Grand central (and not so central) stations

Moscow, Russia

Is it a ballroom? Is it a palace? No, it's a Moscow subway station. To serve a secondary purpose as bomb shelters, stations in Moscow were built hundreds of metres below ground-level. However, commuters are rewarded for the long, long, long escalator ride down with the unique designs of Moscow's Metro stations.

While the station pictured looks to be for first class passengers only, other stations celebrate the glories of revolution, the proletariat, or just a good old-fashioned cult (Lenin). Alas, such architecture can be found solely in subterranean Moscow.

One word: Façade.

It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

Moscow, Russia

They say that Moscow is a country within a country. But there's more: within Moscow itself there is often an era within an era within an era.

Standing inside the Kremlin, it is impossible not to notice the juxtaposition of the Kremlin tower, the Soviet star, and the gigantic Mercedes Benz logo, which is perched on a building in the background.

It is combination that defies logic but, in Russia, it is totally natural.

One word: incongruous.