Hey, I’m on the CNN website. They wanted to have a foreigners view on Moscow. I’ve said some bad things about the city as well, but when shortening the article they must have cut them out. Well, better than the usual Russia bashing in the foreign media.
Anyway, read yourself (on CNN):
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/05/moscow.localview/index.html
In case you are wondering why the ground is suddenly shaking from tanks driving by, or you are alerted to jet noise over the city, which is usually a no-fly zone. Its the time of the year again. The annual 9th of may victory parade is near and the military is rehearsing for its big day. May 9th marks the day of the defeat of the Germans and is ever since a holiday with a army parade on Red Square. Last years parade marked a change with tanks and ballistic missiles appearing on the parade, not seen since the fall of communism. There were no tanks rolling within the city of Moscow since the last revolution in 93. Since 2008 Russia is flexing its muscles and showing off its military power. Not only to its people, but also the rest of the world. Are you scared already?
Russias best military equipment will take part in the May 9 Victory Day parade, set to involve 8,729 service personnel, 112 military vehicles and 70 aircraft.
On my way to work from the metro station to the office (its a 10 min walk) I counted 18 Landrovers and 6 Cayenne and 4 Mercedes GT Jeeps. Sorry, I stopped counting other models, but obviously these are among the favorite models of the Russian elite. Here is a video I just found on small world. A Russian SWAT team attempts to arrest some bankrobbers who have driven away in a Porsche Cayenne (License 177 177). They actually catch the wrong car in their first try, but realize it quickly. Nevertheless they broke the windows of the car and put the passangers into the dirty spring slush. Unfortunately they don’t show what happened next, but they show the second real arrest. The team is pretty brutal, but one of the guys is resisting arrest and apparently another cop got shot during the robbery itself.
Moral: We have too many black Porsche Cayenne’s on Moscows streets.
People wait about 20 min at this turn near Kremlin until some cop is switching the light to green. After a while they start honking to make give the cop a little stress and to let him know that he is taking his time too long already. This is happening all over the place, but especially on this turn since its related to the main entrance of Kremlin and whenever a VIP goes in or out, the cops hold the traffic, causing massive traffic jams.
Wow! I’m impressed. Just found this really cool tool and from the looks of it, its from the official Moscow Metro authorities. Its a flash based map, which allows you to plan a trip. Its looking for the fastest way and calculating the time you need from A to B. This is a great and useful tool and even in English! If it would only load a bit faster and be printable, but nothing is perfect.
Here is it http://engl.mosmetro.ru/flash/scheme01.html
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