posh restaurants cost $15 not $50.

>>>Most people act really hostile too... they have a truly grim face that makes you want to keep a distance...

False. The Russians are very friendly people. At least I made friends with loads.

>>>And yet all the women and girls wear really nice highheel shoes and boots! They don’t wear any flat ugly shoes – oh no! Only the most beautiful stiletto boots rule. And actually they are quite cheap – you can get a fine pair of your favourite footwear for about $30!

So my girlfriend said she has never seen so many beautiful highheeled footwear anywhere else in Europe! Any they know how to wear them… its is the Slavian race feature – the women have to look sexy and not repulsive. Foreign tourists might think they see a lot of hookers, but actually normal women wear these fabulous shoes.

True. Lots of exellent heels to be seen. (Not ALL the women wear them, about 50% I'd say. Plenty of ugly shoes too, but 50% of people is better than most places I know )

>>>Damn I wish I had gone with her! Oh well… next time maybe. You wouldn’t want to stick around for too long – it is quite hazardous. But grabbing some good shoes and seeing the heels is a must…

I wouldn't say it was hazardous, quite nice really.

>>>So good luck to anyone taking up a trip to Moscow!

Go there tomorrow, you will love it.

>>>P.S. There is practically no access to the Internet there, so unfortunately we cannot have any people from Russia taking part in this newsgroup.

False. There's not so much access as here of course, but quite a few people have access.

[stellah]

Thanks for the comments, Firefox! It is good to hear second opinions too... besides men and women tend to have different impressions as well. If it is not so bad I think I'll go there myself and check it out Do you know if they sell larger sizes in the stores there too?

[Arctic]

Anyone who has been to Estonia knows that the living standard is quite poor compared to Western Europe and USA.

But compared to Russia it is a wealthy place…

I haven't been in the countryside, but at least Tallinn and the surroundings have huge potential. I've always been impressed with the Estonians, what they managed to pull off in 10 years time has taken other civilizations 3 or more decades. On top of that, the country is so small (is it 2 point something million?) that it's very hard to have any significance in international politics, but it still is quite visible.

Then, retaining a culture and civilisation under almost half a century of oppression, is quite a feat by itself.

And the greatest of all is the business. Estonian entrepreneurs are one of a kind. There are LOTS of innovative but still small companies nibbling away market share of the Finnish ones. OK, they can be competitive due to the lower wages and social costs, but if the rate continues like this, Estonia will be on "Scandinavian" level in perhaps a decade, tops two. Or at least in the same order of magnitude.

Location is ok, services are there, business environment is favourable, corruption is stamped out (almost), the spirit for growth is there, the people are quite knowledgeable and the government seem sok. What else would you want?

t:Bert

[Firefox]

The sizes I saw were similar to European sizes. Maybe 41 or so maximum.