Moscow

I choose Russia as my destination for a few reasons:

1) I have friends who live there
2) The history between the US and Russia
3) To see if all the crazy YouTube videos are true

After sorting out my visa last minute I had 2 connections to make in Zurich and Vienna to end at my final destination Moscow. There I met my friend outside Domodedova.  First thing I noticed were of course the crazy drivers, bad parking, and lack of road maintenance as all of the roads had ponding due to heavy rain. Not everything is perfect I guess.

We came to her parents house where I was offered a late afternoon snack which I refused over and over again because I had just eaten on the plane and at the airport. But I knew I wasn't getting out of this. I've known about Russian hospitality and knew I'd be eating till buttons started popping.

Oh and there was homemade vodka as well. Let's start getting the foreigner drunk!  Pretty strong viscous stuff but it was really tasty.

Apartment complex I stayed in 1 hour from downtown

It was my friends birthday so we headed out that night for karaoke in Podolsk the town I was staying in. Mind you I had 1 hour of sleep.  When I'm travelling there should never be an excuse that you're too tired and can't fight jetlag.  More experiencing and less sleeping.

All of the people invited spoke zero English. But I knew it would still be an experience. I sang the English songs while they sang the Russian. And by the end we switched. So at about 3AM the night seemed over, the sky outside was only dark for an hour and it was beginning to brighten again.

But no this was only the first half!  Onto the club!

For a club in Podolsk it was pretty awesome. No entry fee and more woman than men.  I don't need to tell you how the woman look here.

So we ended at 7AM and cabbed it back home.  Oh and the cab I swear almost caught fire and also had a giant crack down the middle of the windshield.

Great way to start the trip.

Sunday we got a late start and my friend and I headed to Gorky Park.  Everyone was out enjoying the weather.  It's like the Central Park of Moscow here.  My friend had to join her family, which I would come later to for birthday celebrations so we parted ways.

I headed onto Monument Park where there is statues of Lenin and Stalin as well as other figures.

Monument Park

I spent some time there and decided it was time to join the party. I had notes from my friend on what metro and bus to take to get back to Podolsk which should be around an hour ride.

I took the metro and came up to the street to start looking for the bus. Problem is there were a lot of stations there and the people I asked spoke no English. I even wrote the number of the bus down a few times to people and no one knew or even bothered to help me. It was now 11pm and I had to wait for my friend to finish her party to pick me up.

Metro Station

While I waited I attempted to order from McDonalds since I hadn't eaten the entire day and it was the only place still open.  But I went to order on the automated screens since it was in English and everything froze up.  I went to the next station nearby and the same thing.  I said to myself, ok forget this.  Found out they were closing in 10 minutes but shut the machines down already.  I didn't even try and talk to the people at the register because at that point I was just so miserable from everything.

This was the first time I've ever been in such a case where I had no idea how to get somewhere. But usually people are a little more helpful even if you don't understand someone.  It happened to me just on the way to the airport back in Philly where she spoke no English and I helped her find her train for her.

Getting around proved to be really difficult especially when changing from metro to Electrika for example. It's hard to find the metro stations sometimes and also hard finding your way out of the metro. I was going down escalators when I should be going up. Navigating took twice as long as it should have. I'd say I know half of the Cyrillic alphabet as well.

I was happy I got to experience this because it taught me a little bit about how I handle myself when things go wrong.  I'm a very organized person and am great with directions so it was different to experience this when these things went wrong.

Side note on the metro is that the stations are extremely deep. You can be on an escalator for close to 3 minutes. They also have scanners at each entrance ever since the bombings happened in the past here. Not only in the metro but at train stations and also entering the airport. They are however seamless and quick to pass through.

Over the next few days I visited the Kremlin as well as Moscow City.

It was cool to stand in Red Square and think back to the Cold War and think how crazy it would have been for an American to stand where I was.  And think about the parades of tanks and missiles Russia still has to this day here.

Gum Department Store

Alexander's Gardens outside the Kremlin Wall

The Kremlin wasn't too exciting.  The coolest part was seeing the grave of the first Russian Tsar and to know that they were crowned in one of the churches there.

Not part of the Kremlin is Saint Basil's

Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Kremlin

Moscow City is a new undertaking by the government to house living and working all in one district.  It consists of Europe's tallest buildings and a really nice mall with all of your international brands.  I find it a really cool place to come and hang out.  Currently it's still a little under construction so I think the appeal of the place hasn't really taken off yet.  Nonetheless it should when it's finished.

Crappy shot inside the mall

It's really hard to fathom how large Moscow is.  Take a look on the map and you see the rings going around the city.  Now imagine that space filled in with 30-story apartment buildings.  The sprawl is incredible. Driving into the city you release how many people live here and not only because of the bad traffic.  I compare it to any other cosmopolitan city in the world like New York, Paris, London.  Moscow offers everything and is an awesome place to visit.