My memory of Moscow faded: after all, I left it 3 years ago.
Ha.

I did not remember well. I really tried not to frown once I stepped on the dear ground of mother Moscow. It welcomed me with rain, anxious Russian tourists returning from their vacation trips with luggage bags scotch taped all over (to prevent any theft attempt during their flight) and the air full of exhaust and cigarette smoke.

My friends picked me up at the train station and we started driving to their place. For the entire driving time I saw only one person biking on the street. One. And it was some sort of a sloppy helmet-less fred who looked like he didn’t even quite realize where he was and what he was doing.
However, after I’ve seen a few cars do a Nascar style battle in the city in the middle of the day with some serious traffic, I realized why no one dares to bike there.

During the three years that I have not lived in this city, Moscow seems to have expanded even more, and more people moved to Moscow making the subway experience an especially dreadful one. To me it felt like zombies high on caffeine with the population density of five people per square meter.
Of course there are exceptions to the rules and you can still find a few sane people in Moscow, and sure enough my friends are among them. However, living among the zombies ain’t easy. Or maybe I just don’t like the big, highly congested cities.

Next stop - Tyumen!