Traveling anywhere in the former Soviet Union always has a flavor of stepping into an alternate universe. Particularly if it involves air travel on any of the national airlines like AeroFlot, the flight attendants are downright surly, or Tajik air, you have to fight off your fellow passengers for a seat. But things are really strange in Moscow, where capitalism has returned with a vengeance. The most expensive department store in the world is on Red Square? Everything is done to the extreme here - must be a reflection of the winter.
Hotel CosmosAnyways, nothing could quite prepare me for the Hotel Cosmos (http://www.hotelcosmos.ru/ehom1.html) - a 1700 room hotel situated on the edge of Moscow. First off you're greeted at the entrance by an enormous statue of Charles De Gaulle. What that has to do with the cosmos is beyond me. But there he stands, with just a plaque with his name, in case you didn't recognize him and no other explanation (do you really need one?). Certainly someone was thinking outer space when they designed this thing. The lobby is an enormous labyrinth with hanging lamps representing moons, suns, and planets. The hallways have a decidedly space station feel along with the pod-like entry to the rooms. The rooms overlook what can only be described as a statue celebrating a rocket launch, which is actually part of the Russian Exhibition center across the street.
View From The CosmosMy reason for being here was actually to attend a meeting of OSI's Public Health Network. The topics of the meeting largely focused on HIV/AIDS and sex workers. Imagine finding just that (sex workers) in the hotel lobby bar which we used as a debrief location after the meeting. It probably did not amuse the sex workers one bit that we were both taking up prime real estate (a table that was easily spotted on entrance to the lobby upon exiting the elevators) and we weren't really interested in giving them any business. Their outfits were more fascinating than anything, and we spent much of the evening discussing the difficulty of getting a bustier on that tight.
I was approached at one point by a rather petite woman with really long bleached blond hair, who inquired whether I would be interested in a "massage" later in my room? I just looked at her blankly and said "with those small hands?", she walked away in a huff.