Strolling along the bank of the Moskva river this morning was like standing downwind from a smouldering campfire. The city is enveloped in smoke from the huge forest fires raging nearby. The heat isn’t helping: it has been 38 degrees or higher for over a month now.

There is definitely freedom of the press in Russia (only English language papers – see below): a local Moscow paper has the headline, “Putin Sang Songs While Russia Burned.” It seems that the fire departments are not as well equipped as they might be and Putin hasn’t helped much. In talking to some Russians, it appears that the Russian language papers are far from free: they are all state owned and the stories are all heavily scripted by the state.

The traffic in Moscow makes Toronto’s rush hour appear quite serene. There are striped cross-walks painted on the road, but cars don’t necessarily stop at them. The hapless pedestrian must step out into the road, fix the eyes of the driver of the oncoming smoke belching Lada with a steely stare and cross; any show of fear will be interpreted as a sign of weakness and it will be all over. Yes, Ladas are still made in Russia – you don’t have to wait 13 years for one now, though.

Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world: the standard room rate at the hotel where we are staying is $750 per night. Fortunately my wife is part Russian and thanks to her Russian Mafia connections, our rate is much less. Mercifully, it is one of the few air conditioned buildings in the city.

Photos later; I am typing this on a Kindle – it is painfully slow but it does appear to have Europe-wide free cell Internet access.

Here’s a view of the Moscva before the smoke really settled:

Here it is pretty thick:

Less thick here at Red Square: