If you're interested in my crappy talents as a photographer.
You can go there to discover Moscow through my eyes.

I’m a lazy travel-teller. I always end up saying nothing about the things I visited because I’m sure I’m gonna be boring ... The great thing with a blog or lj is that you can just shut this window if you think I just should have drink vodka my entire stay there. So that I wouldn’t have been able to remember anything ...

This was a rather interesting travel ... Moscow was different than anything I ever seen before. I’d only been in EU before ... (except for Geneva and the Switzerland. but I don’t really think it counts)

I’ve discovered that my cooking abilities were at their best. I’ve cooked pancakes in a really not equipped kitchen ...

Besides that, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places, monuments, sceneries ...
The thing I didn’t really know what to expect. I had some prejudices “Stalinian Buildings are ugly”, “Russia is an administrative nightmare”, “I might end up deported”, “Russian vodka alone is worth the trip”...
And many others I don’t recall ...

Some of these were true and accurate, but the one about Stalinian Buildings was totally false ...
On the other Russia being an administrative is quite true ... but ... as long as you have some money everything will be alright ... (It’s my feeling about it)

Many of the things I wanted to see were closed ... which lead me to a lot of sight-seeing ... But I didn’t mind it. Moscow was incredibly warm for a January. And being outside wasn’t that unpleasant. And there’s something nice about wandering in a totally unknown city ...

Though I regret not to have done it really by myself. I didn’t trust myself going out by myself without any goal ... Moscow seemed likes a alternate universe, and orientate myself was something I found really impossible ... Maybe next time ...
Though I was alone in the city at some point ... And this was kinda Great. (but I had instructions and a map)

I don’t really want to make you a list of what I visit ... I think it would be quite pointless ... there’s not much to say ... I just did the tourist-thing

The Red Square, The Kremlin, Cathedrals ...

I even slept in the Building Napoleon is supposed to have stayed when he was in Moscow ... (Try to beat that :) )

I got pretty drunk with vodka which is some kind of a ritual when you go there I imagine ... And I have to say I didn’t woke up with a headache. (If you find some Russian Standard ... go ahead).

Some clichés about Russians might be true, people don’t really speak English. At least at the border, in touristic venues, in shops ... I didn’t really mind because I was with myfriend (who I can’t thank enough to have welcomed me for this week). But otherwise this must be tough ... Milicians are not very fond of foreigners ...
But I wasn’t arrested nor forced to give money to anyone ... This is not a terrible country. It’s just different and sometimes different is interesting.

On a lighter note, even though, the financial crisis seems to strike Russia in a hard way ... You can’t imagine how many shopping mals there  are ... And Moscow is just another big capital with all these well-known brands which can sell you a pretty boring bag at a price slightly indecent. (I hate shopping.) According to my friend, shops like Zara have prices higher than in France. I think the problem with prices is ... everything or almost everything is imported so it’s expansive ... Russian products are cheap but you can’t really live with vodka and strange cheese snacks ...

Oh and did I mention it ? I found a Pearl Buck’s novel in English in a bookshop. This is a old-edition and the book was pretty damaged ... I bought it though because it brought back so much memories I had to do it ...
And being in the same town as Tom Cruise was cool too (eventhough I have no affinities with the guy). I just liked it ...

So here it is ... Pretty boring but you were warned ;)