Russia Day 12 (Moscow, Russia): The Last Day

Today is our last day in Russia!

This morning we headed back to the city center of Moscow and went to the Assumption Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Archangel. The Assumption Cathedral’s design is based on the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir and made with heavy limestone. This cathedral has been destroyed by many fires and had to be rebuilt several times. This is also where Ivan The Terrible was coronated. The Cathedral of the Archangel is where most of the Tsars of Russia are buried until they were moved to St. Petersburg. The iconostasis in this church is unique because it’s a collection of icons from cities that Tsars have conquered.

After our tours of the cathedrals we decided to stay in the area and take a later shuttle back to the ship. We went back to the Red Square and explored the World Cup Fan Zone. There was a gift shop, vendor demo booths and an exposition game going on. It wasn’t too busy when we were there, most of the fans were probably exhausted from last night’s celebration or at work. We had a hard time filling our time before the shuttle picked us up. We went back to the GUM, another mall and some grocery stores in the malls. All of that walking around was exhausting!

When we got back we immediately started packing and went to a farewell reception. This reception was a little more intimate than other farewell receptions. Since we weren’t traveling with a large group of people and staff, we really got a chance to know everyone.

This trip has been filled with pleasant surprises! I learned a lot about Russian culture, visited some incredible museums, cathedrals and palaces, walked amongst some of the most passionate soccer fans in the world and met some pretty awesome people. 

I can’t wait for my next trip. Here’s to many more!

Russia Day 11 (Moscow, Russia): Soccer Fans, River Tour and Victory Park

I feel like a lot happened today.

We didn’t have any excursions booked until late tonight so we had most of the day to explore. Each metro station has a shopping center around it so we headed out to our metro station on our own this morning. This one has quite few shopping centers around it, some more commercial than others. The ship to the metro station is quite a walk. There’s a mix of retail stores, grocery stores, a few souvenir shops, salons and a number of markets out here. It’s not very often you find a grocery store in a shopping mall. This seemed to be very common in China too. We actually went out to the shopping centers twice today. The first time was to explore and we went out a second time after lunch to actually shop.

Our excursion tonight was quite interesting. Russia won their soccer match tonight and advanced to the next bracket in the World Cup so everyone was out celebrating. The streets were packed with excited soccer fans and it seemed impossible to get anywhere. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before! The scenery out here is the also incredible night. We’ve seen these Buildings, boulevards and cathedrals before but to see them illuminated at night is something magical.  We started out in the Red Square and made our way across a bridge where we were right in the middle of Russia’s victory celebration! Our guide made a joke that Russian’s don’t express emotion very often so for something like this to happen is something incredible. We made our way to a few tour boats and drifted along the Moscow River. We saw the most beautiful buildings and bridges on our tour, which were also filled with celebrating soccer fans might I add. I honestly don’t know how to express the excitement that was happening tonight in words.

After our river tour we went to Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill, the highest spot in Moscow. Victory Park is a memorial commemorating Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in WWII. There’s a few museums and memorials here but the highlight of this spot is the fountain that’s Illuminated red at night, it’s absolutely beautiful. We didn’t do much exploring but the view here is amazing.

By the time we got back it was after midnight and we were exhausted! It was way past my bedtime.

We have another early day tomorrow!

Russia Day 10 (Moscow, Russia): The Red Square, The GUM and A Concert... With A Suprise...

Today is our first day in Moscow!

We arrived late in the afternoon so we had a pretty lazy morning which worked out perfectly because our excursion was a walking excursion. We met up with our group when it was time and we left for the metro station.

The public transportation system here has a lot of history and it’s extremely efficient! Efficiency must come with complexity because I wouldn’t be able to navigate the metro system without a guide. Trains run every 90 seconds and also connects with Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotellniki. We started off at off at Rechnoy Vokzal then we got off at Mayakovskaya and continued to the Teatralnaya station which is the stop for the Red Square. The Mayakovskaya station is one of the most famous metro stations in the world for it’s beautiful architecture and 34 mosaics. It was also the command center for Moscow’s anti-aircraft regiment in WWII.

The Red Square is the center of Russia’s government and the city center of Moscow. A lot happens around here. Ivan The Great believed trade should be conducted person to person so The Red Square became Moscow’s trade center. Today, it was set up for The World Cup’s Fan Fest… It was packed, hot and it rained most of the time we were there. Tourist and soccer fans filled the center of the square, the GUM and neighboring malls and stores. The GUM stands for Glávnyj Universáľnyj Magazín or Main Universal Store in English. This mall is best known for its revolutionary architecture and contains stores for some very high-end luxury brands. This is where my sister and I spent most of our time.

