Destination: Moscow

Transportation: Flight to Moscow

Accommodations : Apartment belonging to a Family Friend

Duration of Trip: 5 Nights

Moscow, Russia Pictures

Itinerary and Summary

Day 1: Flight at 9:40am on German Wings was about 15 mins delayed. Flight went well about 2.5 - 3 hours. Once we landed we went threw passport control with no problem, collected our luggage and made our way out of customs. We were to meet Alex or our translator outside of baggage claim. No one was there. After 10- 15 mins John found our translator, she was late due to traffic. We loaded up into the SUV/Van and started our way to the apartment. The trip lasted 3 hours in the car. Lots and lots of traffic. Julia was so thirsty and Mackenzie had to pee. We were in Grid-lock traffic and the SUV was getting hotter and hotter! Luckily Mackenzie could pee in a diaper and we brought a coloring books that occupied the girls. After making it to the apartment we went to the grocery store with Alex. First impression: ridiculous traffic, dirty cars and lots of industry. John was surprised by the amount of new cars on the road while I was surprised by the amount of old cars.

Day 2: We had a meeting time of 10am with our translator - which we have to leave the apartment at 8:30am by car. We arrive at 10:30am - traffic, insane. We start our walk to Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral is easy to spot in the distance. As we approach Red Square we are noticing gates at the entrances. Louba approaches the guard and finds out that Red Square is closed because of a City Day celebration that would be taking place the upcoming Saturday and Sunday. It's a celebration for the birth of Moscow. We are not able to get into Red Square - we to every entrance way and look in to take pictures. Our goal is to get into the Kremlin. We stop by the mall where the girls get pictures with a life size Wall-E and I have a bad experience in a bathroom with no toilets. We continued to make our way to the Kremlin and stopped by the unnamed solders eternal flame. John and Louba waited in line for 2 hours getting tickets for the Armory and Kremlin. The girls and I played Simon Says, Tag, and ate. Finally we get into the Armory; very impressive! My favorite was the coaches, they were more beautiful then the movies could ever capture. Mackenzie loved the crowns! All the dresses we quite amazing too. Wish we could have taken pictures! We then walked around the Kremlin. After our tour it was 5PM and time to sit and eat. (the last time John and I ate was 8am) We went to an open air restaurant then made our way back to the apartment. Our first Metro experience in Moscow - first the Metro is extremely far underground. It was rush hour on a Friday and there were hundreds of people. It took us about 30 mins to get off our Metro stop then we had to find the bus to take us closer to the apartment. Thank God the Russian numbers look like western numbers! Our bus 184 was easy to find, but the whole bus area was total chaos, unorganized and reminded me of a 2nd world country. We made it back just fine, except our stroller platform broke! This is a problem when you have two children who get tired easily.)

Day 3: We meet Louba at the station and plan a river boat cruise on the Moscow River. The weather was perfect sunny and warm. We buy a day pass for the boat that allows us to go up and down the river as much as we need. Our first stop is at Christ the Savior Church. There are many brides walking around with their bridal parties and Mackenzie tries to take pictures of all the beautiful brides, Julia falls asleep in the stroller. John waits outside with Julia while Mackenzie, Louba and I make our way inside the Church. It's a beautiful Church with a controversial history. The Church was destroyed and during the Soviet time a pool was built close to the Church grounds. (John's Mom swam in this pool often.) The Church was rebuilt in 1992-1993. John was unable to go inside the Church because he had shorts on. Afterward we walked down the Arbat where there are many shops and cafes. After eating Louba helped us get back to the boat and we said our good byes to Louba, as we would not be seeing her again. We boarded the boat at about 6pm. The boat started its route back and surprised us by turning around and heading the opposite direction. John and I had no idea what was happening. We asked the lady working at the snack bar and she told us that the boat would return to the stop (we had just) got on. And that we'd have to get off and find another boat! We are all so tired at this time and can't understand why this boat took this route. It set us back about 1.5 - 2 hours. Finally we made it back and found the boat that would get us to the metro and then home. Things happen for a reason and the 1.5 - 2 hour delay allowed us the last boat ride to the metro and an amazing night view of the Kremlin and great seats for City Day Fireworks. It was amazing! By the time we walked to the metro, took the train, got on the bus and made it home it was after Midnight. We were happy that the next day would be more slow paced - meeting Alex at 10:30am and going to John's Aunt's house.

Day 4: We woke up and took our time in the morning. Alex and Inka picked us up at 10:30am. John bought flowers for his Aunt - we thought we were going directly to her house but we ended up going first to a Dolphin show. The girls really enjoyed the show and afterwards got a picture taken with the Dolphins. (John's flowers were in the trunk of the car this whole time.) At 2pm we made it to John's Aunt Gala's house. She was so inviting and immediately greeted us with hugs. Alex told me that Gala spent the might before making the dinner - she couldn't sleep. I could see the resemblance between John's Mom and Gala. We talked with her through interrupters. We talked about life in Canada, the US and in Germany. We talked about John's Mom and how her defection effected Gala and her husband. Later Alex and Inka left and a friend of Gala's came, Lev. Lev is a Russian living in San Francisco. He's a young, nice guy that speaks English like an American - nice to hear! While we ate dinner, Gala told John she loved him, which brought both John and I to tears. She is such a sweet lady. It was also very interesting to see John's Grandfathers Military class book - photos were blackened out with marker if a person was caught doing something against the Soviet system. You would blacken it out so that there would be no link between you and this person (don't let anyone know you were in the same class at someone working against the system). This was a form of protecting your family. Gala and Lev walked us to the metro; it was very hard to leave, we didn't want Gala to be alone. Lev met his wife and brought her to meet us. I had a case of deja vu meeting his wife. She was very sweet, I hope we get to see them again sometime. We arrived at home around 8:30pm.

Day 5: The day was open; no plans. We decided to try and buy Matryoshka dolls and go by St. Basil's for pictures. The trick was Monday metro traffic and we were not sure if the market was open. Once we got off the bus the line for purchase tickets was so long! I just looked at John and said "Oh, no; we'll just have to wait 1 hour just for ticket!" But it only took 25 mins. Thank God for John and his ability to navigate the Russian language! On our way to the park-market we had to change trains twice. We got off and found the park-market with no problem. Not all the shops were open but we had plenty to choose from. We bought our Matryoshka dolls and made our way to St. Basils. The weather was perfect and we got great photos. We left for our way home at 3:30pm arriving at 4:45pm. We relaxed until 8:30pm when met up with Alex's family for dessert and our good-byes.

Day 6: Woke up, packed, washed up and cleaned the apartment. We left at 10:30am for the airport, arrived at 1pm. We ate and our flight took off on time. We had a wonderful experience in Moscow.