Finally...Russia update

So I've gotten a few emails asking about how Russia/life has been lately. Well to be honest, it's almost busy :)

The Russia trip was amazing. It was jam-packed full of activities, touring, and walking (almost 5 miles a day of walking!). So we took a bus to Riga and that was relaxing. As a break we stopped at the Hill of Crosses, which as you can see from pictures was breathtaking. Thousands and thousands of crosses put on a hill as a response to the Soviets trying to remove religious symbols. It started with one cross that the Soviets kept burning down, and overnight the villagers would put it back. Eventually, people started bring tons of crosses and now it something of a religious monument.
After the bus to Riga, we took an amazing overnight train to Moscow. It was hilarious to fill an entire sleeper car with our group, that was the beginning of the bonding. See pictures of the adorable cabins. I slept like a baby due to the constant motion of the train and the cozy beds.
We arrived in Moscow around 10 in the morning and got to experience our first subway. In Moscow, they are ornately decorated, but it is illegal to take pictures and you can get arrested if you try, so you're gonna have to trust me on that one. I have a few pictures of the escalators I'll add to the photo album. Some of the stations are so large, that at their deepest point they are 90 meters or about 300 feet underground. That first day we we went first to the Red Square. It was so overwhelming, but not as big as I imagined. I thought I would be very impressed with its grandeur (considering it hosts a very complicated history), but it was just okay for me. We also visited the mall in the Red Square, a very boring (in my opinion) 3-hour walking tour of Kremlin, and the CIRCUS! So the walking tour would have been interesting if it was soooo long. Literally, standing for 3 hours straight listening to this burly Russian woman talk history, was not my cup o' tea.
The circus was a highlight of many people's trip. It was definitely geared at little kids, but there were some amazing tightrope walkers and acrobats. I had more fun watching the little girl next to me enjoy herself so much then the actual show. Every time the lions roared she would squeal or giggle.
The next day we went to St. Basil's Cathedral and Christ the Savior cathedral, both were absolutely beautiful. Especially Christ the Savior, which is the one with the world famous domes. We got to go to the Russian souvenir market, but I didn't buy anything because I didn't have a Russian speaker with me, so I would of had to pay tourist prices which were kinna outrageous. Then we we one a sightseeing tour of Moscow in air, both by Ferris wheel and monorail. I'll be honest. Not very pretty. Smoggy, and stretched for miles. After all of that and dinner, we went to Red Square at night, which was so beautiful (see photos).
The final day in Moscow we were supposed to visit Lenin's tomb, but he was getting a wardrobe change and was closed that day. Besides the fact that he is stuffed, he gets his outfit changed once a week. Nuts.
Overall impressions of Moscow: The city was depressing and enormous. It was so big I felt like we spent more time underground on the subways to get from place to place then actually seeing things. Everyone was very stern, our interns were very careful of how loud we were, how much playing around we did, and since political elections had taken place only a week before we came, we were watching constantly for political riots/unrest. The police (as you may know) are allowed to check your documents whenever they like, so we had to be aware of our passports and visas at all times. And on top of that on the lookout for gypsy kids, which are notorious for surrounding tourists and pickpocketing them. This, despite the cool tourist sights we saw, put a damper on my overall impression.
That night we took an evening train to St. Petersburg. For some reason they added an extra first class sleeper train and we got such lush accommodations, including two meals, TV and movies etc. It was very nice to kick back and relax since we had be going from 8-11pm every day in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, on the first day, we did a 5 hour walking tour of the city. It sounds horrible, but it was great. Our tour guide spoke perfect, no accent English, and was the owner of these "alternative" group tours. He asked us what we wanted to see, could answer every history/geography question we could think of, and we got lunch at a cafe. We visited the Split Blood Church that day as well, which is a modern version of the domed cathedrals. We visited Nikolayevsky's palace and went to the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show.
The "Feel Yourself Russian" show was hilarious. It was a very expensive tourist trap, but hilarious. It was full of Russian folk dancing and singing, set in a 19th century palace. We we entered this concert hall, we were greeted with caroler-type singers with shots of Russian vodka. It was hilarious to see everyone try the awful stuff. After going to our seats they brought out more shots and our trip coordinators enjoyed themselves (Lithuanians like vodka). The show was so funny with audience members getting pulled up on stage to dance. After the "Feel Yourself Russian" folk show, the interns went four different places and Vlad took a bunch of us to to this local dive-bar called "Fidel." They were playing cheesy American dance music (like "I love Rock and Roll") and we had so much fun.

Okay I can only do these updates in stints. So I'll be back for the other half.

Much love