Because it was storming we continued our walking tour by bus. We were ushered into another nearby mall while we waited for our bus to arrive. This mall had more affordable shops and a lot of shops that were unique to Russia. This mall was also very crowded. Why couldn’t we have found this mall earlier?!

Before we went to our next scheduled stop we stopped at another cathedral, Cathedral of Christ The Savior. This cathedral is where Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture premiered, conducted by Tchaikovsky himself. The Iconostasis of this church is unlike any other, it doesn’t just separate the alter from the church but the paintings actually wrap around the whole cathedral. It's beauty has been compared to that of the Vatican.

We also attended a concert where they performed traditional, folk and popular Russian songs. The musicians were very talented, each had a formal music education and were vetted in one way or another.

After the concert we went back to the ship for a very late dinner and bed. Little did I know there was a surprise in store for me. After dinner the wait staff brought a small cake and sang happy birthday to me. They took the cake back and cut it and brought it back out to us on individual plates. The presentation was incredible! Thank you, everyone!

What a way to spend a birthday!

Russia Day 9 (Uglich, Russia): A Home Visit, The Church of St. Dmitri On The Blood and Russian Made Watches

Today we are in the city of Uglich where the Russian watch brand, Chaika, were manufactured.

We visited a local family’s home today. They were very hospitable, shared their home-made goods with us and told us a little bit about how they lived. They are a family of jewelers with 2 kids. One kid is away at university and the other one still a young student that lives at home. Before the watch factory closed down the father was a watchmaker. He and his wife are currently jewelers and their young daughter also dabbles in jewelry making. In the Russian culture it is customary to toast 3 times with moonshine, brown bread and pickles during a visit so we had drunk 3 shots of homemade vodka chased with brown bread and pickles before we left. He also showed us his garden where we wondered around while sipping some homemade dandelion wine he made. All of this happened before 10AM!

After we left the host family we went to the city center which has more churches I’ve ever seen. We started out at the Church of St. Dimitry on the Blood where the body of Tsarevich Dimitry, the last heir of Ivan the Terrible, was found. This church resides on the edge of the Volga River. The bell from this church was the first inanimate object to be sent to exile in Siberia. It was the bell that was rung to announce the death of Dimitry and was whipped and exiled like a human would be.

The next place we went to was the Transfiguration Cathedral. This 5 domed cathedral is the main temple of Uglich and is a popular pilgrim place for Christians. The body of Tsarevich Dimitry was held here before it was brought to Moscow.

Before I headed back I went to a few watch shops that sell Russian Made watches. It was interesting to see but nothing really peaked my interest. When we got back to this ship we had lunch on the top deck where we were served traditional Russian food. They had Pelmeni! We didn’t have anything else planned for the rest of the day besides dinner so we basically had the rest of the evening to ourselves. I ended up going to the bar to catch up with social media, emails and to work on the blog for a bit.

Tomorrow we arrive in Moscow! The last city of our trip

Russia Day 8 (Yaroslavl, Russia): Walking around town, A Couple of Churches and Shopping

Today we’re docked on one of the most significant ports on the Volga River. We went to another church and a street market and wondered around for a bit.

Yaroslavl is not a very well-known city but it’s a unique city that has made the UNESCO World Heritage list and has 140 monuments.  We took a walking excursion through the oldest part of Yaroslavl, Stelka.

We started out at The Church of Elijah the Prophet which has never been refurbished or had to be rebuilt and has the most vibrant, perfectly preserved interiors in all of Russia. The frescoes in the interior were painted by Skripin’s widow and a team of 15 people. Not only do the paintings depict the life of Elijah the Prophet but they also show what domestic, everyday life was like. It was revolutionary to depict the lives of peasants on temple walls.

The next stop of our walking tour was a farmer’s market, street market and shopping area. My mom loves places like this!  A lot of the booths here have World Cup merchandise. We spent a long time looking around the street market. The booths were arranged like a maze, they weren’t very consistent and some isles and vendors spaces were larger or smaller than others. The shopping area around the street market had more traditional souvenirs and your normal shops and cafés.

We passed by another church on our way back to the ship. I don’t remember the name of this church but it was a practicing church so men had to take their hats off and women had to cover their heads. There was a service in session when we got there. This was the newest in Yaroslavl donated by a patron in Moscow. Modern churches like this one have domes made of titanium instead of gold because gold is too expensive.

