radisson boat cruise

about half-way through the DIY walking tour, we branched off and made for the water. it was fascinating to stroll along the main tourist beat (old arbat street) and see the stark signs of 'the west', and more subtly, those of capitalism. there was maccas, dunkin donuts, wendy's and the shake shack, all within metres of each other, not unlike any major american city! yet despite the 12 lane roads (6 going in each direction) and sparkling new shops, there were people selling animals (puppies, tortoises) on the pedestrianised stretch, not unlike any major less developed city. 

quite embarrassingly, my biggest achievement that day was ordering a strawberry milkshakes from maccas from a russian girl who spoke not english, from a menu that was purely in cyrillic with no pictures. it took some pretty convincing sign language, if i might add, and some substandard mime. but there i was, victoriously slurping my hard-earned milkshake as we continued our walk to the pier.

we passed one of stalin's seven sisters en route and it was surreal! doesn't this just scream 'dystopia'? it's been reborn as the ministry of foreign affairs. again, looks so much like the empire state building and much can be said about the stalinist (russian baroque + gothic) architectural style.

eventually we hit the water, but not before first masquerading as guests at the raddison ;) the boat cruise was surprisingly good value and we later learnt it was probably a loss leader to ensnare a captive audience who'll order food while on the two hour river cruise. it was nice that the park hyatt concierge didn't oversell the cruise, and advised us not to waste money on the first class tickets as it was essentially the same thing but on the covered upper deck. undeterred by the bitter russian spring, we braved the biting wind and sat on the uncovered upper deck in true el cheapo fashion, angering the grumpy crew who was assigned to bring our drinks up to us. she wasn't a happy sailor!

the cruise took us up and down the river, past all the sights and it provided an interesting perspective. much like the seine cruise at night. cheesy but contemplative!