On to Moscow

A 5:00am start for our flight to Moscow. Customs was fairly easy- except for the Uighur knife, which caused a major fuss with the customs agents. – not because of it’s potential danger as a weapon but because it was hand-made!
Turkoman Air was an experience - smoking in the bathrooms, squatting on the toilets, and guys with WWII medals.
We flew into the local Moscow field vs. the international airport. The plane landed and we saw the pilot follow a car with a sign that said, “Follow Me” directing the plane in.
John tried to play “beat the bags” to beat out an old lady with a cane who pushed her way through both airports
Our hotel definitely had the Soviet stench. Nothing was easy. We tried to change money- the sign said “No cash”. Our guide said, “What can I say, it’s Russia”.

New Russians are short, fat; they wear suits and are always talking on cell phones. The Mafia is “the roof”.
We had a driving tour though Moscow and saw the Kremlin, St Basil’s and a full tour around the city. John found a “McStalin” watch and a “McLenin” T-shirt (the back says, “The Party is Over”).

Once back at the hotel, we got money and a cold beer then headed out on the Moscow metro. It was actually quite attractive—every stop has a different theme.
On to the Intourist Hotel and the Tex-Mex restaurant on the 20th floor. We were saved by our waitress- a girl from Kenya studying medicine. She brought us pitchers of margaritas. After dinner, we headed to the hotel lobby and found it filled with long legged hookers.
We walked around Moscow and found more hookers strolling.
Back at the hotel, we decided to grab a beer before bed and watch the steady parade of hookers in the lobby bar. We decided that they must get the rooms with the a/c and the double beds.
Notes:
* Every commercial establishment has a security guard at the door
* Old women stand on the street selling cigarettes, cokes and beers---it’s all a matter of what you’ve got to sell.
* Guys everywhere walk around drinking beer at all hours of the day.