Russia

Last week, I went to Moscow for a short 3 day trip: The goal was to bring back the level of business I was doing in Russia in 2005 during my last trip. In retrospect, I should have gone back sooner.

Moscow has really changed: the city is beautiful but unfortunately it was not designed for the number of cars present today. Difficult to travel without traffic jams despite the beautiful sunny and dry weather, and although the cold temperature was terrible for me (between minus 13 and minus 20 Celsius), fortunately we were not often outside, just the time to find a restaurant or go to the subway station.

The subway was a real surprise: it was packed, yet very clean, nothing to do with the one in Paris or New York. There were no rats, no graffiti, no aggression, fur coats can be worn safely!

I hope that our business meetings will be fruitful, but at least, we had a warm and attentive welcome: we were received everywhere with smiles, knowing that many women are in the world of wine. Women at work, limits aggressiveness even if corporate culture is geared towards performance, wine is popular and sommeliers in restaurants are curious and enthusiastic, able to simply say “I love it, it is very good” or “It’s not my style, too light”, so it was a pleasure to work during this visit in Moscow.

Thursday, I will be leaving for Stockholm, Sweden, returning Saturday. Long live the North.