--- Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com> wrote: Actually for most of the visit we weren't even in Samara proper, but a good couple hours outside it. It was as depressing as any place I've ever visited (although I imagine I won't be able to say that for long, since I'm going to Ethiopia this summer).
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Yeah, not quite Moscow was it? No sushi palaces? No high-fashion boutiques? I've never been to Samara, but it's reputation is "poor provincial city." I have been to Rostov-on-Don and Kazan last year, and both of them impressed me favorably, especially the former, which has a giant Hugo Boss store downtown (are the Cossacks shopping at Hugo Boss nowadays or something?). Kazan celebrated its 1000th anniversary two years ago, and the mass renovation of downtown still hadn't been completed when I was there, so it looked like Genghis Khan had just come through. But the Kremlin mosque is just _amazing_. I had some of the best food I've ever had in my life there too. Tatars rock. ;) It was the only time I've been in a Muslim region.
I was walking by the Planet Sushis and espresso cafes and TGI Friday's and ritsy clothes outlets on Tverskaya Boulevard yesterday and was reminded of just how much fucking money there is in this city. Downtown is getting unbelievable. Rents have jumped about 200% in Moscow in the last 5 years.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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