Oh so, I totally went to Russia this summer. It was pretty sweet.
I went with Joe & my friends Julie and Kara to visit our friend Megan, who's a teacher in Moscow. She graciously let us stay in her apartment for a week, and generally served as our guide not only across Moscow but St. Petersburg as well! Highlights, in a handy bulleted list form!
- Good Lord, that is a long plane ride. And even on the tarmac at JFK, all English is out the window (at least, when you're on AeroFlat Airlines). They get you awkwardly ready to not be able to communicate with anyone properly real quick.
- The weather in Russia was the weirdest. It rained ... kind of a lot, on-and-off everyday, and was around 65-72 the entire time. I carried my hooded jacket & umbrella with me at all times. Except for the one day it was sunny and around 95 degrees when we walked the old Arbat. Feeling hot hot hot. At the old Arbat bat bat.
- Every building in Russia rules. FACT. St. Basil's Cathedral & the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood are as amazing as you'd think. I kinda preferred the Spilled Blood a bit more though.
- We did not get to see Lenin in his tomb, but we saw a picture of him in his tomb on a postcard and Megan commented, "Yup, that's what he looks like." So close enough?
- It took us about 4 hours to get to St. Petersburg from Moscow via high-speed train. Get with it, America! Speaking of awesome methods of transportation, you need to take a boat to get to Peterhof, which is so, so worth it. That place is GORG. (It has over 100 fountains in its gardens.) Even in the rain. And the Russian subway system is FAST. Trains come practically every two minutes!
- Go to Dunkin Donuts. They have tons of flavors we don't have. I know it's like, an American crutch to go to chains in foreign countries, but this is worth it.
- The sun never sets here (it was daylight in St. Petersburg during the Summer Solstice until like, 12:30am) so live it up.
- I only drank vodka once while we were there, and it was a free shot we received during Happy Hour at The Idiot vegetarian restaurant in St. Petersburg.
- A big photo theme for my group was, "jump in front of this cool building." Although we stood out like sore thumbs, I think people started to copy our technique at St. Basil's ...
- I felt compelled to buy nesting dolls the entire time we were there. I think I bought six of them and it still wasn't enough!
- The Memorial Museum of Astronautics is one cool museum. It's below ground, and above is a statue of a rocket shooting into the sky, along with a carving of Yuri Gagarin whose thumb you rub for good luck.
- St. Petersburg was a pretty condensed city so you could walk to a lot of places, which was convenient. Although it seems touristy, take a canal tour. You get to see a lot of St. Petersburg notable buildings from interesting angles, and it's crazy how little room there is between you and the bottom of the bridges you speed under. Moscow was huge so we relied a lot more on the bus & subway to get around. But, be sure to walk the entire Old Arbat in Moscow, and see the scale model replica of the city in The Radisson Hotel.
