4:30 pm Liza and I arrived in Russia and met up with her dad who took us to the hotel we would be staying in. People do not really speak English there...so I was glad to be with Liza, especially in Moscow. We took a 45 minute train into the city and another 30 minute subway ride and a 15 minute walk, basically Moscow is huge. There are wide boulevards, their subway system is very extensive (especially since it only costs roughly 1 USD to ride). Our hotel was located in probably what is an up and coming type of neighborhood since it was in a old chocolate factory and a lot of clubs and restaurants were also located there. It was hard to find, but we found it after a little bit of confusion.
Liza and I then dropped off our stuff in the room, which was litterally a double bed, dresser with a tv on top and then a private bathroom off to the left. Very tiny so we couldn't really spread out our stuff...though a lot of mine ended up at the foot of the bed since there was some space between there and the wall. But it suited our purposes for sleeping so that worked out. We went to dinner, which her dad treated me to as well! It was Ukrainian restuarant and all the staff had to dress up in "traditional" garb. I enjoyed the food, had some red berry drink (I forget the name...you can get it at IKEA), beet soup and meat dumplings. Definitely full after that.
As Moscow is 2 hours ahead of Western Europe, even though the time said it was later, it still felt earlier. Russia is fairly up there in the latitudes and it didn't really get to be twilight until after 11 pm and then would get light again early in the morning...this threw me off majorly so and I didn't really sleep well the entire week in Russia unfortunately. Plus both places I stayed in were really hot and stuffy.
Anyways, I still had a good time!! Sunday morning Liza and I took the subway to the end of the one of the northern lines where her grandfather lived. It used to be that he lived in a cottage where his apartment complex stands and there was just ponds and trees everywhere...wasn't even a part of Moscow. Eventually the city reached it and they torn down his cottage and put him in an apartment. Now there are talks to redo the apartment complex, but he really doesn't want to have to deal with moving everything again. He was a very nice grandfather I would say, though I couldn't not understand him as he only spoke Russian! They let me use his computer so that I could book a hostel in St. Petersburg and check my e-mail. Then he made me oatmeal, yum!
Liza's dad, Liza and I went back into Moscow and walked around the area of the Red Square and St. Basil's Church. Took an obligatory photo of me throwing a coin over my shoulder at the center of this compass type thing in the ground and made a wish. These little old ladies come around right after you throw the coin and take them...so who knows how effective the wishes are, as said by Liza. We went on a boat down the river Moscow to a large park where once you walk up the hill offers a very nice view of the whole city. You can begin to see the area where they are building skyscrapers, called Moscow City, so probably will be the financial area of the city. Other than the ocassional "Stalin" building (this huge grand buildings that are fairly high and have a star on the top built under Stalin), the rest of the city is fairly low in height. There aren't many "old" buildings compared to Western European cities because (I was told) Moscow was burned down and a bunch of buildings were torn down and rebuilt. The city was built into circles with walls around, though really the only wall left is the Kremlin...the oldest part of the city with really only the churches left.
So after taking in the view, we walked back down to the subway and Liza and I went onto this pedestrian street that had a lot of shopping and souvenir shops and restaurants. We went to a Georgian restaurant, where it was decorated inside like a little village, which I thought very cute. We had some shiskabobs and bread, which was really good and of course had some vodka too...because when one is in Russia they must have some vodka. It was pretty terrible though since it was the cheapest on the menu...no more cheap vodka, blah. Went to a bar afterwards, which overlooked the river and so we could start to see twilight, though the sun took a very long time setting. Had this rose-flavored cocktail drink, which was very good...need to find it in the states.
Tuesday morning we got up and walked to the Kremlin to grab some breakfast, Liza a baked potato and me a crepe/pancake. We both had large glasses of orange juice that were really good! Then we went insid e the Kremlin and walked around and looked at all the churches, which were completely different than western churches so that was really cool. Unfortunately, there was rarely a sign in English (you could overhear some German or English tours), so I couldn't really read anything. When I get back I will just have to read up on all the places I went to so that I can better understand what I saw.
Then we walked back to the hotel, where I ended up staying and taking a much needed nap and chill time. Watched some tv and read too. Liza went out to meet up with her dad for the afternoon and get some sun by laying down in a park. Then she met up with me again so that we could go see a ballet in the Kremlin, which was a lot of fun. The ballet was Don Quixote...and as far as we could tell about a couple who wanted to marry, but the guy didn't have enough money. There was this older man and his sidekick that was all for the marriage though and eventually convinced the father of the girl that she should marry the younger poorer lover and not the older richer man he was trying to make her marry. We ended the night of course at the same bar on the river and had some tapas too.
Wednesday morning I packed up my things and Liza took me to the subway station to where I could get my train to the airport....a different one from the one I flew into. So I got to the airport fine and ate some breakfast and took a flight onto St. Petersburg while Liza stayed in Moscow another 2 days to spend more time with her grandfather.
