Blowing your money in Moscow
Russia comes through hardest winter, and weather, by any standard, is really cold. Across Moscow, locals run from A to B avoiding the huge phallic icicles which collapse now and then from the spouts of drainpipes. At the doors to the metro, babushkas in headscarves hunch against the bitter wind, begging for pennies. And just a few paces away, Russia’s super-rich are proving their impunity to these testing conditions.
Day and night, chauffeur-driven capital’s élite – dressed in little more than showy Italian suits and shiny mini-skirts – appear at the doors of best hotspots in town. Breezing past securities, once inside they routinely blow hundreds if not thousands of dollars on vintage champagne and tiny sushi canapés, without so much as a blink. And this trend for lavish spending is infectious for all in Russia’s city of contrasts.
From 1970 to 2002, 3 Tverskaya was the site of the old Soviet landmark, the Intourist hotel – a vast grey carbuncle where travellers, drawn by the music, the ballet, the paintings, and the complex political history of this land, were met with temperamental heating units, bugged phones and notoriously po-faced staff. Today, following a $350m renovation, the same spot is home to an altogether more discerning crowd. Beyond the revolving doors, they recline in the lavish gold-plated foyer, reclining in thrones, swigging 1964 Château Petrus for the princely sum of $6,800 (£4,200) a bottle, or paying a more kingly $35,000 for a bottle of 1907 Heidsieck & Co Monopole Champagne. If you, too, want to kick back with the It-Crowd, a night’s stay here will set you back from $1,000 to $16,000. But in return, you can expect more gadgets, remotes and general stuff in your private suite than you could possibly know what to do with. If – like Barack Obama, a recent guest – you fancy the Presidential Suite, you can expect bullet-proof windows and a steel-lined panic room overlooking the Kremlin, too.
One can hardly do Moscow without the “authentic Russian experience”. So, put any thought of a morning vodka at one of the supposed KGB haunts around Pushkin Square firmly out of your pretty head, and opt instead for the super-swish 02 Lounge overlooking St Basil’s, where the seats are made of crushed metal and vodka is doled out from an ice-bar – with an adjoining Audi showroom – on the roof. Once suitably refreshed, bypass the Bolshoi, long considered the epicentre of Moscow night-life. For the modern thrill-seeker points his ride towards one of the bars which from early evening until the wee hours come alive with pop-techno beats and Lycra-clad, plasticated ladies of the night. After that, you’ll be glad to retreat to your room, where, for a mere £125, a “bath butler” will pop special herbs into your sunken marble tub and leave you to lay back with a cognac and cigar. Isn’t life grand?
Source: The Independent
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One Comment to “Blowing your money in Moscow”
I would like to visit Moscow at some point. I do not drink vodka, though. Do you have any recommendations for where people like myself (who don’t drink) might stay?
For those of you who are looking to have fun in Moscow – maybe not as lavish an experience as in the above article – here is a link to tripadvisor.com, which gives a list of things to do if you are ever in Moscow. Also, here is a link to a blogger who wrote about her(?) experience there. She also has some photos. Blogger Mindaugas also writes about his 30-hour experience in Moscow in short, clipped notes. He also gives some good quotes at the end of this blog post from various people he came across while in Moscow. Also, if you’re looking for a pleasurable way to travel (although this may depend on the person’s taste), you may want to look into the “Trans-Siberian Experience.” With this, you can travel by train through Russia and even into China.