Strange black thing.

Once the Kremlin had been explored we headed upto the Sparrow Hills. Passed up the opportunity to eat - too crowded & expensive and surely there'd be options at the observation deck or even at the University. Gentle walk up to the 'summit' & great views out over the Luzhniki [national] Stadium, the business district & 5 of the 7 sisters - Stalin's skyscrapers built with Gulag labour. Very busy at the top & very limited food options - sweetcorn or ice cream. Wandered towards the Moscow University building (no. 6 of the 7) & it became apparent that all that was up here was a university - no additional services, food etc. Liz wasn't happy. Decided to try around the cable car, our means of descent. Found a cafe overlooking the river, allbeit a rather expensive one. Settled down & was promptly ignored. Plenty of people were being seated. Still we waited & a number of those people were now being waited on. Doesn't bode well for speedy service. Gave up. Found what looked like a sarnie shop but was in fact a kebab shop, with a queue... that wasn't moving. OK head down to the stadium, except the cable car had a massive queue. Getting beyond a joke. Walk down, across the bridge - nope it's a motorway. Google to the rescue - navigated through the park & stumbled on Mr Big - a food shack. Admittedly the menu was in Russian but Google translated enough or so we thought. Ordered BBQ chicken and minty lemonade. 6 minute wait & I was presented with wraps yes but black. Surely it wasn't burned. Turns out the wrap was black - didn't taste any different to me but Liz wasn't having it. 2 wraps for me. A little walk around the stadium & then back via the supermarket for something a little more traditional.Read more