2 Weeks in Moscow: From High to Low and Back Again

Moscow is a furnace. The distinctive European heat builds up across the plains from mild warmth first thing in the morning, through to a stifling humid blanket during the middle of the day, then strengthening blasts of hot wind kick-in during the afternoon until the thunderstorms of early evening, and even then there is little release from the humidity that stokes the embers of the dying day and makes the night sticky and uncomfortable. This has been constant for the past week or so, sucking the energy

from us and even despite our best efforts, has sent us scurrying back to the apartment for mid-afternoon naps, or into bars to wait out the storms, and whilst we have started to acclimatise to it, we are nowhere near being as used to it as the local Muscovites are. I had forgotten what a central European summer was like....

After the euphoria of the England win over Columbia we need to prepare ourselves for the upcoming Quarterfinals game with Sweden, and we decided to head to the Moscow Fan Fest to enjoy the experience. We got there in the sunshine and rode out the inevitable rain and bag ourselves a prime spot with a table close to

one of the giant screens with high hopes and fingers crossed.. We needn’t have worried, England cruised past the Swedes with ease and before we knew it we were celebrating England making it to a World Cup Semi-final for the first time in 28 years, more time that both Yates & I had been doing these World Cup trips, and to cap it off, we had tickets to the game.

At this point in the competition, we had a couple of days with no matches so we plotted out our sightseeing schedule to fill in the gaps. We spent an afternoon doing a self-guided tour of the Moscow underground which is quite rightly described as ‘the most beautiful underground in the World’, which is no idle boast with some of the stations and platforms are genuine works-of-art. We also had the chance to once again celebrate my birthday on this

trip as we invariably do every four years, this time clocking over to 57 years young and what better way to celebrate such an auspicious occasion than by visiting a Soviet Cold War era bunker situated 65m below the streets of Moscow. It was an impressive complex, with 18 flights of stairs to get down to 4 massive underground tunnels converted into a cold war command centre, 2 of which are still

accessible, 1 being a museum and a recreation of

how the bunker would be used, and the other into a bar & nightclub. Suffice to say, we spent a couple of hours in a bar before heading down to Bunker-42, and then a couple of hours drinking White Russians in the bar after the tour. Just to round of the day, there was a cake, with candles, waiting for me when we returned to the apartment and several vodka shots, most of which got snorted through my nose.... Don’t ask...

We were soon back into Football mode with the Quarterfinals kicking off, and our hardest decision was where we were going to watch them, lucky there are plenty of bars and restaurants within a few minutes of our Lomomovsky Prospect apartment. The day of the England semi-final was spent walking around Gorky Park, (a far cry from what is depicted in most films), eating at a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant and then a slow and leisurely walk along the Moscow River towards Sparrow Hills and the Luzhniki Stadium.  There was a good buzz around the area and we found a Russin place for the pre-match dinner where we shared the garden patio with fans from England, Croatia and a heap of others besides. 

We arrived early at the stadium, gathered some beers and marched up the 6 levels of stairs to our seats in the Gods. I was a lot calmer about this game than I had been the Columbia game, and this sense of calm soon turned into an air of expectancy when Tripper scored in the 5^th minute of the game, regardless of the little voice in my head say “they score too early”. We played well in the first half and had chances to

increase our lead, but as the half wore on, Croatia got a bigger foothold in the game. The Second half was terrible, England spent far too much time back-passing to the keeper and sitting back and inviting pressure upon themselves that it was kind of inevitable that the Croatian pressure would bear fruit and they drew in the 61^st minute. England clung on for the last half an hour and the game went to extra time, and I could tell that they had run out of imagination as the Croats got stronger and stronger. Then in the 2^nd half of Extra time came the 2^nd Croatian goal and from that point on it was all over for England, they just didn’t have the creativity or imagination needed to prise open the Croatian defense. Well Done Croatia, and hard luck England. Even though they lost we stayed to celebrate their hearty display and when all is said and done, England did far better than most people expected and I for one was proud of their effort.

The next day was a write-off, we were all so very tired and drained from both the exertion of the previous day, the emotional highs & lows of the football, and the stifling heat & humidity, I don’t think we left the apartment until 5pm to search out some food. Feeling exceedingly slovenly and repentant, we resolved to go and see something the following day, regardless of the heat or the effort. We ended

up visiting a park called VDNKh, or Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva to give it it’s full name, mainly because I wanted to ride on the Monorail that they there. Once that slightly underwhelming achievement was done we wandered into VDNKh took in the spectacular buildings and displays and retreated to a shady bar for a solid 2 hours of ‘people-watching’ and the occasional beer.

