Walking in Moscow.

I couldn't sleep to long, I was to excited about showing Moscow to Sascha. My brother was already up taking a cold shower, as he does every morning after his 45 min bike ride. Lets just say my brother is a bit of a health freak. He does everything from Tai Chi to boxing. And that particular morning he was under cold water patting himself on the cheeks to get the blood going in his face. He never said where this technique comes from but he said it works for him. 

After a short breakfast we got in a car and started driving towards Moscow's center. I was surprised to see that the

roads were not busy and we even got a parking spot two blocks away from Kremlin. Very impressive! Because Moscow is known as one of the worst cities in the world for traffic jams.

The first idea we had was to go inside Kremlin, but to stand in long line of tourists in 34C weather was not something appealing to us, so instead we decided to take a short walk around Kremlin.

About 3 hrs later.....

I was hot and hungry and Sascha was craving a cup of 

"Starbucks Coffee." So we embarked on a journey in search of Russian "Starbucks."

Everyone we asked had no idea what "Starbucks" was. But when we said its a coffee place people sent us to Old Arbat Street. ( Arbat Street is very similar to an art market where people bring their own art and creations to sell. There are lots of painters, artists,dancers and singers as well as restaurants and bars.)

And there it was! In front of us, a Russian "Starbucks Coffee!" 

Pushing through a crowd of people and dismissing multiple offers to paint our portraits we opened the doors to a magic air conditioned place, that inside, looked exactly the same as back in America. The prices were a bit higher but that didn't stop me from buying a "Starbucks" mug that stated: " Starbucks Moscow."

Sucking on our coffee and tea through long green straws we continued walking. On the way to our car, we passed a sign on marble: "Rolls-Roys Motor Cars of Moscow" that was obviously there not for middle class Russians, and a very nice "Pushkin Cafe" with tasty sweets, that went rather well with my green tea.

 There was a classical concert in a park and if there would be beds it would be a perfect place to take a nap.

Our 6 hrs walk around Moscow was the longest walk around any city I have ever been too. I even got a blister on my foot ( which never happened before, I don't even get blisters playing)

But it was a well deserved blister. Sascha finally got to see Moscow and I got to revisit my city.