Thursday August 28, 1997….To JFK during rush hour, best to get off the highway and use Woodhaven Avenue in Queens a few miles after exiting the Midtown Tunnel. Made it to the airport in 50 minutes; not easy to get a taxi to agree to go to Kennedy during rush hour. Taxi is $40. At Delta, we used gate 14 which was the least distance I ever had to go from curbside to plane. They x-ray the bag at the entrance to the terminal and it’s another 30 steps to the gate and you just show your ticket and board. You could arrive 15 minutes before a flight with this setup. Delta flies a 767 in both directions; 8:45 going; 9:15 coming; the passenger count was split evenly between Americans and Russians and the flights were about 2/3 full. The plane is not bad but tighter than a 747 in the seat and a bit tight if you have someone sitting next to you (2:3:2 configuration). They spend a lot of time with cabin service and don’t shut out the lights until 3½ hours into the flight. The 6pm flight arrives at 11:30, turns around at 2pm and arrives New York at 4. Upon arrival in both Moscow and NY I was one of the first off the plane and got through customs in 5 minutes so I can’t tell how it is for the average person. The Moscow airport is still dark and dreary with the lights turned out but let’s be fair — so was Zurich on arrival and quite a few departure areas in various airports such as Frankfurt. Sasha was waiting for me at the exit and it was a 40 minute ride to city center.
No more swerving to avoid potholes in the streets; no exhaust being spewed as people restart their cars at traffic lights as it was 5 years ago; the streets have been repaved; there are Mercedes and other new cars all over; gas is about 25% more expensive than the USA; there are colorful banners and flags EVERYWHERE for the 850th Birthday of Moscow Festival soon to take place; billboards selling everything imaginable and the streets look orderly and actually grand with the newly painted and restored building facades lining the streets. Surprise! Moscow has reinvented itself and has begun to look like a World Capitol!
Friday…Visited Sasha’s office with all the modern conveniences and company cafeteria and set out to the Tretyakov Museum, recently reopened after a 7 year restoration and looks as impressive inside and out as any Metropolitan museum in the West. You can rent a walkman with tours in English. About half the paintings have English (and Russian) captions. Mix of Russian and European art and the painting of Ivan The Terrible grieving over his son whom he killed in a fit of fury was of notice. Actually, the name The Terrible wasn’t given to him until long after he died; while he was alive he was known as the Torturer. I was somewhat out of it but thought a museum was a good place to try and keep awake.
A walk around the area; the city now passes the Clean Fingernail test (at the end of the day, the fingernails are reasonably clean). Parks are well kept up with landscaping and flowers everywhere; the fountains all work; every lightbulb is lit on the streets and in the metro; children skate on rollerblades (too many potholes for skating last visit); people look happy and there are many romantic people in the parks. The funniest thing I saw was a man in his 60’s with a woman 20 years younger having a fit of passion on a park bench; he was literally attacking her. By the time I whipped out the camera, they had stopped. Maybe they saw me. Stopped at a supermarket and cafe; it’s even better than the USA now because you have a choice of the world’s best of everything (even weird items such as unusual types of cream cheese); in the USA you can only choose from several American brands of particular items. Brush with reality; there are guards at the entrance wearing black pants and shirts and they are at the entrances to just about any business involving luxury. I suppose they want their well heeled patrons to feel safe and are afraid of robbery or assault as well. Metro stations have been spruced up with more permanent-like kiosks and pretty glassy-looking overhangs with cute “M” signs. People are more into appearances; the stores all sell Western hygiene products and people must be using them or else all these stores couldn’t pay rent. Not that Russians are fashion plates; the elite dress obnoxiously Villagey or just plain old extravagant without style and the average Boris still wears thrift shop looking items. The Gap hasn’t opened yet but this country could use a good dose of it. I was clearly the best dressed person on the street and strangely it didn’t appear that people were looking at me. Cosmopolitan Magazine just published an 850 page issue in Russian for the festival and people are buying it. All the stores that used to sell Russian products now sell only Western products; it’s as if all the Russian stuff has disappeared. The prices are comparable to the US and maybe a bit more on some items and a bit less on others. I don’t know how people can afford them on their salaries but these stores are all over even in the residential neighborhoods such as the one I stayed in and are obviously still open.