There were also vendors at the port when we returned to our ship but we didn’t have much time to stop and shop. We had dinner shortly after we boarded and lounged around until bedtime.

We walked a lot today!

Russia Day 7 (Goritsy/ Kuzino, Russia): A Monastery, A School and A Cooking Demonstration

Today was interesting. We got off our ship in one city, went to a monastery, visited a local school and got back on our ship in another city.

Our day started later than normal. We basically had the morning to ourselves. There was a presentation about Russia in the 20^th century and the second part of the Russian language lesson. I took the morning off and didn’t attend either lecture.

We have an excursion booked for the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery today.  When we arrived at our dock we were immediately greeted by street vendors. Most of the shops had the same merchandise. Brass pendants, hats and wooden Christmas figurines seem to be really popular around here.

The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery was founded by St. Cyril and is located near Severskoye Lake. This is Russia’s largest monastery. The lake here is sacred and is used as a water source. To keep the lake clean and pure motorboats aren’t allowed to travel through it. The monks bless the lake and still drink the water from it. This monastery is built like a fortress and is defended by thick walls, guard towers and a large community of monks and peasants. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery houses a vast library that holds very important knowledge and documents. There’s also a lot of the items on display, mostly donated by Ivan The Terrible.

After we visited the monastery we went to a local school. The tour of the school was led by one of the students who was fluent in English and very well spoken. She is currently 15 and has been studying English since the second grade. Even though school was out for the summer some of the students come back to lead tours and practice English with tourists. Our student guide was very knowledgeable and showed us projects that some other students completed during the school year. She took us to one of the classrooms and led a question and answer session with the help of our guide. Our guide is also a former graduate and was a teacher at this school. Interesting enough our student guide wants to be a professional tour guide after she completes her studies. Since there are no major universities in the city the children have to go else ware to continue their education. This causes issues because a lot of the students don’t come back after they complete university and the population dwindles. They find jobs and never come back. It also doesn’t help that the jobs here aren’t very high paying jobs. This has been one of my favorite excursions of the trip so far.

When we got back we learned how to make Pelmeni. These little morsels of deliciousness are very similar to wonton and are eaten with a side of sour cream. I absolutely love that stuff!

After the cooking demonstration we lounged around until dinner and hung out while our ship sailed through another river lock.

Today has been a good day!

Russia Day 6 (Kizhi, Russia): Another Small Village, A Party and A Cocktail Reception

We made quick stop on the island of Kizhi today. This island is a rural island in the center of Lake Onega.

Kizhi is a pretty small island. Around here a large village would consist of 10 houses, a medium village would have 3 and a village of 1 house would be considered a small village. Imagine that… A single house village! Most of the male workers would find work in St. Petersburg and leave for work all summer. Each house would house about 20 family members and have 2 sections, a section they would use in the winter and a guest section. During the summer the whole house is utilized. Only a portion of the house was used in the winter because heating a whole house in the winter was not economical.

Each of the structures here are made of wood and each wood piece was cut entirely by axe. The craftsmen here believed that cutting the wood with an axe would close the pores of the wood insuring the wood would be stronger and last longer. They used very little metal in their buildings because metal was very expensive. Even the nails were made of wood. Just to put things into perspective, 60 nails would cost 1 cow. Because most of the craftsman worked in St. Petersburg they brought some of the design elements back to the village. Some of the stone work that was done in St. Petersburg was recreated in wood and used on the village’s homes.

The most important building on this island is the Transfiguration Church. This church is one of a few in the Kizhi Pogost. The Transfiguration Church is also the biggest building on the island, with an impressive 22 domes, it was used at a summer church because it would be extremely hard to heat in the winter. They used a more modest 9 domed church, the Intercession Church in the winter. Both of these churches were built without using a single nail. These were not the original churches on the island. The original churches were struck down by lightning and they were rebuilt in the traditional way. Image that… A church destroyed by lightning!

After our tour of the island we had some time to do some shopping before we headed back to our ship.

When we got back we relaxed for a bit, then went to the sail off party. Afterwards, my mom and grandma attended a Russian language class and a lecture on the Romanov family. Before dinner we attended a special, invite only, cocktail reception for people that have traveled with their travel company before. It sounds more elaborate than it really is… They do this on every trip that we take. The staff and crew personally welcome you, the captain gave a speech, then we toast. There’s a running joke for events like this… If the captain is here, who’s driving the ship?!

Then we had dinner while our ship made its way through a few river locks. River locks are large gates used to control the water.  Afterwards it was up to our rooms to lounge around before bed

We did a lot during our short day!