The following day was the 3^rd/4^th play-off game between England & Belgium, and even though I can’t remember ever having watched this dead-rubber of a game in all my time watching World Cup football, I decided as it was England’s last chance to salvage a 3^rd place medal I thought we should give it a watch.

Before the Kick-off, Yates was off to the Moscow State Circus which is alarmingly close to the apartment, while Fiona & I went to Victory Park, created to celebrate what the Russians call the’1941-1945 Great Patriotic War’. We met up in our local bar to watch the game and were not too disheartened by the lackluster result; at least we had a couple of beers to cheer us up. We decided to go to the same place to watch the final, all firmly supporting Croatia, and help to create a great atmosphere in the bar as we watched the closing ceremony and the kick-off. The game had a bit of everything in it, from a dodgy free kick, and VAR penalty, a howler from the French keeper,  (he plays for Tottenham you know...?), and

a couple of stunning goals from the French to seal the deal. Overall the French probably deserved it, and the Croatians finally ran out of energy, and apart from the massive thunderstorm during the presentations, that was it for another World Cup. In my mind, this had been the best World Cup ever, both from the perspective of the quality of the Football, but also for the excellent organisation and the first class venues, and the warmth and friendliness of the Russian people. Russia should be very proud of what they have done in the last month.

The last couple of days have been back into the hardcore sightseeing, trying to get to see all those things that you thought you had ages to get to, only to realise that there was only 3 days left to cram them all in, plus pack and get ready for the slow return to New Zealand for us, and back to Colorado for Yates.  Yesterday we rode the Metro back to Gorky park for another slap-up lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant we had found last week on our travels, and we also went to a ‘Banksy’ exhibition at Moscow’s central  art centre just along the river, which Fiona & I really

enjoyed, and I think Yates liked too. Today we braved the excessive heat and the crush of the Metro to go back to the centre of the city to visit the Kremlin and to walk in the spectacular grounds and visit the stunning buildings in Cathedral Square. Moscow has an awful lot to offer its visitors, and like St. Petersburg before it, Moscow has blown us away with its beauty, its heritage, and its friendly openness. So to paraphrase the words of the great philosopher, Ferris Bueller, “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend it”.

One Week in Moscow: It’s Not What I Thought It Was.

One Week in Moscow: It’s Not What I Thought It Was.

We arrived in Moscow in a heat wave, the mercury pushing 35 degrees, the deceptively pale sunshine and sparse clouds trapping a ferocious heat, this is what greeted us as we arrived at the Moscow train terminus.  For 30 minutes or so my cell phone would not allow me to connect to Uber for some reason to book a car and with the heat and a thin trickle of sweat running down my back, caused my patience to reach its limit and we headed to the underground with all our bags and stuff. I had switched into mission mode and nothing was now going to stop me making to our recently booked apartment, not the heat, the language barrier, not the metro system, not my dodgy knee, not my......, at this point Fiona distracted me with some menial task and Yates wanted me to look up some FIFA stuff, and now I have lost my flow.... Suffice to say, it was a bit of an effort making it from the station to our apartment, and it was hot...

Our 6th Floor apartment was basic but functional with plenty of space for our small party of 5, soon to be 6, to spread out over its 7 rooms. I get the impression that the host has not rented the place out much and certainly not for up to 8 people, as there is not enough cutlery or plates for everyone, but we are a resourceful bunch and it really is not a problem. The great thing about our the place however is the great location once again, just 5

minutes from the 'Univeristet' Metro station and only 2 stops from the Luhzniki Stadium, a functioning lift, a regulation 24 hour mini-supermarket that seem to be built into the ground floor of every apartment complex, a large booze store next door, probably 10 eateries and even a 20-tap Craft Beer bar with a big screen TV within 10 minutes walking distance,..... SCORE..!! The downside to the apartment was that it did not have a TV, and was half-an-hour away from where Yates’s Moms crew were based, having booked somewhere to be close to where our original apartment was going to be, (I’m still sending out bad Karma vibes to a  certain Russian mongrel..!!).

