Zurich meets Moscow

After two of the ZH boys left Pieter, Jens and me got ready for our "business" trip to Moscow. But first we had a lunch with the Swiss council to discuss the business development of a swiss company in Pieter. Lunch was great but took forever so we nearly missed the train to Moscow... 4pm we finally catch the train and have a nap after lack of sleep over the whole weekend!
Monday, 27th of November, 9.30pm: we arrive in Moscow! A little dream becomes true... we have been talking so much about a trip to the capital of the Russian Federation and now we are here! The next three days Jens spends having meetings all over the city and I do hardcore sightseeing, the highlights are:

Tuesday:
In the morning I join Jens to see the only drug rehabilitation clinic in Moscow, a very strange experience as our translator is one of the patients. In the afternoon: Red Square and Kremlin from the outside... there I also have the funniest story with the Russian police so far: because I do not have my train ticket with me (that would prove my arrival in Moscow, as I have to register in all Russian cities after 3 business days) I am supposed to pay a fine of at least 1000 Rubel! But Andreij, the police officer, does not want to steal my rare time for sightseeing. Therefor I get a "student discount" of 50% and the fine goes directly in his pocket ;-) For dinner first time Uzbek food, delicious!

Wednesday:
Mainly dedicated to my visit to the Kremlin. Entering this place you can really feel the power that is located there! Impressive is the atmosphere in the evening while standing on one of the bridges over the Moskva: all the traffic is stucked as car column after car column (with flashing blue light of course) rushes out of the Kremlin to bring the important people home. For dinner first time Ukrainian food, very heavy!

Thursday:
In the morning an audience with the Swiss ambassador and the head of the Swiss economic mission, Jens has his business chat, I can make a good contact for my Master thesis (that should be started soon!!!). Afternoon: sculptures parc ("The Graveyard to Fallen Monuments") and the New Tretyakov Gallery (fantastic pop and pop-sovjet art). By night we tried Moscow nightlife: we started with an Indian dinner @ Tandoor, fantastic as we also had the whole place for ourselves! We continued the bar hopping and clubbing according to the recommendations of a Dutch expat but were a little disappointed... we expected that the weekend would start in 12 Mio. citizens city on a Thursday but most places were empty. We ended up in Propaganda what was cool but not overwhelming... may be we are just a little bit spoiled ;-)

Moscow we will be back!