Pigeons are pigeons, whether in Moscow or DC

So I'm finally here! It's been quite an adventure already. In some ways, Moscow's like any other big city--lots of people, cars, ads, and pigeons. But it has more age, and more color. There's also a lot of street vendors, selling flowers, Pepsi-Cola, ice cream, pierogies, etc. There's a number of American shops, like Calvin Klein, Subway, TGI Friday's, and McDonald's. I'm surprised at how many people do speak some English, mostly at the airport, university, and tourist spots. Red Square is beautiful, although I find that I'm not as impressed by great architecture as I used to be--I'm seeing it as a very temporary, weak thing of this world. Still, it's nice.

Carbonated water is icky. Borscht is delicious. Like I'm surprised at how good it is.