Fiona & I were knackered after the long day of travel and left Yates, David & Emily to backtrack to their Mom’s place that first night, while we investigated what the local area had to offer. Just behind the Metro station we discovered a very American style Wings place called Buffalo’s stuffed to the gills with a Projector and big-screen TV’s and for me it was love-at-first-bite, so much so that we ate there for the first 4 nights in a row in Moscow, way to sample the local culture eh..? For the last of the Group Stage games it was just too convenient to be able to hit the Craft

Beer bar, called “Kraft Brothers” to watch the early game with a few pints, and then swap over to Buffalo’s for a table and good comfort food to watch the second game, followed by a short walk back to the apartment for some sleep. I can, however, attest to the fact that you can have too much of a good thing or at least my digestive system can but I am looking forward to going there again at least once more to enjoy their excellent food.

We had a day of sightseeing in and around Red Square in 36-degree heat which was as much an endurance test as it was fun, and if Yates’s Mom can do it with a smile on her face and spring in her step whilst in her mid-seventies then there is no reason I shouldn’t.  But bloody hell it was hot through, but even an hour or so in a queue to get into St.Basil’s Cathedral and eating lunch in the hottest cafe this side of Hades, was not enough to spoil what was still a great day out. Red Square looked smaller to

what I imagined and in comparison to what I have seen on TV, it looks nowhere near as imposing without the missile launchers and the platoons of goose-stepping soldiers.  I guess being ringed by high-end fashion stores and up-market restaurants & hotels, having a FIFA fan zone covering half of it with kids playing games and having a great time, and thousands of other tourists milling around made it seem less intimidating. The buildings around the centre of the city looked either very beautiful in a classical European architectural style or super modern and slick, Moscow was certainly not turning living up to its cold war billing.

We took in the first of our 3 World Cup matches in Moscow with a trip to the Luhzniki Stadium to watch our Russian Hosts play Spain in a ‘Round of 16’ match, and what a game that turned out to be. The very un-fancied Russians would surely be handed a footballing masterclass from the 2010 World Cup winners, but someone wasn’t reading the script, and through some stout defense on the part of the Russians and some lackluster play on the part of the Spanish, we found ourselves going into extra time and eventually at penalties. The Russian goalkeeper performed some personal heroics and before we knew it the Spanish were vanquished and the stadium erupted as the home crowd celebrated an unbelievable win. Well done Russia. 

Our second match in Moscow was our opportunity to watch England play Colombia at the Spartak Stadium, on the outskirts of the North Western part of the city. Fiona & I broke away from the rest of our group and headed out on our own for an afternoon walking through the Sevemoy Tushino park alongside the Moscow canal a few stops further out the where the match was being played. We had a lovely walk by the water and even had a tour of a Russian Submarine at a small museum in the park, then heading to a restaurant to have dinner before heading towards the Stadium

for the 9pm kick-off.  The rest of the game will be remembered as the time England finally won a World Cup game on penalties and was a deeply emotional night for me and probably millions of other England fans that have had to endure the humiliation of losing on penalties for the past 20-30 years. Suffice to say that this was one of the greatest World Cup moments for me, and maybe I’ll write a separate post to cover it.

The next day was lost to the seas of time. Not having gotten back to the apartment until 2am, and still been buzzing with the excitement of the game, I probably didn’t get to sleep until 4am, and therefore Fiona & I slept in late, and even when we did get up to search out some food, most of us just went back to napping for the rest of the day. With no football for 2 days, catching up on our sleep and rest seemed like a good idea. Yates was off to the airport for the umpteenth time to make sure his Mom, Shelly & Dick got away safely on their flight back to the USA. We had said our goodbyes to them at the end of the game last night, and it was awesome having them spend some time with us in our mad, loud, crazy, frantic, tiring but ultimately unique, World Cup experience, something that both they and us will never forget.