After the walkabout, we picked up Sasha’s wife and went grocery shopping and I went to the apartment to set down my things. Along the way, Sasha sat on the cellphone and made crazy U-turns in streets with 10 lanes of traffic. People don’t observe all the traffic laws and can often bribe their way out of offenses if stopped by a cop but on the other hand you can often get stopped by a cop looking for an excuse to get something from you. There are few parking meters; they had them on the main streets but they ran on tokens not coins; people had their cars towed and the Supreme Court said that towing people’s cars away was an unfair deprivation of property. There are enough parking spaces (including pulling up onto curbs) in Moscow at this point so people put their cars anywhere; it looks a bit disorderly but anyone opening up parking garages will have to contend with a psychology that says why should I pay for something I can do for free? Dinner at a tropical looking place with the trees and rocks at a shopping center that looked exactly like a typical upscale shopping mall in the US. Restaurant prices are still high and a bit higher than Manhattan but quality is good although cake tends to look better than it tastes; I ate my rice and veges still being quite conservative from the road trip and not having slept the previous night. The lights are coming on now and the bridges and streets are all lit up in color and it is very festive. It still gets dark after 10. Time to go home to bed. I have a 2 bedroom apartment to myself with all new floors, carpets, furniture and appliances from Europe and a jacuzzi in the bathroom to boot. There are 2 front doors for safety and a leading Moscow politico is my neighbor. It is a 24 story high apartment building with digital security entry but the lobby and mail room looks awful. The concept of a condo association in these now privatized buildings is just starting to take root and soon enough the tenants will organize themselves and do things such as fix up the lobbies and landscape the public areas. Meanwhile, it is bedtime for bonzo.
Saturday…Got up around 2. Sasha had to leave Moscow for the day so I am not under pressure to do anything. Enjoyed some of their famous black bread, cheese, blood orange juice from Italy and leftovers from last night’s dinner. Reading the local English language publications. Moscow has a lively expatriate press that is written for by Russians and the articles are on target. Long pensive stories about politics, front page stories of mob shootings, exposes of wasted US foreign aid money in Kazakhstan by foreign consultants and local politicos in collusion lining their pockets. There is also some really radical English weeklies with nightlife guides rating the clubs on the flathead factor (ie: 2 stars means just don’t bump into anyone with such a haircut; 3 stars means you might get rubbed out by such a mobster) and printing transcripts of Russian officials talking like shipworkers. There’s plenty to read and the press seems free but there are also lots of rumors still circulating and I can’t yet tell which of them work their way into the press. A rumor circulated of an impending gas shortage so people were making a run for gas stations while I was there and you saw lines and stations running out. I was told that this is unusual though. I certainly didn’t see anybody queuing for anything else there in public areas.
At 5pm I started to walk along the main drag in this residential neighborhood near the university. Leninsky Prospekt (Avenue) is filled with stores with big windows now showing things you would want to buy. There are Moscow 850 signs everywhere. People are carrying around nice looking shopping bags and are happy. Groups of young people sit in parks drinking and chatting. 5 year old girls with their parents and the kid is either swigging a beer or a soft drink that looks like it and comes in a similar looking bottle. Street crossings come with working traffic lights and walking signals. Hair salons have been spruced up and hair cuts run from 5 to 50 bucks. What’s missing are coffee houses, video rentals and budget dining; there is nothing between McDonalds and fancy eating. Either you eat fast food or make a federal project out of dinner with a hefty price tag. Starbucks Coffee would do well here but they’ve already told me they’re focused on Asia/Pacifica and won’t even look at other regions for at least another year or two.
