Kyle's Trip to Moscow

This is my second official blog post so I hope that I am 50% as good as Meredith. I want to update everyone on my adventures but, before I do that, I would like to give credit to my lovely wife. She has been wonderful in getting our family transitioned into our Budapest life. She always sees things half-full rather than half-empty and that has made the biggest difference in our family’s ability to adjust to life in a new country. It reminds me of the phrase that if “If mama ain’t happy then no one is happy.”

The first 4.5 months in Budapest have been amazing and difficult at the same time. I will not bore anyone with the trials and tribulations of public accounting but it is safe to say that it is not the same as Dallas. The people, particularly my teams, continue to be wonderful but the rest of it just does not work the same.

I just returned from a trip to Moscow where I taught training. The flight offerings were such that I spent two nights and almost three full days in Moscow for the one day training. That gave me a lot of time to explore and spend time with other English speakers in our Moscow office (thank you to the Moates’ and my new friends for the hospitality).

Moscow is a very busy city and, in many ways, similar to Budapest (including the exact same subway cars). You would expect similarities because Russia occupied Budapest for 40 years. However, Moscow has 11 million people so it is a bit like New York crossed with Budapest. The English spoken around the city is less than Budapest, the traffic is worse and life is much more expensive. Moscow was voted the world’s most expensive city for expatriate employees in 2007, for the second year in a row.

Some highlights of the trip:
- Tex-Mex food with Russian beer and a blues band
- A visit to Red Square, St. Basil’s cathedral and Lenin’s tomb
- Eating a twenty dollar hamburger that was worth every penny
- Staying at the Ritz – which was $500 per night and considered reasonably priced. Daniel Craig (007 himself) was staying there as well although I did not see him.
- Paying $60 for 6 beers in the O2 bar in the Ritz for CCM and I. It was well worth it because our drinks also came with the opportunity to observe at least four “women of the night” who get paid for a good time.

I will never pretend to have any fashion sense but, if Budapest and Moscow are any sign of what will move west, then black knee high boots with your pants, jeans or tights tucked into the boots is about to be a big hit with the ladies. All ladies seem to be wearing that outfit for winter – very similar to the white pants craze I mentioned this summer. Just remember that you heard it here first…

It does not feel like I have traveled much but I have already been to Antwerp (outside Brussels), Leatherhead (outside London), Moscow, Lake Balaton twice (popular Hungarian vacation spot) and Vienna. Our family has plans to travel to Bratislava, Slovakia and Munich, Germany next week and then I’ll go to London for work within the next month. 6 countries in 6 months is a great start!

For those planning to visit now is the time to book your trip for next summer or fall!!

Saint Basil's Cathedral

Lenin's Mausoleum

State Historical Museum & Red Square