Though not simply a symptom of Moscow (we noticed it in St. Peters as well, but not to the same extent) the general lack of manners and common courtesy was appalling. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and no one was willing to make room for the people around them.


The concept of a line seemed to mean nothing. People walked straight to the front of a line and simply stepped in. If I left ½ a foot between myself and the person in front of me, that was fair game for someone to step in front of me. Give an inch and they’ll take a mile. Even expats, who’ve lived in Moscow for several years, said they haven’t gotten used to the behavior.

It was a constant test of our patience.

Even though the city is so large, most things of interest to foreigners are located within the cities inner-most two to three rings (there are five in total). We were told not to venture out beyond ring three without a local and we took the advice.

There’s a significant amount of trash and graffiti, but not nearly as much as I was expecting. While St. Peters was a fairly flat city with all the buildings about the same height, Moscow had towering skyscrapers, varying heights and the infamous Stalin Towers that dotted the city.


English was much more commonly found and most restaurants had English menus available. Western influence seemed abundant – Beyonce blaring from storefront speakers, TGI Fridays, Dunkin Donuts, and Chilies spanning the city (though we only found one Starbucks – right in the center of all the tourist attractions). Advertising was everywhere – banners over the streets, ads screeching from loudspeakers, sidewalks covered in painted ads.

I was struck by a sense of insignificance while in Moscow; it’s so large that individual people get lost in the shuffle. We had virtually no interaction with locals beyond those working in service industries.


Strangely, almost everyone staying at our hostel was Russian, but even they wanted nothing to do the tourists.

Not sure how I feel about Moscow yet.

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