Social Safari
by R. Couri Hay
Trip to Moscow, Russki October, 2005

Gordon Getty’s private 737 is an aircraft of rare beauty that few possess and many envy. It easily accommodated the 24 passengers bound for the former Soviet Union and the Russian National Orchestra’s nine-day patron trip.

The forward cabin is done in shades of cream and beige with leather couches and club chairs. There's a plush bedroom in the mid section that’s just like home if home were a wildly expensive jumbo jet done up by Anne (Mrs. Gordon) Getty, an interior decorator with impeccable taste. The aft cabin is a wood paneled library with antique maps on the walls and chocolate leather banquets. It’s the only way really.

Helen Yarmak

The price for this unique experience was a mere $25,000 per person, including essential extras like a sable-lined raincoats by Helen Yarmak for the ladies and cashmere lined trenchcoats by Loro Piana for the men. These are bare essentials for Russia in the fall as it’s chilly, with rains days and nights.

The perfect way to make your trip to Russia as smooth as their most expensive vodka, is to begin with knowing someone in the government to facilitate your entrance and exit. I was met by a trio of officials on the tarmac who swept me into a van and through a VIP immigration desk with no lines and no hassles and luggage appearing miraculously. I was then tucked into a black Mercedes with tinted windows for the forty-five minute trip to Moscow. My car had a crucial accessory for life in Russia, a little blue light on the roof that means you can do almost anything you want short of running people over. You can speed, go down one-way streets, park on the sidewalk — a must in Moscow — and break all the other rules that one needs to survive the hassles of bumper-to-bumper. President Putin is the only person in town who gets to travel by helicopter, so no matter how important you may be, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about the roadway congestion. Even the little blue light only takes you so far.

Soon I was arriving at the legendary National Hotel, Moscow’s best and most convenient address, and has been the home away from home for the world’s elite since 1903, including Vladimir Lenin, Meryl Streep, Laura Bush, Sophia Loren, Jacques Chirac, Daryl Hannah, Jack Nicholson, Gina Lollabrigida, Julio Iglesias, Steven Segal, and Quentin Tarantino.

Whisked to the top floor, all the nicest suites face the Kremlin, but being in front isn’t quite enough, you need to have a room that faces Mokhovaya Street, allowing you to look directly at St. Basil’s, the city’s most important landmark. The multicolored doomed turrets let you know you’re in Moscow, not London, Paris or Rome.

After the reception, we went off to the Japanese restaurant Seigi for a late lunch. I veered off my caviar diet and had fried oysters and a Kobe steak.

Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana

A dip in the heated pool, a massage in The National’s spa and a nap then revved me up for a night out. Off we raced to the opening of the Loro Piana store in the Luxury Village, where the crème de la crème of Moscow society was on hand to greet Sergio, Luisa, Pigi, and Laura Loro Piana. The store is extraordinary, large enough to accommodate all of the luxury brand’s spectacular collection of cashmere sweaters, beautifully tailored coats, fur blankets and all manner of sumptuous goods. Across the street, a Prada store is about to open; Armani, and Dolce and Gabana are also represented, as is virtually every top-drawer brand on the planet.

The Loro Pianas went to The National’s VIP club for dinner. I’d already been, so I skipped it. The RNO patrons went to the Café Puskin, which is a temple of Russian cuisine and culture, and the Bullocks took me to Mario’s, the Italian restaurant that has pasta comparable to the Hassler in Rome. It’s a popular late night power spot. After dinner, I went back to The National, I was pooped and Sunday was going to be another long day.

Janna Bullock and Gordon Getty Violinist Misha Simonyan

The following morning I had breakfast with Marianne Wyman, in The National’s main dining room, overlooking the Kremlin and St. Basil’s. Better views in Moscow do not exist. The buffet was wonderful with fresh squeezed juices, salmon, poached eggs, bacon, sausages fruits, cheeses, and native baked goods. Yummy. Mrs. Wyman is chairing the RNO gala along with Sophia Loren, Martha Stewart and Janna Bullock at Avery Fisher Hall on March 7th.

Sunday night was Gordon Getty’s big night. The work he composed, based on the Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” had its premiere in the Great Hall of Conservatory and received a standing ovation. After the concert, the Bullocks gave a dinner for 60 in Mr. Getty’s honor at Gorky, one of the new restaurants that was as good as it was grand. Bowls of caviar and bottles of Dom Perignon kicked things off. Russia’s top gypsy band Loiko played along with a wonderful native folk orchestra. Gordon sang a song to amuse the guests and a cake was brought out to celebrate the 21st birthday of Misha Simonyan, the internationally acclaimed violinist. The Bullocks were so impressed that they are bringing him to New York for a private musical in December.

On Monday, Gordon and the patrons flew off to St. Petersburg for a series of receptions and dinners in the city’s grandest palaces. Alas, I had to return to New York for the opening of the International Designer Showhouse at 9 East 67 Street, a house Janna Bullock had lent the to the American friends of the American Hospital of Paris Foundation who was the beneficiary of the Showhouse.

Das Vedanya! Xoxo Couri.