As I walk into the center of town, the streets leading toward the Kremlin have been totally fixed up with the facades of the buildings having been totally restored and some new ones built. There are now maps with English transliteration of Russian streets and metro stations (go into a hotel and get one) so you can get around but there are still no signs in public so it is not yet tourist friendly in that sense. The metros (still a bargain at 40 cents a ride) are color coded on the map but not in the metro station signage so transfers within stations are confusing because you have to go to each platform and read the cyrillic signs until you know where you are going. Fortunately, the metro stations are beautiful and trains run really often and are nice inside with leather seats. GUM the shopping mall has been completely transformed into a beautiful upscale shopping experience with boutiques selling Europe’s finest at European prices. The Lenin Museum is gone; cathedrals along Red Square that Stalin destroyed are now being rebuilt and indeed all over Moscow and the rest of the country there is massive rebuilding and restoration of cathedrals going on. The swimming pool a few miles from the Kremlin is now the home of a huge cathedral being built that will become world famous once it is done. Lenin is still buried in Red Square but the honor guard is gone and I think he is still on display at certain times. The big open square next to Red Square that was once empty and which 5 years ago I called the Biggest Wasted Public Space I Had Ever Seen (Sasha reminded me) has been transformed into the Most Beautiful Public Space I Have Seen In A Very Long Time. Known as Manezh Square, it is filled with gardens, fountains, walking areas, venetian railings and steps, statues, glass domes and pyramids and art over an underground 4 story shopping mall. When I arrived an orchestra was playing Russian marches and ballroom selections and grandmothers were dancing with their grandchildren. I will say it again; Moscow is becoming a happy and cosmopolitan place.
Now being nighttime, dinner up the street at Patio Pizza which I found at random but turns out to be Moscow’s first budget dining chain. Still, a fettucini and salmon dish, juice, water and tiramisu came out to $25 which is reasonable but overpriced since it was Pizza Hut quality. Remember that VAT is 20% in Russia and the mob take their cut so much of the overage in prices is eaten up by this sort of double taxation. At least the VAT is being used to fix up the city. At the restaurant I bought a telephone card to use in a phone that would work to call Sasha on his cellular which worked 200 miles outside Moscow; yesterday Sasha gave me 4 public phone tokens all used in vain to reach him. Even the regular phones didn’t connect me to any numbers for about 20 minutes. The phone system is still not good there and cellular is necessary but costs about 90 cents a minute both calling and receiving. Fortunately, Sasha’s company pays his $1,000 a month bill. Returned home and listened to local radio; a mix of Western and Russian music though the Russian contemporary is sounding more and more Western everyday.
Sunday… The luck continues; have had great weather throughout with sun and 70’s during the day. Another late start due to difficulty sleeping due to the early morning sunshine creeping through thin curtains and the sound of cars whizzing by all night long. Took the metro to the Revolution Museum on Tverskaya Street with the history of Moscow. Unfortunately, I understood none of it but the displays were nice so see it with a Russian. One guy I met on Red Square who hires himself as a guide is Mr. Davidoff at 241.8509. The McDonalds at Puskin Square is still a very busy place and it was filled with families eating Sunday lunch, some dressed as though they came straight from church but it turns out that Sunday morning is not when the Russian Orthodox go to church. A Marriott just opened on Tverskaya Street and the Russia Movie Theater offers a new concept in moviegoing. Showing current first run American films (a good number of these are available), the price of the seat runs according to where you sit and which film at which time you see. There is a big public area where you can buy clothes and eat food even if you don’t see a movie which is a smart idea for a theater. Also, you could sit around before or after the movie and eat which is pretty smart too. Big video walls, smart looking bars, marble floors — totally first class. Wound up at the Palace Hotel; Sunday buffet there is $39. Sasha was there and we headed to another shopping mall; very fancy with Tiffany, Cartier and the rest in a Bal Harbor-type (famous Florida mall) setting. Prices for Cartier are at Swiss retail with a 15% discount for cash.
