Day 1 - Arriving in Moscow

CHARLES: Hi everyone! It’s day two in Russia. We had an excellent and relatively fast flight over here yesterday. I have to say that Singapore Air is going to be my first choice for all future flights. From the hot towels at the beginning and end of the flight, repeated rounds of wine, the excellent service, it was all good. Even had a wonderful steak for dinner and good omelet the following morning. In flight screen with on-demand movies, TV shows, radio, music, and video games. Pretty cool!

We flew over these huge birch forests and arrived about 1pm outside of Moscow. Sara met us at the lobby for the Aeroexpress train back into Moscow. We were able to then experience the efficient metro subway system. If only every city in the US had something akin to this…The people watching was great. We made a couple of transfers and ended a block from Sara’s nice hotel, The Volga. Nice views of city from the seventh floor. We dropped our bags, rested for a few minutes before heading back out for the rest of the afternoon.

We decided to head down to Red Square just to check things out before it got dark. We’re heading back there today to actually visit the Kremlin, etc, but we just walked around the square itself yesterday. First we had to stop for coffee, actually got a mocha or mocco, as they say it. On the way we passed by the building (photo above) housing the FSB (formerly known as the KGB). Was able to practice reading Russian along the way; translating store signs and billboards. So much of it sounds close to English! Just looks like Greek.

Just after we arrived in the square, the bells began to at the Kazan Cathedral (photo above). We watched the guy in the bell tower to the left as he worked hands and feet churning out a tune. It’s right next to the state building. We then made our way across Red Square towards St. Basil’s Cathedral. Along the way, you walk parallel to the wall of the Kremlin and Lenin’s tomb (closed for the day by then).


St. Basil’s Cathedral (photo above; left side) is just beautiful. Seems like it’s from some imaginary land with all of the colors and swirls. The huge executioner’s block in front and to the left of it reminds you of another, more gruesome time. Behind the cathedral is the Moscow River.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped for beer (Belhaven Stout) and a bite to eat at a nice restaurant. I had rabbit with a sour cream sauce that was fantastic. The lounge band was pretty good. Heard some Ray Charles songs, etc. Then it was back to the hotel. We didn’t last too long after arriving.


KRISTI: The flight was pretty fast – I stayed up the whole time watching movies and learning Russian phrases. My sister Sara is so awesome – we’re staying at her hotel while we’re here. Red Square and dinner were amazing yesterday. We crashed pretty early after dinner and slept for 12 hours straight!! I worked on my on-line classes for a couple hours this morning and now we’re off for another day on the town before the ballet tonight. YEAY!