There is a distinct difference between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moscow has a very Soviet era feel to it, and Saint Pete is very Imperial era. Both places are incredible, but it was great fun to visit another major city in Russia, and experience its difference in architecture, culture, and so on.
Once we landed in Moscow, we headed straight to "Krasnaya Ploshat" or Red Square as we Americans call it! We had to take our bags everywhere with us because we weren't able to check into our hostel until later that afternoon. Thankfully, I only brought a back pack with me, so it wasn't too hard to lug around my stuff :) Once we found the metro station, we kind of just stood at the side of the hallway. trying to get out of the way of the sea of people. We didn't really know what to do because the Moscow metro is SO different from the mtero in St. Pete. The signs were definitely harder to read and there wasn't much information on the walls. We must have looked incredibly confused because a sweet older lady came over to us, and asked if she could help us. It took us off-guard to run into someone her age that spoke English! She was so sweet, and helped us figure out which metro to get on to go to Red Square. Believe it or not, more people spoke English in Moscow than in St. Pete! It meant a lot to us that she would stop and help us when the metro was so busy!
We then took a mini bus to Red Square. I think the driver was trying to trick us into giving him more money than we owed. We started to figure it out, and a lady who spoke very little English was helping us, and talking to the driver. At one point, about 4 or 5 people on the bus were speaking pretty harshly at the driver, and I think they were getting on his case and getting him to leave us alone. It was pretty remarkable to see so many people helping us, because as Americans in Russia, that does not happen very often! And we had been warned that Moscow was much more hostile toward Americans than St. Pete, but that was not what we found :)
It was an amazing feeling walking into Red Square. It was a place I'd seen in movies, and I was actually there!! It's actually a lot smaller than I thought it was, but that in no way drew from the magnificence of it! The architecture is vastly different from the architecture in St. Pete. Red Square screams SOVIET. But not in a bad or tyrannical way. I'm sure it did at one point in time, but to me, it was overflowing with history and intrigue!
It was so cold outside that day that my phone actually died, even though I still had 50%. So, I took out my camera and guess what....that died too. So I had to ask Victoria to take a few photos of me by Saint Basil's cathedral! It is just such a beautiful building. And of course, I couldn't take any pictures in GYM (pronounced: "goom")! That's a very famous, and very massive store located in Red Square. It was all decked out for the holidays and looked so cute! I was bummed I couldn't take any pics, but thankfully Victoria helped me out there too :)
It was very interesting being right next to the Kremlin and knowing that one of the most powerful men in the world was so near by. I kept thinking, "Vladimir Putin is just on the other side of that wall." It was crazy.
After we explored a bit, we headed over to our hostel. It was called "Vagabond." It was located in an apartment building, and we walked in and it smelled overwhelmingly like incense. We looked at each other and thought, "Oh man, we are in a hippy house." But you know what, these people ended up being AWESOME. They made us all dinner every night, and kept covering us up with blankets when we were cold, A few people spoke English and there were two other Americans there! One from Alabama and Michigan. There was also a guy from Turkey who ended up being one of the most fun guys ever. And I mustn't forget the Australians. Who could ever forget those Australians?? Let's just say, we may have been giggling like dorky girls while they changed their clothes and talked with there perfect accents. Actually, that's exactly what happened, and I AM NOT ASHAMED. We also left them a note that said we thought they were hot and drew a picture of Australia + America. Worth it.
Once we landed in Moscow, we headed straight to "Krasnaya Ploshat" or Red Square as we Americans call it! We had to take our bags everywhere with us because we weren't able to check into our hostel until later that afternoon. Thankfully, I only brought a back pack with me, so it wasn't too hard to lug around my stuff :) Once we found the metro station, we kind of just stood at the side of the hallway. trying to get out of the way of the sea of people. We didn't really know what to do because the Moscow metro is SO different from the mtero in St. Pete. The signs were definitely harder to read and there wasn't much information on the walls. We must have looked incredibly confused because a sweet older lady came over to us, and asked if she could help us. It took us off-guard to run into someone her age that spoke English! She was so sweet, and helped us figure out which metro to get on to go to Red Square. Believe it or not, more people spoke English in Moscow than in St. Pete! It meant a lot to us that she would stop and help us when the metro was so busy!
We then took a mini bus to Red Square. I think the driver was trying to trick us into giving him more money than we owed. We started to figure it out, and a lady who spoke very little English was helping us, and talking to the driver. At one point, about 4 or 5 people on the bus were speaking pretty harshly at the driver, and I think they were getting on his case and getting him to leave us alone. It was pretty remarkable to see so many people helping us, because as Americans in Russia, that does not happen very often! And we had been warned that Moscow was much more hostile toward Americans than St. Pete, but that was not what we found :)
It was an amazing feeling walking into Red Square. It was a place I'd seen in movies, and I was actually there!! It's actually a lot smaller than I thought it was, but that in no way drew from the magnificence of it! The architecture is vastly different from the architecture in St. Pete. Red Square screams SOVIET. But not in a bad or tyrannical way. I'm sure it did at one point in time, but to me, it was overflowing with history and intrigue!
It was so cold outside that day that my phone actually died, even though I still had 50%. So, I took out my camera and guess what....that died too. So I had to ask Victoria to take a few photos of me by Saint Basil's cathedral! It is just such a beautiful building. And of course, I couldn't take any pictures in GYM (pronounced: "goom")! That's a very famous, and very massive store located in Red Square. It was all decked out for the holidays and looked so cute! I was bummed I couldn't take any pics, but thankfully Victoria helped me out there too :)
It was very interesting being right next to the Kremlin and knowing that one of the most powerful men in the world was so near by. I kept thinking, "Vladimir Putin is just on the other side of that wall." It was crazy.
After we explored a bit, we headed over to our hostel. It was called "Vagabond." It was located in an apartment building, and we walked in and it smelled overwhelmingly like incense. We looked at each other and thought, "Oh man, we are in a hippy house." But you know what, these people ended up being AWESOME. They made us all dinner every night, and kept covering us up with blankets when we were cold, A few people spoke English and there were two other Americans there! One from Alabama and Michigan. There was also a guy from Turkey who ended up being one of the most fun guys ever. And I mustn't forget the Australians. Who could ever forget those Australians?? Let's just say, we may have been giggling like dorky girls while they changed their clothes and talked with there perfect accents. Actually, that's exactly what happened, and I AM NOT ASHAMED. We also left them a note that said we thought they were hot and drew a picture of Australia + America. Worth it.
Bolshoy Theater (very famous)
Walking to Red Square
Kazan Cathedral
Bolshoy Theater
Looking at Red Square from across the street
Entrance
Kazan Cathedral and GYM
St. Basil's
Stars everywhere!
