A La Russe

I've wandered into Maison Paul, a downtown Moscow coffee bar and bakery. In the twenty years or so since the iron curtain fell (or maybe it was just pulled back) Russia has invited the world in. Where once the upper classes spoke French as a status symbol today they flock into French (and American) themed cafe's. The grocery stores stock borscht and caviar and smoked fish of every variety but the streets are full of frothy lattes (even in French cafe's the coffee is "Italian"),  bagette sandwiches, and croissants.

I'm still searching for my stroganoff and a glimpse of what I though Russia would be, but for now the coffee is pretty darned good.