Yesterday, however, feeling rejuvenated and still on-top-of-the-world, we decided to get a hard day's worth of sight-seeing done in the absence of any games to see. David & Tony had left by now, and it was just myself, Fiona, Yates, and Emily left and we decided as it looked like being a nice enough day to take in a boat cruise along the Moscow river. It was stunning, and I

am becoming a great believer that taking a slow trip down a long river is one of the best ways to see parts of a city, assuming it has a river of course. We managed to catch a few sights we had not seen before from the luxury of the top deck of a cruise boat, no walking, no metro’s, no crowds just us and a few others tourists letting the

sights float by. After lunch we went to the Federation Tower, a very modern skyscraper in the heart of the new Moscow business district, to visit the ‘Panorama 360’ observation deck to see what the city looked like from the 89th floor. I can report that Moscow looks as surprising from above as it does from street level, with wide swathes of green space and long wooded areas spreading out in all directions from the city centre, making it one of the prettiest cities I have seen for a long time. We stayed up in the rarified atmosphere for an hour or so, enjoying both the view and free ice cream before heading back to the apartment for the now ritualised pre-dinner

napping. As it was Emily’s last night with us we let her choose what she wanted to eat and we ended up in a very nice high-end Italian restaurant about 15 minutes away. Whilst the service was erratic, the food was great and we all ultimately left feeling full and happy for our short walk home.

Moscow has been surprising for me, much like the rest of Russia that we have seen. It is as cultured and as beautiful a city as any of the European capitals, and as vibrant and modern as the USA or anywhere else I

could think of, maybe even more so. It appears that the world has become a very small place in the past 20 years and the homogeneous

shopping centres and the global retail and food chains have invaded, winning the consumerist war in every place it touches. That has allowed Moscow to move away from its austere Soviet past to become just another cosmopolitan world city, which is, on one hand, good, and on the other, not so good. Anyway, I’m off to get some chicken wings and watch some more football...

Taking the Good with the Bad, and hoping for Karma

Taking the Good with the Bad, and hoping for Karma: World Cup 2018 Russia

I’m writing this sitting on a high-speed train travelling at up to 220kph between St. Petersburg and Moscow, sipping on a Leffe Bruin beer after having a tasty light breakfast, this is the way to travel for sure. Today marks the day when we start the second part of our Russian World Cup odyssey by taking up residence in Moscow for the final stages of the competition.

The past week in St.Petersburg has been a continuation of the previous couple of weeks, with back-to-back football, either on the TV or lives at the stadium. We have been lucky to see some great games and soak-in the full World Cup experience, having seen Brazil just about squeeze past Costa Rica with 2 goals in injury time, and Argentina narrowly

defeat Nigeria to progress to the next round. I have also seen more than my fair share of games on TV, including England’s demolition of Panama, Germanys exit at the hands of the Swedes, and of course England less than convincing display against Belgium in a game that really didn’t mean much. However, like many things in life, there is nearly always a silver lining to every cloud, and our silver-lining is that England finishing second in the group mean that we will get to attend the Columbia v England Group of 16 match next week, so it’s not all bad.

In between times, Yates has been occupied acting as a tour guide and chaperone to his family that have arrived in the past week. I think Yates has probably spent more time at the airport in St.Petersburg than at the football stadium, either picking people up, dropping people of, or picking up missing bags, I

hope his family appreciates the hard work he has put in. Fiona & I have been left to our own devices and have had a wonderfully relaxed time touring the city and its many sites, attractions and parks, (and craft beer bars, Thanks Fiona). It really has been a great time for us.

Having the luxury of spending 3 weeks in the city, I think we have all found time to fall in love with St.Petersburg which is a city of truly splendid beauty & grandeur that genuinely rivals Rome, Paris or Barcelona. This may mean that Moscow may pale in comparison, but you never know, Russia has surprised us at every turn so far. I don’t know what I expected of Russia, but it has excelled in every way possible, the people are exceeding helpful  and nice, (exception ahead), the food and drink has been the equal of anywhere else I have traveled, and certainly

St.Petersburg was as far from the drab & dower perception of Russian cities as I can imagine. It just goes to show that you should never trust the media whose agenda is to downplay Russia at every opportunity or make the mistake of assuming that the country and people are reflective of the presiding regime. Russia is not Putin, and Putin is not Russia...! I can’t urge you more to visit this country and its people, it will change the way you see the world.

However, there is always a dark side to every bright side, and even though everyone we have met on our travels has been a credit to their country, there will always be an exception, and in this case, it is the AirBnB host we booked with for our Moscow apartment. Two days before we were due to arrive he contacted me to tell me he was cancelling our booking which had been in place for over a year, as

he had some guests in the apartment that were prepared to pay far more than we had previously agreed. This arse-munch was prepared to break our agreement for a short-term gain and leave us in the lurch to try and find accommodation for 8 people in Moscow during the final 2 weeks of the World Cup. Decency prevents me from using the language this sort of behavior deserves, but suffice to say that this guy should be ashamed of himself and that has done a massive disservice to his fellow Russians. Let’s hope that Karma gets this Knob-Jockey...!!!