At the moment I am in Duesseldorf, Germany...the past weekend I was in Hamburg with my friend Sarah Moser who I studied abroad in Freiburg with. Today I will be going down to Heidelberg to meet up with my high school exchange partner, Sinah, and her family and I will end the trip in Berlin to go to some museums/zoo/aquarium (still deciding) and some shopping! Then fly back to the States on Friday.
Liza and I then dropped off our stuff in the room, which was litterally a double bed, dresser with a tv on top and then a private bathroom off to the left. Very tiny so we couldn't really spread out our stuff...though a lot of mine ended up at the foot of the bed since there was some space between there and the wall. But it suited our purposes for sleeping so that worked out. We went to dinner, which her dad treated me to as well! It was Ukrainian restuarant and all the staff had to dress up in "traditional" garb. I enjoyed the food, had some red berry drink (I forget the name...you can get it at IKEA), beet soup and meat dumplings. Definitely full after that.
As Moscow is 2 hours ahead of Western Europe, even though the time said it was later, it still felt earlier. Russia is fairly up there in the latitudes and it didn't really get to be twilight until after 11 pm and then would get light again early in the morning...this threw me off majorly so and I didn't really sleep well the entire week in Russia unfortunately. Plus both places I stayed in were really hot and stuffy.
Anyways, I still had a good time!! Sunday morning Liza and I took the subway to the end of the one of the northern lines where her grandfather lived. It used to be that he lived in a cottage where his apartment complex stands and there was just ponds and trees everywhere...wasn't even a part of Moscow. Eventually the city reached it and they torn down his cottage and put him in an apartment. Now there are talks to redo the apartment complex, but he really doesn't want to have to deal with moving everything again. He was a very nice grandfather I would say, though I couldn't not understand him as he only spoke Russian! They let me use his computer so that I could book a hostel in St. Petersburg and check my e-mail. Then he made me oatmeal, yum!
Liza's dad, Liza and I went back into Moscow and walked around the area of the Red Square and St. Basil's Church. Took an obligatory photo of me throwing a coin over my shoulder at the center of this compass type thing in the ground and made a wish. These little old ladies come around right after you throw the coin and take them...so who knows how effective the wishes are, as said by Liza. We went on a boat down the river Moscow to a large park where once you walk up the hill offers a very nice view of the whole city. You can begin to see the area where they are building skyscrapers, called Moscow City, so probably will be the financial area of the city. Other than the ocassional "Stalin" building (this huge grand buildings that are fairly high and have a star on the top built under Stalin), the rest of the city is fairly low in height. There aren't many "old" buildings compared to Western European cities because (I was told) Moscow was burned down and a bunch of buildings were torn down and rebuilt. The city was built into circles with walls around, though really the only wall left is the Kremlin...the oldest part of the city with really only the churches left.
So after taking in the view, we walked back down to the subway and Liza and I went onto this pedestrian street that had a lot of shopping and souvenir shops and restaurants. We went to a Georgian restaurant, where it was decorated inside like a little village, which I thought very cute. We had some shiskabobs and bread, which was really good and of course had some vodka too...because when one is in Russia they must have some vodka. It was pretty terrible though since it was the cheapest on the menu...no more cheap vodka, blah. Went to a bar afterwards, which overlooked the river and so we could start to see twilight, though the sun took a very long time setting. Had this rose-flavored cocktail drink, which was very good...need to find it in the states.
Tuesday morning we got up and walked to the Kremlin to grab some breakfast, Liza a baked potato and me a crepe/pancake. We both had large glasses of orange juice that were really good! Then we went insid e the Kremlin and walked around and looked at all the churches, which were completely different than western churches so that was really cool. Unfortunately, there was rarely a sign in English (you could overhear some German or English tours), so I couldn't really read anything. When I get back I will just have to read up on all the places I went to so that I can better understand what I saw.
Then we walked back to the hotel, where I ended up staying and taking a much needed nap and chill time. Watched some tv and read too. Liza went out to meet up with her dad for the afternoon and get some sun by laying down in a park. Then she met up with me again so that we could go see a ballet in the Kremlin, which was a lot of fun. The ballet was Don Quixote...and as far as we could tell about a couple who wanted to marry, but the guy didn't have enough money. There was this older man and his sidekick that was all for the marriage though and eventually convinced the father of the girl that she should marry the younger poorer lover and not the older richer man he was trying to make her marry. We ended the night of course at the same bar on the river and had some tapas too.
Wednesday morning I packed up my things and Liza took me to the subway station to where I could get my train to the airport....a different one from the one I flew into. So I got to the airport fine and ate some breakfast and took a flight onto St. Petersburg while Liza stayed in Moscow another 2 days to spend more time with her grandfather.
At the moment I am in Duesseldorf, Germany...the past weekend I was in Hamburg with my friend Sarah Moser who I studied abroad in Freiburg with. Today I will be going down to Heidelberg to meet up with my high school exchange partner, Sinah, and her family and I will end the trip in Berlin to go to some museums/zoo/aquarium (still deciding) and some shopping! Then fly back to the States on Friday.
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