Russia- Moscow

Russia-Moscow

07/05-06/03
We arrived in Moscow after about 13 hours in the air and a 10 hour time change from Denver. Mike knowing Russian already proved effective as he worked his magic regarding lost luggage and transportation to the hotel Russiya where the lights sparked and the sheets were velvet. There were two female Chechnya suicide bombers that day at a concert, luckily we weren't affected by this. I was praying that my Mother didn't see that on the news! After getting settled in the hotel most of us headed across the street to the Red Square. Seems that everything in Moscow is on a grand scale. The buildings are huge and the architecture is full of detail. On the edges of Red Square are the GUM (Moscow's version of a mall), the Kremlin, St Basils Cathedral, and the State History Museum. A few of us hung out on the lawn near Lenin's Mausoleum drinking cheap beer and watching the world go by. At night on the other side of the Kremlin a lot of folks hang out there near a waterway and fountains, especially in front of McDonalds. In Russian Cyrillic "McDonalds" looks an awful lot like "MacAholic", how ironic?! That night some old Russian woman came up to us shaking her finger and yelling at us. The only thing we could figure was that it was unacceptable to be wearing shorts!
Moscow was your typical big city with lots of traffic, some pollution, and all the women wear these pointy shoes that extend about 4 inches past their toes. While in Moscow and other parts of Russia it seems that not many locals smile, I think it's from the particle-board type toilet paper. Also, the trashcans are tiny, the toilet seats are flimsy and you practically have to stand on the handle to flush them!

07/14-16/03
After Elbrus when we got back to Moscow we were on a mission from God to find pizza. Keith and his handy guide books found us one and 11 of us devoured 6 pizzas and garlic bread in record timing. No one really chewed, just stuffed. Red Square was closed off from the bombing, so luckily we were able to see it the weekend before. We took a bus tour of the city (by far the most touristy thing I've ever done), but it was a great way to see all the main attractions and get a history lesson. Along the way we saw the Christ the Savior Cathedral, the Smirnof factory, Peter the Great memorial, Gorky Park, Arbat St, the White House, Moscow University, Memorial to wars with Germany and Napoleon, and the Lenin library. All pretty impressive. A few of us weren't allow in the Christ the Savior Cathedral because we had shorts on, oops. Arbat St is like a pedestrian mall with several artists and street vendors. The common items were Matryoshka Dolls (the ones that fit into each other and get progressively smaller), furry hats, and painting. Some old war memorabilia including flight suits and pilot helmets too! Ya know you're in a cool store when they greet you with a tray a vodka to sample at 10:45am. I think they do that to get you drunk so you're looser with the wallet!
The food in most of Russia left something to be desired and I was looking forward to getting to Switzerland to go on a strictly beer and sausage diet.

<Elbrus Valley> <Mt Elbrus>

St. Basil's Cathedral; Clock tower along the Kremlin wall