I arrived her on Friday evening with the ROTC group that is volunteering in Yaroslavl with me and two other "civilians", as we are called. The train from Yaroslavl was uneventful and I was actually very surprised by the niceness of the train. The seats were large, there was lots of legroom and each passanger had their own table and light (just like a plane). Unfortunately I was on the aisle seat with a nice, large Russian woman next to me, who liked the curtain to be closed on the train, so I did not see much of the countryside. Arrived in Moscow around 8:30pm and the group of 27 made it to our hotel without incident. I stayed in a really nice (Communist style) hotel about 5 metro stops from Red Square. And it has free WiFi, so even better! Yay!!
That night was pretty quiet, the big group got dinner at one of the restaurant hotels (waited 2 hrs for our food) so it was past midnight by the time we were done. Seeing as I wanted to be rested and refreshed for the busy day ahead, I didn't do a whole lot - just visited with the other
kids in the hotel bowling alley.
Saturday started with breakfast - a delicious Russian buffet of different kinds of meats, porridge, veggies and other things I couldn't identify. Then we were off to Red Square! Let me
tell you, it is a sight to see!! I couldn't believe I was actually walking through the gate and seeing the cathedral from Ivan the Terrible and where Lenin was buried, it was really spectacular. The picture below is of Red Square during the day,
they had most of it blocked off because there was some sort of motor cross event that day, but I still got a good shot of it.
Also, as you can imagine, there were a million vendors selling all sorts of Russian originals but these nesting dolls in particular were EVERYWHERE!
Another really interesting thing that I was able to participate in was a 2 hour city bus tour with a tour guide, all around Moscow. We went through all the main touristy sights again but then also went through the suburbs, saw Moscow State University, went on a hill overlooking the entire city, saw the Olympic stadium from the 1980 Olympics and saw a famous park and convent where women used to be placed by their rich husbands when they decided they didn't want to be married to them anymore (currently it still belongs to the Orthodox Church but all the inhabitants are voluntarily in the convent :) An interesting piece of trivia about Russian weddings, is that after the actual ceremony the newly married couple - and a few members of their family and bridal party - go around to the famous sights around the city to take pictures and also pay their respects and lay flowers on notable graves; such as the grave of the unknown solider outside the Kremlin (similar to what the U.S. has at Arlington) and Lenin's tomb. Needless to say that on a beautiful, sunny Saturday - I saw my fair share of brides walking around!
After the city tour did a little shopping (don't be surprised to see some of those nesting dolls! ;) and went back to the hotel to do a little showering, relaxing and Skyping. (I figure that since I'm not used to having this much internet access, I better take advantage of it!) The plan for the evening was originally supposed to be going with the ROTC group to a Russian dance show, however our wires were crossed (we thought we were leaving at 7, they thought 6:30...) and I got left behind and didn't make it to the show - don't worry! I wasn't by myself!! I was with the two other non-ROTC girls on my trip, one of whom has been to Moscow for about 6 days before and speaks Russian, so we were fine :) We met with the group after the show and walked around downtown. It was SUCH a nice night, I was wearing a dress and didn't need a sweater or anything to be comfortable! (Again, who knew it'd be so hot in Russia!??) but apparently I am reminded by my CCS staff that this is not the norm and to expect it to return to "normal" Russian summer temps soon (high 60's, 70's - fine with me! since no place has AC! Seriously though... literally no place has air conditioning, buses, the metro, stores... it's brutal!)
The building on the right is currently a history museum, although I have to imagine that it was used for some other purpose in the olden days...
The rest of the night was spent walking around Red Square - sooooo much different at night! Everything is lit up and there are obviously less people around and I was able to go right up to St. Basils, whereas it had been blocked off during the day! All I wanted to do was sit there in the square and take it all in - this was the heart of the city - this is is where it all happened! There's a large statue at the base of St. Basils and one of my friends explained that the statue is where all of the public executions used to take place during the time of the tsars. I was wondering if that is why it was called Red Square, due to all of the blood which was spilled there. However she explained that the name in Russian, literally translates to "beautiful square" .... and it is very beautiful. I had to save the best picture for last. I took this one last night, just before I left. Everyone tells me to take everything in; I'm only in Russia for a few weeks and I don't know if I'll ever be back. But I can saw with certainty that I took everything in last night - it was probably my favorite night that I've spent in Russia and certainly one that I will not forget for a long time.
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