When I visited the city last year in spring, I already stated that Moscow is the new London. Now, I went again and I can truly say that Moscow is one of my favorite European capital cities. The FIFA Worldcup, was the latest opportunity to tidy up and internationalise. Even I am not a soccer enthusiast, I appreciate it as another piece in brining the city again steps forward. What I really like about Moscow is the rich cultural life. We strolled through museums and watched La Boheme in the Bolshoi. This opera is for me like the "Pizza Margarita of performances" - in the sense that you can use it very well to compare performance quality across geographies. The Bolshoi was outstanding and far ahead of the Opèra Garnier (and most others). This did not surprise me, but I enjoy it when institutions live up to their reputation. But also just walking in the streets in inner Moscow is a real pleasure. People are very friendly and polite, and you find quite a number of outstanding characters. I also had the chance to see the amazing campus of Moscow School of Management Skolkovo. Really impressive, but I could not help estimating payback periods for this investment with a smile.

Moscow's south bank of the river. These buildings were once up for demolition. But luckily this undertaking was stopped and now this area is a lively and attractive part of town.

Staircase to the upper floor in the Maxim Gorky House. It does not appear to be such a bad life as a working class hero.

Milk ice cream with chocolate coating. No reason for Soviet nostalgia, but really nice. We had a very similar one in the Waldschwimmbad Neuwied (Westerwald) in the 70s. It was the only one I could afford back then, on a week's pocket money.