When does one get "overborsched"? Soon we will find out. There is a Russian national soup called borsch. As we crossed the border we decided to try it at almost every place we stop to eat. And so we are savouring many different, yet similar, kinds of borsch. Of course, in every place the locals think that theirs is the only proper borsch in Russia. I only think that I have never eaten so much cabbage and red beet in my life.
We drove to Moscow and since we missed the highway that goes around the city we drove right through. As our luck would have it, the time was right for a traffic jam. And it was a world class traffic jam. After about five hours we left Moscow full of new buildings, western cars and new wealth. We have also learned about the Russian driving style. Extremely aggressive and impatient, the Russian driving style possibly reflects their new approach to life. The driving style of some of the drivers can only be described as "get ahead by any means" - they pass you on the right shoulder of the highway, cut you off and generally do not give a damn about your driving rights. Yet, surprisingly, there are not too many car accidents. They also do not get upset when someone else drives on the shoulder trying to jump the line of cars waiting at any of the many road construction slowdowns.
One other thing is quite bothersome here. To say that the man's rooms here are sometimes a mess might not fully describe what you see after opening the door in some of them. Yet, this topic has been covered by many people visiting Russia and so I just mention it here in passing.
Because we drive all day long, the most we know relates to the local highways. The gas stations here are world class and there are many restaurants along the road of mixed appearances and food quality. The traffic flow has an uncanny tendency to change suddenly from a nice pace to a traffic jam as the road suddenly narrows, or the traffic lights appear out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, or there is a construction of the road (many of then with no workers in sight). The slowdown is worsened by the drivers who try to jump the line any which way.
The country vastness only really, really hits you after a few days in a relatively slow car like our. We have been driving and driving and driving and we are still in Europe with about 700 km to go to Ural which separates Europe and Asia. And, just as a note aside, we have already driven almost 3,500 km. The economic disparities are probably pretty wast here too. Apparently, the clerk at a local store makes about 7,000 - 9,000 Rubles. Considering that one borsch costs about 60 - 70 Rubles, one night accommodation in a roadside hotel about 1,500 Rubles and one liter of gas (which is very cheap in Russia) about 35 Rubles, the clerk must manage his or her money pretty carefully to get by. On the other hand, there is a lot of Mercedeses and similar cars on the roads possibly driven by those with wages quite different from the store clerk's.
Slowly we realize that what is left for us is to drive on, get some gas, eat some borsch and wait for Urals to show up. But the car runs well, the sun is shinning and we move on with a good luck wished to us by the locals. And if going on without any problems is all the luck we get, we will take it.
We drove to Moscow and since we missed the highway that goes around the city we drove right through. As our luck would have it, the time was right for a traffic jam. And it was a world class traffic jam. After about five hours we left Moscow full of new buildings, western cars and new wealth. We have also learned about the Russian driving style. Extremely aggressive and impatient, the Russian driving style possibly reflects their new approach to life. The driving style of some of the drivers can only be described as "get ahead by any means" - they pass you on the right shoulder of the highway, cut you off and generally do not give a damn about your driving rights. Yet, surprisingly, there are not too many car accidents. They also do not get upset when someone else drives on the shoulder trying to jump the line of cars waiting at any of the many road construction slowdowns.
One other thing is quite bothersome here. To say that the man's rooms here are sometimes a mess might not fully describe what you see after opening the door in some of them. Yet, this topic has been covered by many people visiting Russia and so I just mention it here in passing.
Because we drive all day long, the most we know relates to the local highways. The gas stations here are world class and there are many restaurants along the road of mixed appearances and food quality. The traffic flow has an uncanny tendency to change suddenly from a nice pace to a traffic jam as the road suddenly narrows, or the traffic lights appear out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, or there is a construction of the road (many of then with no workers in sight). The slowdown is worsened by the drivers who try to jump the line any which way.
The country vastness only really, really hits you after a few days in a relatively slow car like our. We have been driving and driving and driving and we are still in Europe with about 700 km to go to Ural which separates Europe and Asia. And, just as a note aside, we have already driven almost 3,500 km. The economic disparities are probably pretty wast here too. Apparently, the clerk at a local store makes about 7,000 - 9,000 Rubles. Considering that one borsch costs about 60 - 70 Rubles, one night accommodation in a roadside hotel about 1,500 Rubles and one liter of gas (which is very cheap in Russia) about 35 Rubles, the clerk must manage his or her money pretty carefully to get by. On the other hand, there is a lot of Mercedeses and similar cars on the roads possibly driven by those with wages quite different from the store clerk's.
Slowly we realize that what is left for us is to drive on, get some gas, eat some borsch and wait for Urals to show up. But the car runs well, the sun is shinning and we move on with a good luck wished to us by the locals. And if going on without any problems is all the luck we get, we will take it.