Russians can buy with credit card and pay their bills in dollars; they can have ruble and dollar bank accounts but because of devaluation people prefer dollars and tend to spend rather than save money in a society that does not yet give people incentives to save money. Interest on a one year CD for a dollar account is 14% but there is no insurance if the bank goes under and many banks are weaker than they appear. As in Israel, VISA is linked to the bank account as a debit; there are no real checking accounts. There are exchange windows everywhere (ie: supermarkets) and the commission for exchange transactions is de minimis. There is also a very good network of ATM’s and you can use almost any American bank card to withdraw funds straight from your bank account. We continued to Victory Park, a huge memorial to the 20 million who died in World War II with the names of the dead inscribed on the walls. It is a huge building with a huge rotunda and various other rooms on several hundred acres with cathedrals and various other items on site. It takes about 10 minutes to walk the length of the site. Dinner at an upscale restaurant known as Pirate with a Pirates of the Caribbean decor throughout. 3 armed guards and a metal detector at the entrance. Obviously a sensitive eating establishment. Viking salmon with potatoes and peppers, garden salad and a good piece of chocolate cake. A $40 dinner. Prices are quoted in dollars but people pay in rubles.
Drove past the university area to see townhouses that were being built around a lake 5 years ago; they are building third stages now. The power elites have houses with big walls here too. Returned to Red Square and the piazza where the orchestra was doing a repeat performance of music from the 1950’s after the War when people were happy. Dropped by the Metropole Hotel which is definitely in the best location and where prices have remained stable; their dining room is gorgeous and, like many restaurants, offers live entertainment with dinner. At least musicians can find work. Continued to the Arbat. The pedestrian mall looks the same as it did; many of the street vendors have been temporarily removed for the festival; there are now cafes along the mall. Nearby apartment buildings offer new apartments for almost $300 per square foot or $3,000 per meter. The Arbat which lines the traffic street is all lit up with stores selling things to buy, auto showrooms, etc. and there is a huge supermarket right at the entrance to the pedestrian Arbat. Not like 5 years ago where it was a huge marketplace with old signs and nothing to buy. Most of the old Soviet propaganda art is gone and is now sold in museum stores as collectibles; a poster they couldn’t give away now sells for $15. Many restaurants such as Tren-Mos that pioneered the field 5 years ago have turned over but many of the newer establishments have held their ground. Often you read in the English press that a particular establishment’s food “is improving.” Prices appear to have remained what they were 5 years ago but competitors are upping the quality in order to fetch them.
There is an English language newspaper filled with Employment ads. There is good employment opportunity here, particularly in consulting. Experience requirements are not so demanding. Hardship perks for Moscow employment are going down though as the city becomes more cosmopolitan. Employees and landlords connive to inflate leases, pass kickbacks and bill the foreign company. Good opportunities here include securitization of municipal debt for cities other than Moscow; consultancies involving Russians as opposed to just a bunch of foreigners who really don’t understand things; and flipping commercial leases. Rents are even higher than Manhattan; real estate values are stable but down a bit after overheating. There is not too much loyalty here; people are as good as their last deal and bribery is absolutely necessary to get anything. The system as a whole is still bureaucratic and costly involving licenses, fees and taxes (though people tend to avoid taxes).
There is a strong feeling that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal do not really understand what is going on here. The people running the country such as Chubais are profiting and very much a clique; their training was socialist and they have no real expertise and thus defer to western consultants who also don’t know anything but who dip into US aid which greases the wheels for them and also secures American companies the deals they want such as in Azerbaijan where some American companies literally stole the rug from underneath some other oil companies recently. The stock market is up 100% but definitely fixed by a few people; some banks that appear strong really only have a few depositors based on bribing those depositors to deal with that bank. If those few people go elsewhere, the bank goes under. People are afraid of wire taps from business competitors; Sasha’s office has a paper shredder instead of garbage can; his screen saver is password protected; and there is fear that the average Russian will revolt against this massing of wealth by a few elites. On the other hand, the average Dmitry is better off than he was. 5 years ago he had bread and boiled water; today he has juice and cheese and can drink the water. There is good toilet paper, paper towels and kleenex. True, his neighbor might have a tv and vcr so he feels jealous and worse off by comparison. But his standard of living is objectively higher. Yeltsin won his most recent term because this Boris voted for him; not because the banks paid for the election but because common sense prevailed and the average bloke understood it. Those that adjusted and made themselves serviceable in the new economy (meaning that if you were an educator, scientist or obscure engineer you had to find a new job) have improved their lots; those on pensions have fallen through the cracks and unfortunately there is little they can do to help themselves.
