Arrived in Moscow for study tour

Four of us from the US flew together to Moscow via New York City yesterday.  We came a day early to get adjusted to the time change and overnight flight.

The others in our Global Network study tour group will be arriving tomorrow and we'll start our meetings with various Russian experts the next day.

Our hotel window looks out on this magnificent building across the six lane road.  MB, Will Griffin and I took a walk before dinner through a park next to this beautiful site.

Everyone from taxi drivers (from the airport to hotel) and hotel staff have been really thoughtful and kind to us.

Seven in our group of early arrivals had dinner together at a Central Asian restaurant next door to the hotel and the food was excellent.

MB will explore the famous Russian Metro tomorrow while I sit in the hotel lobby to ensure all of our people get checked in without any difficulties.

When we were walking we saw people heading to the Metro after work, folks walking their dogs, all normal stuff.  In the restaurant a big group of 20 people were having a grand time and as we left we noticed the quite large restaurant was packed. I said to MB and Will how it is such a damn shame that Washington continues to demonize Russia.  The American people are wrong when it comes to how they view Russia and the people here.

On the plane I watched a film about one of the former Soviet Union's most famous folk musicians - Vladimir Vysotsky.  I went online to learn more about him once I arrived at the hotel and read that while in the US in late 1970's he was on the CBS 60 Minutes TV show and they said he had spent time in a Soviet gulag.  But it turns out to have been a lie.  This is just a tiny example of the way the US has in my lifetime brainwashed the American people about Russia.  It makes me doubt much of what I've been taught.

Do you remember the Bullwinkle cartoon TV series that ran from 1959-1964.  The bad guys were the two Russian spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, both working for the dictator Fearless Leader. The Russian demonization has been ingrained in the American mind.

Bruce