Why you want to go to Moscow now

In 6 questions and answers

Moscow is a must. I am a vacation recidivist. I always go back to the place where I have a good time, resulting in never going to another place. And that's nice, because there is more in the world than Ibiza, New York, Paris and Puglia. Two days in Moscow feels like two weeks. I have been fed (in mind and belly), I have shopped, I am enlightened and inspired. And I have a rare hangover.

Let's talk about the men in Moscow, how are they?

Well. Let me put it this way: I couldn't find a handsome Russian. It's more the type ‘can you plaster my wall’ than the sharp dressed banker boy. They must be out there, it's a big country after all, but I haven't seen them.

Yes, tell me. How big is the country actually?

It has 11 time zones just to name one thing. It is the largest country in the world and twice the size of Canada, which is also not exactly small. However, it is sparsely populated, as they rank ninth in terms of population. About 150 million people live in Russia. If you ever get the question in Trivial Pursuit about which countries border Russia, you can smoothly answer: ‘Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea.’

How is the service? I often think of Russians as a bit clumsy types.

Go rinse your mouth with vodka I mean water, because you don't know what you're saying. Before your little butt has even touched the seat of the chair, someone walks over with a stool for your bag. And when I took off my blazer, a standing clothes hanger was parked next to me where my jacket was hung. Really insane.

And are they up for a party?

You could say that. It was also the second night of vodka here, vodka there. I suddenly thought it was a great idea to go to a karaoke bar with Maan. And there was vodka. And a hookah. And Maan. And Kim Feenstra. And us. That was quite a fun moment. Everyone was drinking vodka and suddenly you hear Maan start singing ‘Halo’. I can tell you: something definitely happened in that room. And then Kim Feenstra went to dance on stage. And I kept throwing confetti over it. The bill was 300 euros, but the boss was so delighted with our presence that the receipt was torn up, Kim and Maan both got a bucket of flowers, and I showed the taxi driver Maan's audition for The Voice on the way back.

And did you sniff some culture?

Certainly, what do you think? We got a tour of Red Square (which is called red because red also means ‘beautiful’ in Russian, has nothing to do with communism), we walked over the Kremlin (which means ‘fort’ and is 27 hectares large, I really didn't know that) and visited the museum The Armoury Chamber, dined at the Bolshoi (which simply means ‘big’) and tasted caviar and champagne. And vodka of course. Hence the hangover. So, now the circle is complete.