The good news is that AirBnB customer support came to the rescue, helping us find alternative accommodation at short notice, and even helped with making up the difference in the cost, so hopefully, within the next couple of hours, we will see what our new apartment is like.

We have 3 more matches to

attend over the next 2 weeks, and we are now located conveniently close to the Moscow Fan Fest to be able to pick and choose which games to watch

there. Yates’s family are with us right now, but in a week or so it will just be me, Fiona and Yates, so we need to make the most the time we have left together. Let’s hope that Moscow is as friendly & inviting as St.Petersburg has been.... 

The Thick of It: World Cup 2018 Russia

The Thick of It: World Cup 2018 Russia

As anyone would know who has read my World Cup Blogs before or ever attended a World Cup Tournament as a fan of football, the group stages are a gruelling marathon of endless football games following on one after another, after another, until you almost can’t remember what you have seen, when you saw it or where... Well, we are back in the thick of it again, scheduling our time around matches we are attending, games we want to see on TV, and the

occasional meal or two, and personally, I love it... I don’t love the ever-increasing tiredness or the semi-arduous treks out to the stadiums, or the boring 1-nil games from teams that should do better, I love that, for 6 weeks in June & July every 4 years, I am encompassed in the buzz of it all and involved in an event being watched by more than half the population of the world. Obviously the time-off, the travel, and the immersion into a different country, culture & cuisine help fuel the passion, without the high drama that is World Cup football, you could find yourself asking yourself whether it was really worth the hassle....

Over the first week of the World Cup we have attended our first 2 matches at the Saint Petersburg

Stadium; the first a slightly laboured win for Iran over Morocco involving an own goal in the last minute of injury time; the second a magnificent 3-1 victory for the World cup Hosts Russia over Egypt on a cold, wet blustery evening where the only thing keeping us warm was the thrill of the game itself. In between those 2 matches, I have personally seen at least part of every other game except for the 2 games that were being played while we were in

transit to the Stadium, which by my calculation is at least 16 games on TV, so no one can question my dedication when it comes to the World Cup, right? Whilst Yates has been busy with friends & family, Fiona & I have spent some quality time together, between games obviously, and have tried to chill-out as much as possible around this gorgeous city of St.Petersburg.  Yates & I did manage one night of debauched drinking when we met a couple of Australians at a bar during the Germany v Mexico game, that became an endless round of vodka shots and verbal abuse, for which I paid handsomely in the hang-over stakes, but other than that it has been quite civilised.

As we enter week two of the tournament there is little relief in sight in the short term... We are off to watch Brazil v Costa Rica tomorrow to be followed by Argentina v Nigeria next Tuesday, and in between those matches we need to be in a position to watch both the England & Germany games and many others coming up over the same period. It’s always like this in the group stages, thank God that it slows down a touch once we get to the knock-out stages, by then we will have transferred to Moscow and have a whole lot of new sightseeing to fill in the gaps between games. 

Wish us luck....

Watch out Russia, Here We Come: World Cup 2018 Russia

Watch out Russia, Here We Come

The alarm woke us at 3:30am and within 30 minutes we were checked-out of our hotel and half-way across the road to the departure lounge ready to start the 1st leg of what would be a 24-hour journey to the Northern hemisphere. Check-in was smooth and efficient and before we knew it we were boarding the A380 aircraft and settling down for the 14-hour journey to Dubai. 

I love planes and flying, there is always a frisson of excitement and adventure whenever I get to do it and as far as I am concerned the longer the flight the better, although Fiona disagrees. This time I plugged in my noise canceling headphone, shut out the drone of the engines and the snoring of nearby passengers and managed to watch 5 movies and grab a few minutes of shut-eye before we arrived at our roasting-hot connection in Dubai. Our boarding time for St. Petersburg was less than 2 hours so by the time we had gone through security again and found the gate, we really only had just about enough time to check our  Facebook & Instagram before boarding started all over again. The half-empty flight to St. Petersburg was a leisurely 6 hours jump, (only 1 movie this time), Fiona got a whole row of seats to sleep in and I managed to get a couple of hours sleep before we were touching down in the Russian Federation for the first time ever. 

