Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

Not only , I think that would be seriously difficult to make a better advertising campaign to visit Russia ... Walter, Rod , Prutser and the Vikings should be on their payroll ...

If I was in the government , award them all a big and nice onorary medal in full-blown celebration, with little girls that offer flowers, official statements and long declarations and praises to the peace and friendliness of peoples.

Tony P had arranged to meet me in the evening and show me a little of Moscow's nightlife, so I had a few hours to walk around and see the sights.
I walked back down the The Square and started from there.

As you've seen earlier in the thread it was Paratrooper Day, where all the old boys that were in the parachute regiments meet up, swap lies and get drunk like most blokes. These guys were on the square when I arrived.



Another beautiful day



I walked off the Square and hadn't gone far when I came cross this building. The scale isn't really shown here but it's vast. It's one of 7 (I think) built in the Stalin years in a circle round the outer city. Various ministries were housed within them and they're visible from all over the city.
Maybe a way of demonstrating the power and omnipresence of the State? A very impressive structure either way.

If I've misremembered any of this I'm sure the guys from Moz will hop in to clarify.

The Moscow River and road running along in front of the Kremlin.
I saw a couple of Range Rovers that seemed to pay scant attention to traffic signs or speed limits.
This is apparently the Mafia, and they often have a Range Rover fore and aft too. If one gets too close they stick the barrel of a submachine gun out of the window and unsurprisingly the driver backs off.
The American Wild West was 140 years ago:
Moscow is truly the Wild East, with huge amounts of money being made and available if you have the balls to do it.
However, I suspect life expectancy is somewhat compromised in some cases.

Tony P informed me there are more Ferraris in Moscow than in Italy! I believe him. There's a palpable vibrancy to the city.



The Kremlin



The river looks lovely here but its as grubby as every other capitals river.

Good work baldy. I can picture that receptionist, no problem......

Tony and I had arranged to meet in the evening and he duly wandered up the street as arranged.
It was hardly a shock when he suggested that we go for a beer and he led me off into his iniquitous half-life of drink and sin. .
We went into couple of expat bars and met some of the Moscow crew, and we ended up drinking with a couple of his friends (I was by now too drunk and I can't remember whom it was) in a great guitar bar.
One of the moments I do remember was I ordered a round of drinks..it was just 4 beers, and I paid the barman. £32...50 dollars. WOW! Oh well...when in Rome.
The guy playing lead was BRILLIANT....and would zoom off into a blinding solo during most songs...

Motorbikes, rock and beer....this is what Tigger likes best!

Is it any wonder blokes love ADV-ing?

Mostly correct ... Stalin ordered them built in the last years of his life. The idea was to impress visitors to Moscow and to convey a sense of power and awe - and judging from your reaction, they still work .

8 were ordered to be built, but only 7 made it into concrete.

1 is a university (Moscow State Uni - the most prestigious in the former soviet union)
2 are ministries (the Foreign Affairs ministry building - probably the the most "Gotham City" of them all, and Ministry of Heavy Industry)
2 are hotels (Hilton and Radisson these days)
2 are residential - including the one in the picture above ... Kotelnicheskaya

For me the most imposing is the foreign affairs ministry building ... see below. I guess it was for good purposes ... when the visiting digitaries of eastern european of african states came here, they would know who was the boss straight away. The intimidating nature of the building subtlely reduces the negotiating position of the visiting state. In the fog, at night, the building is totally eerie.

Tatartstan but with the handwritten alphabet
http://listen2russian.com/lesson01/b/index.html
" the handwritten version of 'т' is m"

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Where to park a bike when you are in Moscow?
You can ask here, it's not too far from the center.
http://bikecenter.ru/

In the same area you have also this hotel:
http://www.hotelvelotrek.ru/
Price: http://www.hotelvelotrek.ru/index.php?s=8

Nota: this hotel is ok if you have your own transport, otherwise it's a little far from public transport.

Walter.

They certainly do convey irresistible power and darkness. Gotham City is exactly right.

Kristof. Thanks for the info, I'm sure later riders will take note.

The night before, when I'd gone back to the hostel I went to the dorm and got into my bunk.
One of the girls started talking to me about just general stuff and I sat up.
The other girls then popped their heads over the edges of their bunks and joined in. No guys...this is not ending up THAT way...they were all 20--I suggest a 56 year old is as threatening as mint tea but not as tasty.
They were on their way to Tuva, to join an archaological excavation and were all I think Czechs.
One in particular was very chatty and beautiful, and leaning on the edge of her bunk, and it wasn't until we'd been talking a little while that I realised her head was ABOVE some feet. Either someone with very small feet was under her..or she is the most flexible person I've ever met. She was folded double and was leaning on her folded hands, which were across her shins.

I asked her.." Are you a dancer?", She replied that she was a med student who'd been studying ballet from being a child, but when she matured she became too "womanly"..i.e too curvy in the chest and knew -and was told-she'd never really make it. She did have a knockout figure. So she left to become a doctor. Good girl!

When I got back to the hostel the next day they'd gone, but she'd left me a note on my bunk with her mail addy (no! you can't have it) and to visit-I assume with wifey- if I was ever in her part of the world.
I mailed her when I got home and she responded with funny mail and a pic I must find and post. Flexible?I truly didn't know it was possible... I'll leave it to your imagination.
No, it's not remotely saucy....unless your thing is twisting balloons into impossible shapes...

I'll leave you with that for today.

Rod the way you're describing it, I think I need to start spending weekends in that hostel, it is close enough to my favorite bar, where you took the picture. I think I might have been there with you, although my memory is a little hazy as well...

What a tease.

That was me. I'm off to bed now.

Now, Rod, no international city contests here surely (it's national for starters, and then there's no contest as far as I'm concerned ), but if you liked it in Russia and thought Moscow a beautiful city, I invite you to St.Petersburg, for a fresh perspective :)

Better do it in summer 'cause if you get lucky and get a sunny day, you'll like it even more (you will have to be careful not to faint from the sheer concentration of female beauty along Nevsky prospect though) ; but then again, if it won't be sunny, you'd feel right at home weather-wise

You can drive a bit North and meet up with EtronX and crew, or something...

Be careful what you wish for Mbravo...I'm kicking round a plan to revisit Russia next year..

And surely you've heard..the sun shines constantly in Scotland...its just that it usually behind that feckin big black cloud dumping the rain...before it goes over to Ireland and dumps it on Fray Bentos.

well........

Yep. You were there. I remember well. We picked up with you at Scandinavia, Booze Bub, Papa's, then ending back at Bourbon St where Rod and I had started. A quiet night compared to some with you.

I hope my memory does't start going when I get to your ages!

Damn you Rod Currie. Damn you to hell.

Although I won't be doing such rides as Walter and Rod, I will be in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2 months (may 2013) on my good old 1150GS.

Who knows, maybe I will be bumping in to some of you guys !

It'd be an honor; if you or anyone from this thread's cast of characters heads toward St.Petersburg, PM me and I'd do my best to show you the city, at the very least, or help otherwise, provided I'm not on some adventure of my own. (tbh any ADVer in need and in these parts is welcome).

Yeah, I know, I briefly visited the headlands of Tweed and such, though not on a bike sadly, which will need to be remedied some time. Same thing here - we get nice sunny summers, unless you happen to be busy in the office that day.