But at Independence Day celebrations in May, as Georgia's emotional national anthem is sung for the first time in front of the gleaming glass dome, it's hard not to be impressed.

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In honour of this somewhat spurious anniversary 850 is hardly a magic number and 1147 was in fact merely the year when Moscow was first mentioned in a chronicle the mayor has put up gleaming new shopping malls, restored much of the city centre and driven out homeless beggars that lowered the tone.

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From the outside they look like a line of gleaming Airstream trailers, especially the dome car at the rear, whose rounded windows afford passengers traveling first class a glorious 360-degree view.

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