Monday…A morning walk to see people heading to work, buying their fruits (the supermarkets import medium quality at high prices; the kiosks sell from the farmers what is available internally), and otherwise walking along the treelined boulevards and parks in between the streets which helps make Moscow a particularly green and livable city. Even the ugly horseshoe-styled apartment complexes open up into very green courtyards. After some conversation and calls from Sasha’s office, a company car braved the midday traffic to get me to airport. Expect a good 30 minute line passing customs on the way to airline check-in; arrive at least 60 minutes before the flight (almost 90 is best to be safe). Get a white customs form to fill out from the Delta window in the airport lobby; even if you already have the landing card get another one anyway and fill it out. Just do it in case they ask you for it and send you back. They didn’t in my case but I was told to do this anyway. In normal cases, you would have a problem here if you didn’t register your passport within 3 days of arrival in the country by sending someone with your passport to the police station (if you stay in a hotel you don’t have to do this) but since I wasn’t there 3 days I was exempt as a transit passenger. Still, at this time you must have a hotel reservation and voucher in order to get a tourist visa so you pay $150 to a travel agency to fake a voucher with some hotel and take care of the paper work with the Russian embassy or consulate here in New York. It can be done in as little as 3 days if necessary (maybe even 24 hours but I’m not sure).
You can change roubles to dollars after passing passport control (the lady at Delta check-in said I couldn’t but she was wrong; wrong information still persists although she probably never went past the control so how would she know?) and the commission was something like 20 cents. Duty free shopping is OK and you can buy the stuff you didn’t have a chance to buy elsewhere such as music of Russian marches and the Red Army choir. We left the gate on time but sat on the runway as planes landed and took off at this busy but one runway airport. A beautiful daytime flight with a flyover of St. Petersburg where you could pick out the landmarks, the Scandinavian fjords and an awesome view of the glaciers and peaks of Greenland. Sit on right side both flights in terms of views and glares. Arrival on time in New York with quick exit (one thing that is good to do is give your bag to a flight attendant 30 minutes before landing for her to put into the first class closet telling her you need a quick exit) and to take an empty seat in the front of the aircraft just before landing. After arriving in New York, the taxi line was horrendous but there is a nearby bus stop with busses every 10-20 minutes to the subway station and then you take the train into Manhattan; it goes up through Brooklyn and southern Manhattan along 8th Avenue to 34th, 42nd and 59th streets (among others north and south). The bus takes about 20 minutes to the train; and train runs every 10 minutes or so and takes 45 minutes to midtown Manhattan and the whole thing costs $1.50. No doubt it was faster than a taxi would have been with the whole world returning from Labor Day weekend. Remember that going to Kennedy the shuttle bus runs in a circle and it could be a while till you hit the terminal. I don’t know exactly how it works in reverse but the Port Authority of New York / New Jersey runs the shuttle bus and can be called for information.
So, all in all, Moscow is now grand again (St. Pete I am told has changed a lot less) and even somewhat happy. It now appears ready for business and tourism though there is that knotty feeling just below the surface that not all is that secure. Of course, if everything were obviously just so, there would be no rocket science and everybody would be in there doing business. 5 years ago I was not ready to recommend doing anything there and it was a terribly depressing place to be. Not so now. Clearly it is important to be cautious and to have the right associate and there is much there that involves a pain in the buttsky. But there is much still to be done and those that are there are being rewarded if they follow the rules and stay out of lines of business that should be left to the mafias; otherwise, as long as one is not too rich and conspicuous or in a line of work that involves a high risk profile (ie: jewelry, precious commodities, banks) he will be left alone as crime is targeted; not random. Those that are running the country will continue to stagger along and true reform is probably another 10-20 years away when the next generation of western-trained russians take over; their elders are not yet giving them the chance to run things; it is still more profitable to them (though not for Russia as a whole) to partner up with westerners who offer advice backed with money. Dirty the job is, but this money is filtering down to infrastructural improvements that is beautifying Moscow and making goods and services available in quick fashion that is helping to raise the livability of peoples lives in the capitol if not yet the rest of the country.
Beautiful new Manezh Square near the Kremlin and Bolshoi theaters.
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