Food tours, street art tours, cooking classes, architecture tours, pottery making, ghost tours, yoga with a view, literary tours, ruins pub crawls, photo tours, sketching classes, fashion tours. There is a smorgasbord of thematic experiences on offer in every corner of the world. Websites like AirBnB and WithLocals make these activities a purview of not…
For many Moscovites the Old Arbat street is imbued with an almost mythical aura and a heavy dose of nostalgia. One of the most famed Russian bards, Bulat Okudzhava, even sang “oh Arbat, my Arbat, you are my Fatherland…” It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact source of this reverence. Arbat’s history is very layered. In the…
File this under “you can’t make this sh*t up”. There is an article in Russian that does a bit of explaining; for those who cannot read the Russian you could Google-translate the description – but the video/audio is incomparable. Here’s a brief synopsis: Estonia, 2015 Boy meets Girl. Boy is a Russian tourist and girl…
Have you seen the big news? Likes this one: “Geomagnetic storm could give Boston glimpse of Northern Lights” or “Solar storm strikes Earth following monster flare“? If somehow the MAGNETIC STORM OF THE CENTURY flew under your radar, it’s because you do not live in Russia. Here it’s the talk of the country, because the…
You spot them, can’t you? The Foreigners. Maybe not at The Met/ Eiffel Tower/ Westminster/Vatican, because you expect them to be there, because you presume they all are, so you aren’t paying particular attention. But walking down the street in an inconspicuous neighborhood? Yes, you can. I live in a central, not touristy but expat-heavy,…
These are my favorite words to hear in Moscow. Usually it’s a tourist asking for directions to some cultural spot. This was the case this morning – a couple of Italians trying to find the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. I don’t know exactly why these incidents make me so happy – maybe it’s the pride in showing off…
Home & Away 