(Written on the train Moscow to Ulan Ude)

I quizzed my young Moscow friends on life and democracy. Which they have never experienced. And they are content with their lot – they have good lives and jobs and each other and they like Putin – he saved Russia – they said (sorry no quotation marks on this Russian computer) while acknowledging they couldn’t stand in front of the Kremlin on a soapbox and proclaim anything negative about him! They said he put Russia back on track after Gorbachov and Yeltsin. Our companion from Hong Kong said yes he supported the rallies for democracy there 4 years ago but was too nervous to take part. Can’t blame him. Our Moscow friends hadn’t heard about any of that.

Moscow is just lovely – clean, beautiful, happy, a wonderful atmosphere with the world cup. I stood in the Red Square and felt so happy to be there. Russia generally seems to be big square functional buildings with occasional absolutely beautiful ones in between, some with fabulous and ornate carved stone and some, like in the picture on my previous post, just amazing in every way, like something out of the Arabian nights! And  they are making lovely new places just to hang out – but not manicured formal gardens, their spaces are natural, even a bit wild, reminscent of the forests that surround Moscow. Lovely!