Second Day in Moscow

Moscow City is Moscow's answer to London's City or New York's Manhattan. It is currently a giant construction site, mostly being built by Turkish construction companies. You will find many Turkish workers in the barracks built right next to the construction site.

Once completed, Moscow City will make Moscow one of the tallest cities in the world and will surely change the city's skyline. Already, a number of buildings are either completed or half-completed, and you can get glimpses of Moscow's future.

The area is accessible by a couple of new Metro stations: Mezhdunarodnaya and Delovoy Tsentr. You can also go there from a bridge that connects the area to Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The bridge is an attraction in itself. It is a second-storey bridge with some shops, cafes and restaurants inside.

This is the fanciest supermarket I have ever been to! Eliseyevsky Magazin is housed in a historic building on Moscow's main thoroughfare, Tverskata Ulitsa, and its interior is lavishly decorated with chandeliers and carvings on the walls. In short, it is like a palace turned into a supermarket. Their products are of high quality too. The vegetables and fruits looked so polished to the extent that they seemed almost artificial. It is a good place to buy souvenirs like Russian sweets, vodka, cigarettes and caviar.

Named after a French cognac brand, Courvoisier is a cross between a casual restaurant and a night club. It attracts the rich and the beautiful of Moscow. Make sure you dress up when going there or else you would stick out. They offer light food, like pasta, sandwitches and sushi (which one can find everywhere in Russia), and have an extensive list of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Frankly, the food does not justify the hefty price tag. My "Manhattan" sandwich cost something like US$12, but it was not even as good as Starbucks Club Sandwich, which is probably half that price. But remember that eating out in Moscow is expensive. Their espresso tasted watery.

If you are a backpacker on a tight budget, you would not want to find yourself there. However, if you want to experience the nightlife of rich and glamorous Moscovites, this is a good place to start.

Located on Lubyanka Square, Detsky Mir, or Children's World, is a department store specialised in children's products, but nowadays it sells almost everything from mobile phones to painting tools.

Detsky Mir has a certain Soviet flavour. Although their range of products reminds one that it is capitalist Moscow, the rest --- the windows, the escalators, the stairs and the toilets --- remains as it was during the Soviet era. The toy section of the store is worth a peek. It stands out in this otherwise dull-looking building. It looks like a little fair, and there is a carousel in the centre. The carousel is out of order now, but it must have been nice when it was still in operation. Russian toys and plastic models make good souvenirs too.

On the basement floor, there is a counter where they sell Russian stamp collections (used stamps). If you happen to collect stamps, this is a good place to buy them. Some stands in the building sell Russian souvenirs, and it's usually cheaper than GUM or TsUM.

On the fourth floor, there is a cafeteria. While western-style cafes are popping out all over Moscow, this one stands out as a genuine Russian/Communist-style cafe. It has a Soviet ambience, plus a wonderful view of Lubyanka Square. The food is good (if you like Russian food) and relatively cheap.