I'm not one for public transit. I didn't grow up in a big city and I sure as heck don't like dealing with subways and trains in New York or Philadelphia. But on Saturday, Moscow celebrated its City Day, and I navigated the Metro with extreme ease.

Craig Sesker and I had the chance to zip down to Red Square on Saturday afternoon. With the tournament not starting for another two days, this was really the only chance we could possibly get to see the Kremlin and all the history surrounding the capital of our former Cold War rival.

Moscow is a huge city, with over 10 million people and a cramped network of roads make nagivating the Metro a must. I didn't care for this initially, but with some questions answered from the concierge up front at the Hotel Cosmos, we were on our way.

We took the #6 down five stops, then got on the #1. Two stops later, we were walking around amidst a sea of Moscovites. The drawback -- Red Square itself was closed, but everything else around it was open. So after we strolled through the smelly, but drafty Metro station, we were staring right at the Kremlin.

Many people seem to confuse the spinning blooms of St. Basil's Cathedral with that of the Kremlin. And if you've enjoyed any video games from the 80's and 90's ... the theme from Tetris was stuck in my head all day.

We saw it from the far side of Red Square, then started to walk around the entire structure. I stopped to walk around the park and take some photos of some fountains, while Craig checked out what the price of a Big Mac was in Moscow. Actually, a #1 was about six bucks ... so that wasn't too bad at all. I snagged a few of his fries. Not exactly the same kinda taste.

There's just something to be said about good ol' American grease. You can't duplicate it. I've eaten at McDonalds in Amsterdam, London, Baku and a few fries in Moscow. None of those places can equate the taste of salty McDonalds fries because their grease just ain't up to snuff.

As we were about to leave, we ran into the U.S. crew of officials, Tom Clark, Rick Tucci, Zach Errett and Ardeshir Asgari, an Iranian-American who wrestled at Cal State-Fullerton and is coaching the one Nicaraguan entry.

Our day then got extended a few more hours, which included picking up some Russian nesting dolls, called Matruskha's. My former boss, Pat Tocci, has been bugging me about picking him up one (as has Tammy Tedesco) ... I added another to my collection, bartering down to a reasonable price for three dolls. So note to Pat and Tammy - you're taken care of.

Coming back, we run into some Canadian coaches, the same ones I was talking shop with the night prior, then Tech-Fall.com's Tony Rotundo. In this crowded Metro in the middle of one of the world's biggest cities, I see a short bald man with thick-framed glasses -- "Hey Rotundo!"

Sure enough, it's him. I mean, this guy is unmistakably easy to spot in any crowd, even if he is in a sea of very tall Russian women. Yes, they are tall here.

I snapped nearly 150 photos that I posted on my facebook site, I tried to add a few here to the Nation, but only about 40 showed up. We'll post some on our facebook site soon, too.

I've also found a small grocery store near the hotel. So buying $5 quarter-liters of Pepsi Light (they don't call it diet over here), is over. Now, I can get four liter-and-a-half bottles of water, two powerades, an iced tea and a Coke Light for 10 bucks.

Nice.

Oh, for those wondering how the room assignment is, I'm with our Polish everyman, Paulie Kieblesz (Kee-blitz). This guy can speak several languages and is as good of a negotiator as I've ever seen. This guy can literally get anything, anywhere.