All travellers to Moscow must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when the scaffolding was removed from this building. It means that the opening of the Moscow Ritz-Carlton is not too far away! And since Moscow suffers such a massive shortage of prohibitively expensive accommodation options this hotel will really fill a gaping hole in the market. Sarcasm aside, the new Ritz-Carlton does seem destined to become the hotel of choice for those to whom money is no object. It will be interesting to see the price per night there. My guess is around $800 for a standard room...

It's the people. Mainly that there's too many of them. Although the quality often leaves much to be desired as well. I remember once reading that the "far-sighted" metro planners made the platforms twice as long as the original trains because they knew that one day there would be many more people using the system. Well, it was a shame they weren't a little more far-sighted because the Moscow metro has reached capacity. As an example, centre bound trains on the south green line in the mornings are almost impossible to board from Kantemirovskaya onwards, even though they come as often as every 30 seconds. You literally have to put your shoulder into the people and push to force your way on. The 'people's palaces' are now no better than overcrowded farmyards running stinking, stuffy cattle trains.

And the question is, where do they go from here? The frequency definitely can't be increased. The only option would be to extend the platforms and who knows if that would even be possible with many of the existing stations or how long it would take to do it. How would the system have coped if Moscow had won the Olympics? This post might upset a few travelers who have marveled at the pretty decorations and been surprised by the efficiency of the system. But ride the metro every day and then see how wonderful you think the little statues at Ploshchad Revolutsii are.

Anyone interested in tennis, Marat Safin or life in Moscow should check out the blog he's writing for www.atptennis.com this week while he plays in the Kremlin Cup. Besides describing Moscow as 'paradise' he seems to enjoy name-dropping all the expensive places he goes to eat and drink. Yeah, Moscow probably would be paradise if you had his money...

You can now rent apartments in Ekaterinburg short-term through Way to Russia. There are currently 7 options to choose from starting at $80 per night with more apartments to come. The cheapest decent double room in a Ekaterinburg hotel (excluding the awful budget options) costs $120, which makes the apartments a great alternative.

Click here to see what's on offer.