'People are strange when you are stranger' (C) or Moscow by foreigners' eyes

Leonie Baldacchino

Hello folks!

As I promised earlier here are few impressions from my friend from Malta Leonie Baldacchino that visited Moscow last week for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. As I shared my thoughts about Paris I decided it probably will be interesting to get an opinion about Moscow from someone who doesn't live here for the whole life like me :)

 

So here we are :)

1. The size and grandeur of the city centre - the huge buildings around the Red Square, the massive streets...

2. The cleanliness of the place in general - I was quite impressed that the morning after the massive rally on Tuesday there wasn't one piece of garbage anywhere in the streets...

3. The static electricity that built up inside my body, making me crackle an pop every time I touched electronic devices such as my laptop and making my hair open up like a fan every time I ran brush through it - weird!

4.The Russian alphabet, with your Ps sounding like thew English R, the H sounding like an N (right?), and so on - baffling! (yes, the H sounds like an N  - you are right Leonie).

5. The Russian ladies' shoes, very elegant and VERY high heels - how do they manage to balance on them all day and in all snow? (That's the question I ask myself as well and honestly don't know the answer).

6. The absence of dogs - I onle saw one dog while I was there. Does nobody in Moscow own dogs? Life is no life without dogs! (People own dogs for sure but it's rare to see them in the city centre).

7. The absence of motorbikes - I didn't see a single motorbike while I was there. Of course this is more understandable, considering how cold and slippery it was. Still, life is no life without bikes!

8.  The snow - very pretty and a lot of fun. I was told that I was like a child, getting excited by the snow, but this should be understandable too since we don't have any snow in Malta.

9. The cold. Ohh my my my it was so cold. I nearly froze to death (after acting like a child and taking photographs sitting in the snow - silly me lol) !!

10. THE COLD! Did I mention the cold? Ooooohhhh it was cold - and it was the befinninfg of the Russian winter, I was told!!! BRRRRRR!!!

As I also met some people from other countries. I asked Nele Schoofs from Belgium to share her impressions about Moscow. Here are her thoughts:

"My impressions of Moscow? I agree with your friend. Also in my guide, I read ‘Moscow is like a grumpy old man. Difficult in the beginning but a great surprise once you get to know him… ‘

I agree, my first impressions of Moscow were fantastic, the red square end the museum by night were almost like a fairy tale. But then I discovered it is not an easy town to travel, especially not as a foreigner who does ‘t speak or read Russian… Nevertheless, when you put through you can find some really fantastic spots, for example the metro station, so unique!   

We only had one and a half day to visit, not so much, but I can definitely say we had and unforgettable time in Moscow."