Lights of Arbat

A rainy afternoon can be spent as a tourist around Arbat. There is actually two streets with similar names but they look quite different from each other. Ulitsa Arbat (ulitsa = street) is just for pedestrians and the spirit reminds of the good old times in Moscow. Here you can find souvenirs shops, cafes, street musicians and a street market with traditional Russian winter hats or matrushka dolls. Hard Rock Cafe is also here and some time ago Starbucks opened their cafe too. However, this is not the place to walk around with Rubles in your back pocket (not that it is a good idea anywhere in Moscow), there might be some pickpockets... Just behind the corner (close to Arbatskaya metro station) can be found soviet style wide street called Novyi Arbat. This highway has six lanes but quite often there is still traffic jams. Pedestrian areas on both sides of the street are wide too and many shops, offices and bling-bling casinos are located here. Lights are not to be saved, it kind of looks interesting & funny. I can tell you this would never be possible in Finland (there is so many laws about everything you can do with public areas)!