PARK KULTURI

On Saturday Julia and I went to 'Park Kulturi', Moscow's very own 'Park of Culture'. Opposite the Central House of Artists and in the historic heart of the city, I was expecting somewhere refined, beautiful and, well, cultured.

I wasn't really expecting a fun park. Which is what it was.

Also, it being the start of April and a little nippy over here, it was also almost deserted. None of the rides were open either, which is a little bit of a drawback in a fun park. I'm glad the entrance only cost 50 roubles...

So Julia and I were in the park. We couldn't go on any of the rides, so we decided to get something to eat. The nearest food stand was a kiosk selling fried chicken, and the menu went something like this:

Chicken soup with noodles 30R
Chicken wings (4) 70R
Chicken leg 60R
Half a chicken 90R

...and so on for a page and a half.

We went up to the guy serving, whom opened his little hatch.
'Two chicken soups please -'
'Sorry, no soup.'
'No soup?'
'No soup.'
'In that case,' I continued, two portions of chicken wings -'
'You want chicken?'
'Yes...'
'Hmmm. Maybe. Chicken'll take some time.'
'How long exactly?'
'Twenty minutes. Maybe half an hour.'

Russian fast food!

In the end we went to a bar inside the park that had a more comprehensive lunch menu. It also had a Mexican theme, complete with oversized plastic cactuses (cacti?) and wagon wheels. I'm not sure that the Russians who designed the place had much of a grasp on the Mexican way of life, as there were also several large reindeer dotted around the place.

Perhaps most bizarrely, the bar had Leffe on draft for only 90R (less than two pounds).