After taking a plane from Krakow to Berlin, and waiting for 4 hours at the airport where the only food stand had closed for 2 hours, we finally made it to Moscow!
Fun fact about me: I spent most of my childhood in Volgograd, so in all my time in Russia I had never visited Moscow.
It's much better than I imagined! It is such a beautiful city! I can't wait till I see St. Petersburg, from what I hear, it's more glorious!
I got to meet some of Den den's family, there was vodka (but unfortunately no bears, sorry guys).
We first went to explore the park Kolomenskoye (Колoменское), which used to be a royal estate.
The architecture in the park (as well as all of Moscow) is just beautiful!
I don't remember if I've ever had Tarhun (Тархун) in my life, but oddly enough the green colour intrigued me. It isn't Kvas, but it is good.
Our second day we got to go and explore downtown! We took the beautiful metro that Moscow is very famous for (definitely a huge step-up from the Parisian, urine-smelling, metro's).
We were very happy to find that even Moscow has the "free-walking tours", so we signed up for it, and headed over. The girl who was presenting the tour was really lovely, recommending nice places to eat, things to see, and things to avoid. We of course ended up at the Red square, which was even more beautiful than I imagined!
The St. Basil's Church (Собор Василия Блаженного). Constructed by Ivan IV, and believed that he blinded the architects in fear of them constructions another more beautiful church. I think it cost about 10 euros (? +/- a couple of euros) to get inside, however we were told that the inside was small, and not as magnificent as the outside may make it seems. We were also on limited time in Moscow, so we decided to admire the church from the outside.
Inside the "GUM" (pronounced "Goom"). It's a huge department store, that used to be the main department store during the Soviet Union. It is very beautifully constructed inside and out! We also kept coming back here for Kvas and Plombir (пломбир). We would overhear some english-tourists really disliking the Kvas. When I was younger I remember I really hated Kvas, and this was a problem because walking around extremely hot Volgograd you'd get really thirsty... and guess unfortunately for me there were only "kvas" stands everywhere (which was cheaper than water at that time), so while my whole family would satisfy their thirst with 20 cents Kvas (obviously not "cents" in Russia, but it's less confusing this way), we would have to search around for water for me.
We were recommended a nice "cafe" or "cafeteria" (in Russian it's called a Столовоя)which was the best food ever! It was like home-cooked meals. So you walk through and get whatever you want. So Den den and I just relived our childhood but taking pretty much anything our eyes could see (salads, main course, soup, drinks, dessert...), and it came out to about 12CAD$ for both of us. Best and cheapest meal we had the whole trip (EXCEPT for the food we had at our families... nothing beats a home-cooked Russian meal, nothing!)
Fun fact #2: this statue refers to an old Russian tale of the gold-fish that would grant wishes. As any child that grew up in a Russian family, in Russia, I would have to memorize poems and stories. This was one of them, and I would always forget this one verse of it! I, unfortunately, no longer remember the tale, but I do remember how much I struggled with it, and hope my mom wouldn't notice the missing verse... she did... every time.
The State History Museum we went to. Learning some history.
We paid the really expensive amount (that I cannot remember any more... sorry) to go into the Kremlin.
The Tsar Cannon
The Tsar Bell... had some misfortune when it crashed during a fire.
Can you tell how awkward I am! Yeah... The chick who did it after me go into a lot of trouble by the police. I was too cool not to be noticed.
The Triumphal Arch of Moscow, built in order to commemorate the triumph over Napoleon.
Our last touristy spot of Moscow was the Поклoнная горa (Polkonaya Gora (?), I don't think there's an english name for it), which is part of the Victory Park, commemorate the end of The World Wars.
We then went to check out the War Museum. As usual Den den spent one million years there, extensively looking over every piece of equipment.
After a long day of walking around the Red Square, the metro, and then the park, I was exhausted.
But I figured I could at least have some fun, while Den den took pictures of everything, and I mean everything...
The lowest and longest metro in Moscow. Now as a human who is afraid of heights this wasn't my favourite part. I was actually freaking out quite a bit...
The fat kitty at Den den's families house.
Our last stop of the trip, and in Russia was my grandparents house in Volgograd (formerly known as Stalingrad, because Stalin thought he needed a city named after him). Unfortunately my first day was spent crying, as people would come over to tell me things about how much I was loved by my grandpa, how much he couldn't wait to see me, and how every one remembers how him and I would go for walks in the park together when I was younger. 9 days. That was all that was left of the trip before I made it home. 9 days. Unfortunately such is life.
But I was just happy to be with my amazing family! However... I then got some kind of flu, or sun stroke, or too-much-vodka-flu, that on the night of my first full day I woke up feeling very ill. I then got a fever, and couldn't keep anything down. This lasted for 4 days.... I was in Volgograd for 5 days.... You can imagine how disappointed I was with my body. On the fourth day I got the courage to go outside and show Den den all my childhood memories of where I used to play, where I would buy ice-cream, and where we used to go to pick fruits. We also went to our "Dacha" (дaча) so I could at least spend some time not sitting at home.
The good thing about me being so sick was that my grandmother was kept really busy by taking care of me, and keeping her mind off of other things.
We also got to go through all my mom's old 70-80's clothes, and got to look at hilarious baby pictures as a big family. It was even cooler to look at my grandmothers and grandfathers old photos of their childhood!
Sexy little me. I know, please come down on how sexy I am.
Our last day in Volgograd, my aunt had a lovely idea of taking us to see Mamayev Kurgan (Мамaев курган), considering our flight was later in the day, and we hadn't seen anything in Volgograd due to my mysterious flu.
What a bittersweet end to such an amazing time of travel. I will never forget any of these experiences, and I really cannot wait to go back. I miss everything about Russia and I look forward to many more visits to come!
P.S I apologize for the weird font changes... apparently when I write in Russian the keyboard gets all messed up.
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