Russia blog post collection.
Hi everyone! Today was our first day in the grand country of Russia! So to start off, after waking up at seven in the morning, we got packed up and our driver took a while to reach the airport because the road was so bad. After that, we got on the plane and flew two hours before reaching Moscow. Once we landed, we did the whole check-in thing, but since we were using our Israeli passports and the photos were three years old, they held us back for one hour while Troy waited for us outside! Once we FINALLY left the airport, we drove for a little while before our driver stopped and got us Russian ice cream! It tasted very good and after a while, we finally got to the hotel and we waited there for a while until our friend Merril came to join us again! This would be her last time with us, but we were all happy to see each other. Then, we went out to this great restaurant for dinner and I had a top-notch salmon! We then walked around more and after it started to rain, we went back to the hotel and slept our first night in Russia. P.S. today is also July fourth, so we landed in Russia on US independence day!
Today was PACKED with excitement! We woke up at eight thirty in the morning and then we headed out to tour the streets of Moscow. We didn’t see anything too interesting, but we saw a bunch of cool ornaments hanging from the wires above us. After a while, we eventually got in line to go INSIDE OF THE KREMLIN, WHERE THE PRESIDENT LIVES!!! I was really excited to enter the Kremlin and our tour, Viktor, spoke very fluently in English. Once we entered, it was like a palace in there and there were gold and different ornaments everywhere! As we walked on the carpets, we took a few photos and they constantly checked us for anything suspicious, but for some reason, my metal belt made it through all the metal detectors! We saw the old quarters and where leaders of different countries met, which was very cool and the architecture was also awesome as well. It was carved perfectly and made me feel so small. After we left the Kremlin, we passed by the world’s largest bell(which was very disappointing) and we also saw a really huge cannon! Later, we took some downtime and when we went to eat dinner, we couldn’t go to the restaurant we wanted to eat so we ate where we ate yesterday. Everyone also tried a hookah, which was like vaping, except for me. Dinner was great and I was glad to sleep on a full stomach.
Today was very exciting! We started the day by going to the mausoleum of a person called Lenin who apparently started communism. To be honest, he looked incredibly fake and the vibe was very much like the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Vietnam but less strict. Once we left there, we decided to walk around the place and check out what they had here. We walked down a street and saw a bunch of cool handmade Russian Nesting Dolls for sale! Unfortunately, they were all very expensive and once we left we heard of this interesting flea market that was supposed to symbolize old Russia. After eating a good lunch of steak, we drove over there and we were amazed by just how much stuff was there. There were tons of old cameras and other sorts of possessions, but also a bunch of other stuff like old propaganda posters and even old gas masks! We also saw a lot of Vladimir Putin merch advertising how great he was, but after that, we didn’t see much else. Aba bought a cool statue and Troy bought an old camera and after we drove away. We just hung out until dinner. We had the same thing at the same place and we planned on going back to the flea market tomorrow.
Our last day in Moscow was filled with excitement! We started off by eating a delicious omelet with shrimp and then we returned to the flea market from yesterday. When we got there, there weren’t much new stuff, but it was fun to see all of the variety and people there. We saw a really cool bronze octopus bottle holder, but it was two thousand dollars! I wish it was cheaper because then we could’ve bought it. Troy bought some old photos and then we left the market to go to a park. At the park, there was a playground with tons of cool stuff on it like swings and see-saws, but the best thing was the cage play structure. There was literally a gigantic box filled with cool obstacles that you could go in that was awesome. I always liked that kind of stuff because I love the tiny space and overcoming the obstacles. Once we left, we went on another ride that spun us around very fast it was really fun to use! Then, we walked around the park some more and eventually we left after we spent five minutes in another playground overrun by kids. We passed by some cool paintings and then we decided to go to dinner. We ate at a restaurant called the Mushroom and I had a delicious pizza there. There was mushroom decor everywhere down to the wall color, which was called mushroom(not a coincidence!). After that, we toured the Red Square at night and the epic cathedral with the ice cream tops(what I call the Christ the Savior Cathedral) was illuminated. It was fun to see the nightlife and we concluded our final epic day in Moscow.
The next day, we got packed up and then we got in a cab and drove all the way to a train station. We dropped off Merrill so she could go to the airport because she didn’t get a train ticket. The rest of us got on a bullet train like the one in Japan and we rode for five hours until reaching Saint Peterson. On the train, I read a little bit of the book called 1984 by George Orwell, which was about a person who grew up in a harshly ruled society where the government had absolute control over everyone. I also watched the movie Spider-Man: Homecoming, which got me excited for the sequel that I would hopefully end up seeing in Israel. When we finally arrived, we drove to our apartment and then we had a delicious chicken dinner. It was quite good and on the way back, we passed by an unfinished cathedral that looked like the one in Moscow. I am very excited to see the rest of Saint Petersburg tomorrow!
Today was a very epic day! We started off by getting ready and then going to eat at a world famous donut restaurant… even though I’ve never heard of it. The donuts there tasted very good and they reminded me a lot of a beignet in New Orleans. After that, we got on a boat and then we reached a famous palace that was only famous for its gardens. When we saw it, it looked very Roman and after waiting for about ten minutes, the fountains finally turned on with very dramatic music in the background, which I thought was over excessive. Then, it suddenly started to pour on us and as we came back to the mainland, it was raining everywhere! Once we got off the ship, we went to a famous church that honored a Russian Czar that was assassinated in that spot. There were very cool pictures on the wall and I swear SANTA CLAUS was there! There was a picture that looked just like him! We ate at an Israeli restaurant called Saviv after that and the lamb I had there tasted very good. We explored the city a little while longer and after the rain stopped, we visited a cool restaurant with puppets outside the windows and had a self-playing piano! We rested for a few hours and then we went out to dinner where I had an amazing pizza and suddenly Ella threw up. She was ok afterward, but overall we had a very fun day here in Saint Petersburg.
Our final day was a great day here in Saint Petersburg. We started off by going on a tour with a guide and a bunch of other people and we drove for about an hour on a bus until reaching the famous palace of the czars. It was very big and was epic except for the fact that it was swarming with tourists. There were tourists everywhere and we couldn’t move without being shoved. There were lots of cool paintings and clothes from the old times, but there was nothing too special there. The story was that the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II, and his family were murdered there by rebels and among the dead was the famous Anastasia. There was a secret door somewhere, but we didn’t see it. The gardens were very romantic also and after that, we went to check out the city some more. We also went up 200 stairs to get the best look of Saint Petersburg! It was very pretty and it reminded me of Paris a little bit. Eventually, we took a break later and then we went to a gigantic museum that was like the Louvre in Paris. It was filled with depressing paintings and cool artifacts, but it was not that good except for a cool sled we saw there. We went over to another place where we saw some decent Van Gogh pictures and then we went out to dinner at a nice Israeli restaurant. We then got ready to fly to Zurich tomorrow.
