My Trip to Russia
I got back from Russia on Monday, but haven't had a chance to recount it until now-- it's been a crazy week, with two tests and massive catching up. Here it is...
On Thursday October 13 Rick, Judy and I drove to Dulles Airport to embark upon our journey. We flew to London, where I discovered that I had inadvertently brought two bills that needed to be paid with me; I mailed them from London! Did you know that you can drink as much as you want for free when traveling internationally? A short flight later we were suddenly in Moscow. Ben was waiting at the arrivals gate for us. He looked very dashing and presented me with a flower. We took a cab to the hotel, about an hour away. This was my first introduction to the great Russian-made automobile, the Volga. The "Russian Mercedes," the Volga is very attractive and roomy. Yet, our luggage would not fit in the trunk due to the presence of a spare tire; this problem stigmied us over the course of several cab rides. Anyway, the drive into Moscow was quite interesting. It was still mostly rural and suburban, with lots of new construction (mostly brick) interspersed with small cottages and shacks. Then from these secluded areas we progressed to a long line of Soviet-era apartment blocks. Miles of repeating, identical buildings lined the highway, all still obviously inhabited. Almost all of these apartments had sunrooms on the outside, some of which had been modified to make it fancier or more useful. This characteristic, the sunroom, was present in most of the Soviet apartment buildings. I would have liked to see the inside of them.
The Hotel Baltshung-Kempinski was exceedingly pleasant-- I thought it was the best hotel we stayed at during the trip. Our rooms had amazing views of the rear side of St. Basil's Cathedral, which was lit up at night and almost surreal to behold. The location was awesome, as we were able to walk to Red Square and other areas easily. The first evening, we took repast at a hunter-themed restaurant, where we feasted upon a vast array of smoked and pickled meats and fish, as well as blinis with caviar. These were all foods with which we would become very familiar on the trip. Ben's friend Steve joined us for dinner, then we all walked to Red Square and took it all in. St. Basil's is far more impressive at night than during the day, so it made quite an impression on me that night. The weather was misty and slightly chilly; little did we know that this would be the nicest weather we would experience in Moscow.
The following day we went to visit Lenin in his tomb. We had to wait in line for 90 minutes with many other tourists, some from other countries but many from other parts of Russia and former Soviet republics who were coming to Moscow for the first time. We even met a thirtysomething Muscovite who had never bothered to come to see Lenin before (he tried to cut in line in front of us but we ended up chatting with him). Anyway, Lenin was pretty cool, lookin' good for his old age. There has recently been controversy in Russia over whether it is time to bury him once and for all, so I'm very glad to have gotten to see him before he is interred.
Red Square is beautiful and heavily trafficked; we spent most of our time in Moscow in its vicinity. One one side is a huge department store, the GUM. It is in a beautiful building and has high-end boutiques. Facing the GUM is Lenin's tomb and behind it, a Kremlin wall. At the highest point is St. Basil's, and at the bottom is a museum (I believe). There were wedding parties everywhere. It would seem that a lot of people are getting married in Russia these days, though an acquaintance of Ben's who is an economics and management professor told us that it increasingly uncommon and that people live together and raise kids without every marrying, because of the likelihood and negative consequences of divorce.
We had our first taste of Azerbijan on the second night. It was really an awesome meal, lots of fresh and pickled veggies and then meat skewers and herbs. It was very festive, with a band and dancing in another room. Finding the restaurant was a struggle, but it was worth the wait!
The hotel offered free tours led by an English-speaking guide on Sundays, so we braved heavy rain to get the full Kremlin experience. Lots of things were huge about the Kremlin, particularly the huge bell and Tsar Cannon. (Both gigantic and never functional, now monuments to "Russian craftsmanship") The cathedrals there were impressive; we went inside one of them, I forget which one, but it had like thirty-foot ceilings and every inch of wall and ceiling space was painted with icons dating to the 17th or 18th century. The cathedral itself is five hundred years old. REALLY awesome. And especially so because it offered us shelter from the nasty weather.
I was super jetlagged while in Moscow, so I'll gloss over the parts that I enjoyed inwardly but outwardly suffered through...Tretyakov Gallery (National Museum of Russian Fine Art)....I don't remember what else...hmm.
Impressions of Moscow: fast-paced, huge, dirty, not all that attractive (although the section of the city in which we stayed was very nice). Gorgeous metro stations. Expensive. "Happening."
(Note: a few days after we left moscow, two Russian financiers were arrested at our hotel for their involvment in demanding a $5.3 million bribe from a commercial bank. Very exciting...Link to TASS article)
On Monday we took the train to Yaroslavl, the city of 500,000 where Ben has been living. It is only 150 miles northeast of Moscow, yet the train trip was over four hours. Yaroslavl was a breath of fresh air-- literally-- after Moscow. It seemed smaller than it actually is. Our hotel was brand new and floated on the Volga River. The beds were like slabs of granite but other than that it was pretty nice.