Everything went like clockwork again, straight through immigration with no issues at all and just a short wait outside the airport for a free shuttle to take us to our hotel for the evening. We were so tired and jet-lagged, our bodies felt like it was the middle of the night but it was only early evening, we only had time for a quick cup-of-tea before we both fell into a deep sleep for about 12 hours.

We awoke somewhat refreshed and had a leisurely breakfast before we got back on the shuttle to the airport where we would be meeting Yates off of his flight from Zurich. He arrived on time and was soon through immigration & customs, he found us easily in the terminal, and within an hour we were in an Uber heading into the heart of St. Petersburg. Everything had been going so well to this point....., what could possibly go go wrong..?

Firstly, I had the wrong address for our AirBnB apartment and got dropped off on a nearby street but just not the right one. Fully loaded up with all of our bags, (and remember Yates doesn’t do ‘travelling light’, he has as much baggage for himself as Fiona & I did between us), we wandered aimlessly up and down the street trying in vain to find the entrance to an apartment building that wasn’t there.  Phones out, Google maps open, checking email, once, twice, and the AirBnB app, and finally, I see my mistake and we have drag our increasingly heavy baggage around the block to the correct street and find the missing doorway.... Phew..., found it. We get to the 5th floor and knock on what I think is the right door, no answer.... I check again and see I am knocking on the wrong door, and start knocking on the right door,... still no answer...!! We pressed bells, knocked loudly, looked for keys under mats, still nothing. Phones out again, this time to call the hosts contact number, no answer.... 

For about 45 minutes we were sitting forlornly at the top of a stairway, the faint whiff of cat piss lingering in the air, wondering if we were going to have to sleep there for the night. Yates finally had enough and contacted AirBnB directly who told us to go to a local coffee shop for an hour while they chased the host down to get us into the apartment.  "Sod the coffee" I went straight for a beer while we waited around the corner in the quaintly named "Clean Plates Society" cafe, having stilted conversations with a CSR on a different continent, who finally managed to contact someone who could only speak Russian and then had to find someone to translate. By the time it was sorted out I was both struggling with my jet-lagged and slightly pissed mind as we made it into the apartment, only to find that the cleaner was there and would need 3 hours to prepare the place for us... Grrrrr..... Well, at least we could drop our bags off and head around the corner to a craft beer bar and enjoy a few more beers while we waited....  7 hours later than expected, we finally took up residence in our 5th-floor apartment in the historic centre of St. Petersburg.... It had been a very long and tiring day....

Now there is something I need to warn people about who may find themselves in St. Petersburg in early summer, the sun doesn’t set until around 10:30pm and even at that time, it is not what you would call ‘dark’. However, that’s not what I am warning you about, the warning is that the sun rises at about 3:30am, and when I say rises, it comes up like a rocket and is as bright as midday by 4:00am... We awoke the next morning to bright sunshine in a clear blue sky streaming through our curtain-less windows, (huh?), thinking it must be at least 10:00am only to find it was only 4:00am. Luckily we still had our eye masks from our recent flights which we hastily put on, but even so, it was hard to get back to sleep. Even now, a week later, it has been hard not to wake up ridiculously early, which was not helped by our massive jet lag.... Oh well, first world problems I suppose...

Since we arrived we have been finding our feet in St. Petersburg which is a remarkably beautiful and strikingly cosmopolitan city, the equal of London, Rome or Paris, with a cool vibe and a growing buzz of excitement around the start of the World Cup. Staying in the city over a week before our first live game has given us some time to first overcome the jet lag, but also to get our bearing and to see some of what this great city has to offer. If you like stunning imperial 18th century architecture, a palace on every corner, heaps of world-class museums and charming tree-lined streets leading to large open squares or parks, or stumbling across the occasion canal, then St. Petersburg is the place for you.  We have visited many of the recommended tourist sites, done a guided canal trip around the city, visited the world famous State Hermitage Museum, and found some great restaurants, (Russian, Indian, Irish, Georgian & Uzbek, American, so far), and a oddly large number of craft beer bars....

This has been over 3 years in the making to get to this point and we can’t wait for the World Cup to kick off tomorrow. We have a table booked at a favourite bar to watch the opening game between Russia & Saudi Arabia and on Friday we are off to see our first live game of this tournament, the ‘high voltage and potentially electrifying’ fixture between Iran and Morocco at the St. Petersburg Stadium. If you find yourself watching this game keep an eye out for us, we will be the only ones waving the New Zealand flag...