RUSSIA

Moscow Days 6-10

The Kremlin

Moscow University

A Kremlin Church

Day 6 After a long journey on the night train we finally arrived in

Moscow at around 9 am. We ate breakfast at this place which had the most unusual

decoration…..obese men covering many of the walls! Breakfast was really good though. Of course I had my pancakes.

After breakfast we went for a tour of the Kremlin, which is Moscow’s fortress. The walls especially remind you of Medieval Tsarist Russia. Of course, it was also a central place for the Soviet State.

We checked in to our hotel. Our rooms were on the 28th floor and my oh my were the views fantastic.

Sadly I got very rude service from this lady when I went to get my dinner. I honestly don’t understand people who work in tourism when they don’t like tourists. However, I did not let her bring me down!

Kremlin Tour

The fantastic view from my room!!

Day 7 Breakfast at this hotel was quite odd….They served a lot of dinner type foods like

spaghetti, fish, and pizza. I stuck to my fruit loops, toast, and fruit with chocolate (hey they had a chocolate fountain, I could not help myself).

We then took the bus to the Red Square. We learned that it’s not called the Red Square because of Communism. It used to be called Krasnaya Ploschad and the word Krasnaya used to mean beautiful but in modern times it means red.

In the Red Square we walked around on our own and I checked out the really fancy shopping centre.

After that, all of us went to check out Lenin’ s Mausoleum. It was really weird to see his body. I don’t understand why they keep preserving him especially when every year Russians try to bomb all his monuments.

Free time…some of us had lunch at a very popular Russian fast food restaurant. I had a ham and cheese pancake. HA go figure! Then Tracey, Phoebe, Arthur, Luis, Filippo and I walked around the main shopping street while singing very corny songs

Time to meet the Moscow students! Tracey, Phoebe, and I hung out with Valery and Valentine at their residence. We made dinner together (Salmon, potatoes, cauliflower and green beans) and we hung out with them and all their friends. We listened to them sing Russian folk songs and play on the guitar. It was really fun. Thanks for the good time guys

The Red Square

Hanging with the Moscow Students!

Day 8 Today we had a tour outside of Moscow. We went to a small town

called Sergiev Posad. It’s a very religious town that is also the best place to study to be a priest in Russia. The cathedrals in there were very old and stunning including Trinity Lavra founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh.

In Sergiev Posad we also had time to shop. There was a market there and many of us tried bargaining for the stuff we wanted to buy. I’m quite bad at bargaining but I did ok with my purchases. I have no regrets over the two Russian dolls I bought there.

A bunch of us later went to Starlight Diner where I ate the best french fries ever and where we, along with some other Russians, played Mafia. Dave proved to be a hilarious narrator for the game. One of the Russians was a magician and he did this one trick where he made his thumb fly. That was freaky but entertaining. It was a good night, minus the running to catch the last metro home.

Sergiev Posad

Day 9 This was our last day in Moscow and in Russia before our return to Copenhagen

the next morning. We went on an amazing bus tour around Moscow. We stopped on this hill where we

had a great view of the entire city and where we also got to see Moscow University. On our bus tour we also went to Novodevichy cemetary where many famous

Russians are buried. We saw the tombs of Kruschev, Gogol, and Yeltsin the first president of Russia.

After the tour, many of us returned to our hotel so we could shop for some last-minute souvenirs at the largest market in the country. It was a cool place but shopping is stressful. I can’t shop for guys. It’s too hard. But, I did end up buying 3 more Russian dolls (and I championed the whole bargaining thing this time) as well as a present for my mom’s birthday.

Good-bye dinner at Vanilla Sky. I’m not a big fan of good-byes and Russia went by too quickly for me. It was a night of celebration as we were given 2 shots of vodka and 2 glasses of wine free. Yeah, I was in my happy state by that point. Valentine and Valery, our Russian mentors in Moscow, came to the dinner as well. It was nice to see them again before leaving.

We had a good laugh at the end of the night when these 2 guys on the metro tried hitting on Phoebe with sunflower seeds, and then Roland ate them instead. Random, but the whole metro was laughing hysterically at them. It was pretty funny.

The Market

Why is his face everywhere?

Bus Tour

Good-bye Russia It’s been

fun!