My computer battery is about to run out so I've gotta cut this short, but i'll add more this weekend...
On Thursday October 13 Rick, Judy and I drove to Dulles Airport to embark upon our journey. We flew to London, where I discovered that I had inadvertently brought two bills that needed to be paid with me; I mailed them from London! Did you know that you can drink as much as you want for free when traveling internationally? A short flight later we were suddenly in Moscow. Ben was waiting at the arrivals gate for us. He looked very dashing and presented me with a flower. We took a cab to the hotel, about an hour away. This was my first introduction to the great Russian-made automobile, the Volga. The "Russian Mercedes," the Volga is very attractive and roomy. Yet, our luggage would not fit in the trunk due to the presence of a spare tire; this problem stigmied us over the course of several cab rides. Anyway, the drive into Moscow was quite interesting. It was still mostly rural and suburban, with lots of new construction (mostly brick) interspersed with small cottages and shacks. Then from these secluded areas we progressed to a long line of Soviet-era apartment blocks. Miles of repeating, identical buildings lined the highway, all still obviously inhabited. Almost all of these apartments had sunrooms on the outside, some of which had been modified to make it fancier or more useful. This characteristic, the sunroom, was present in most of the Soviet apartment buildings. I would have liked to see the inside of them.
The Hotel Baltshung-Kempinski was exceedingly pleasant-- I thought it was the best hotel we stayed at during the trip. Our rooms had amazing views of the rear side of St. Basil's Cathedral, which was lit up at night and almost surreal to behold. The location was awesome, as we were able to walk to Red Square and other areas easily. The first evening, we took repast at a hunter-themed restaurant, where we feasted upon a vast array of smoked and pickled meats and fish, as well as blinis with caviar. These were all foods with which we would become very familiar on the trip. Ben's friend Steve joined us for dinner, then we all walked to Red Square and took it all in. St. Basil's is far more impressive at night than during the day, so it made quite an impression on me that night. The weather was misty and slightly chilly; little did we know that this would be the nicest weather we would experience in Moscow.
The following day we went to visit Lenin in his tomb. We had to wait in line for 90 minutes with many other tourists, some from other countries but many from other parts of Russia and former Soviet republics who were coming to Moscow for the first time. We even met a thirtysomething Muscovite who had never bothered to come to see Lenin before (he tried to cut in line in front of us but we ended up chatting with him). Anyway, Lenin was pretty cool, lookin' good for his old age. There has recently been controversy in Russia over whether it is time to bury him once and for all, so I'm very glad to have gotten to see him before he is interred.
Red Square is beautiful and heavily trafficked; we spent most of our time in Moscow in its vicinity. One one side is a huge department store, the GUM. It is in a beautiful building and has high-end boutiques. Facing the GUM is Lenin's tomb and behind it, a Kremlin wall. At the highest point is St. Basil's, and at the bottom is a museum (I believe). There were wedding parties everywhere. It would seem that a lot of people are getting married in Russia these days, though an acquaintance of Ben's who is an economics and management professor told us that it increasingly uncommon and that people live together and raise kids without every marrying, because of the likelihood and negative consequences of divorce.
We had our first taste of Azerbijan on the second night. It was really an awesome meal, lots of fresh and pickled veggies and then meat skewers and herbs. It was very festive, with a band and dancing in another room. Finding the restaurant was a struggle, but it was worth the wait!
The hotel offered free tours led by an English-speaking guide on Sundays, so we braved heavy rain to get the full Kremlin experience. Lots of things were huge about the Kremlin, particularly the huge bell and Tsar Cannon. (Both gigantic and never functional, now monuments to "Russian craftsmanship") The cathedrals there were impressive; we went inside one of them, I forget which one, but it had like thirty-foot ceilings and every inch of wall and ceiling space was painted with icons dating to the 17th or 18th century. The cathedral itself is five hundred years old. REALLY awesome. And especially so because it offered us shelter from the nasty weather.
I was super jetlagged while in Moscow, so I'll gloss over the parts that I enjoyed inwardly but outwardly suffered through...Tretyakov Gallery (National Museum of Russian Fine Art)....I don't remember what else...hmm.
Impressions of Moscow: fast-paced, huge, dirty, not all that attractive (although the section of the city in which we stayed was very nice). Gorgeous metro stations. Expensive. "Happening."
(Note: a few days after we left moscow, two Russian financiers were arrested at our hotel for their involvment in demanding a $5.3 million bribe from a commercial bank. Very exciting...Link to TASS article)
On Monday we took the train to Yaroslavl, the city of 500,000 where Ben has been living. It is only 150 miles northeast of Moscow, yet the train trip was over four hours. Yaroslavl was a breath of fresh air-- literally-- after Moscow. It seemed smaller than it actually is. Our hotel was brand new and floated on the Volga River. The beds were like slabs of granite but other than that it was pretty nice.
My computer battery is about to run out so I've gotta cut this short, but i'll add more this weekend...
posted by Lesley M @ 11:11 PM
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