The 9 days in Russia were dense, hectic, and really wild. We walked for -ages- every day, spent more time in the metro than anywhere else, and saw more ornate ceilings than anyone should ever have to. It was strange, and beautiful, and scary, and incredibly fun.
The location of our hotel in Moscow, which lay a fair bit outside of the city center, became a major source of adventure: transportation to and from the hotel sparked some of the more memorable moments.
Most stressful momentRunning to catch our plane through the metro, bags in tow, not knowing where to go, which bus to take, or if we had actually come to the right airport. We made it though, luckily, and were very glad to be back in London.
Funniest moment
I wasn't there, but I heard about it: first day in St. Peteresburg, a peddler comes up a small group trying to sell hats (and more)... his selling line went a little like this:
"Hats! Hats! *hushed* cocaine? hash? *loud* HATS!"
What took us by surpriseNo one in Moscow spoke English, at all. This made doing -anything- incredibly difficult. Russian is by no means an easy language to learn, but I picked up the most fundamental basics:
thank you - "spa-see-bah"
please / you're welcome - "pah-zhal-sta"
five - "pee-yet"
excuse me - "eez-veen-it-ye"
Apparently, they don't understand pointing either, because even by just pointing to the menu for what you want, they misinterpret. I realized how crucial common ground in culture OR language is necessary for pantomimes to work.
Something expectedThere was little I expected in terms of Russia, but I was not disappointed with the AA-people side of it. It was such a good experience getting to know people better.
Best tourist attraction
The Armory at the Kremlin- no cameras allowed, but it had the crown jewels, ancient gowns, and collection of royal carriages from hundreds of years past. The carriages, each hand carved in gilded wood, were absolutely stunning. The case of original Faberge pieces (eggs, ladles, random toys) put all other jeweled pieces to shame. I have never seen anything glitter as brightly as that. Even the tiniest diamond dust on the smallest toy was an explosion of refracted light.
Worst tourist attraction
The space museum in St. Petersburg, north of the river. We were so bored by then that I started taking funny pictures, putting my fur on statues, etc. The whole complex, church and "palace" included, was awful.
Coolest person we met
[This is a picture of Elena, not Gulsah's friend, at the restaurant]
Gulsah's friend from London (who is originally from Moscow, but is also half German) was visiting the city while we were there an joined up with us for a few days. Her guidance was so helpful; she knew enough about the city's history to give a great guided tour, took Gulsah, Yasmina, Elena, and I to a nice restaurant/bar, and even yelled at the waitresses for us at a coffee shop when they kept messing up our orders!
Best place we ateOn our last day, we crammed into a small cafe and dined for 4 hours over the best food we had all trip. The service was very good, and though it was a little pricier than what we had been paying, it was so worth it. Giant windows faced a quiet street and framed the semi-circle church. I had red pepper bisque, smoked salmon penne, a glass of white wine, and a little Russian-style hot chocolate (basically, a small cup of melted chocolate that you eat with a spoon). So good!
Worst place we ate
After about 8 hours of walking in a cold rain and not having eaten in just as long, we wandered into a small basement cafe for a very late lunch thinking that the service would be quick because there were very few people in it. We waited, and waited, and waited. It took over an hour for the single waitress to bring out drinks. It took nearly 3 hours for everyone to have their food. Half of the tables had to re-order because it took her an hour to realize they were out of chicken.
Best barMike, Shawn, and I stayed out one night in Moscow with a few of the Russian girls we had met at the school we visited. They took us to a dirty little hole-in-the-wall, frequented by college age students, that served food and bev 24 hours. The bar, called FAQ, was broken into several rooms- the entry was the dance club with thumping dancebeats; head up a little stair and duck through a miniature doorway padded with pillows and it's the first seating area, still too loud to talk but lit more tolerably than the neon strobes of the previous room; the second room, through another low door, led into a black-and-white collage space, with a bunk bed in the corner providing a lofted table for two; the third space was a library, with big squashy couches and bookshelves lining the walls. We placed ourselves in the black and white space, underneath the bunk bed, and shared a little vodka with an extraordinarily annoying Jersey-Muscovite girl studying at the same school.
It was cool mostly because it felt like the first piece of Real Moscow we had seen. Otherwise, we left quite quickly and made it back to the hotel in a dodgy cab.
Most eye-opening experience
Leaving the perfectly preserved city center of St. Petersburg and adventuring out to find a supposedly good market, only to discover that the fring of SP looks a lot like the heart of Moscow. Scary housing towers being constructed, already in shambles and ruin. We realized then that this was the reality of Russia, not some fabled storybook city. There are no suburbs as we know them, hardly a middle class. Imagine the Chicago projects stretching for miles. A dense scattering of cranes, at least 10, stood dead still on the horizon. It seemed impossible that they had done work for a long time because at their base stood half ruined shells of more housing. But look to the left and see all the towers are the same: decay constructed into them.
We boarded the first tram that passed (circa 1950) and felt convinced that if there was hell on earth, it might be here.
Best building / space
This is definitely a toss-up between the Church of Spilled Blood, the Moscow metro stations, and the Hermitage. They were all incredibly beautiful.
Worst building / space
Apart from the constructivist architecture (which wasn't exactly BAD, just not that interesting), the worst buildings were the typical decaying housing blocks around Moscow. Luckily we didn't have to experience them apart from looking, so the worst space we spent any time in was:
The night train from Moscow to St Petersburg left at 1 am. We got to the station around 12, 12:30, and found out that we were infact, not in first class after all, with nice safe private rooms, but crammed onto the top bunks of second class. The holes in which we were to lay were about 2'x2.5'x6' open on 2 sides so that you could just slide yourself up onto the little platform and lie, perfectly flat. There was no sitting up, or rolling over (at least for the tall or broad people). Despite this, and the excessive heat, I slept relatively well. Mike, however, who is incredibly HUGE, didn't sleep at all, but was hilarious to see smooshed onto the platform unable to move.
Strangest Thing
The "amusement parks" / markets. We went to two. The first had implanted strange temporary markets into beautiful old soviet structures. Children queued up to get their photo taken with a stuffed (and droopy looking) Shrek or Spiderman placed in front of old landmarks.
The second had small rides, broken and deserted, scattered throughout a snowy forest; 90's pop music floated through the branches from unseen speakers. It was incredibly eerie.
