Russia - In Conclusion

Christ the Savior Cathedral

This beautiful church is right in downtown Moscow, what's interesting about this place is that Stalin turned it into a public swimming pool during soviet times. There are so many quirks about every place you visit in Russia seems like. Anyway I couldn't take pictures inside but it was pretty fantastic.

Garden of Fallen Heroes

After the fall of communism, Russia wanted to get rid of all of the soviet statues, so they basically put them all in this park. Although, there are still tons of statues of Lenin around the city.

There are also some other really neat statues, that have nothing to with communism.

I've never seen seth make this expression before, so I'm just glad I was able to capture it.

I was pretty blown away when I saw this, it was really moving seeing all of these deformed statues surrounded by an over powering statue of Stalin. Behind Stalin is a wall full of deformed heads made of stone, surrounded by barbed wire, to represent the gulogs. It was really powerful I have to say.

We went to a few really cool museums in Moscow, including the Tretjakov museum that had all artwork done by Russian artists. It was cool because it went in chronological order so you could see the progression. The only thing I wish they had was some more modern art.

I'm assuming this dude is Tretjakov?

After this museum we walked around this really pretty area and came across the kissing bridge (I'm not sure if this is the only one but I'm guessing there are several). We saw two brides on this bridge taking pictures. Couples will come here and put they're initials on a lock and lock them on these metal trees. Isn't that cute?

The other museum we went to was the Pushkin, which had an AMAZING Picasso exhibit. We waited in line for 45 minutes but it was completely worth it (I did want to see some more pieces of his rose period...where are these??? It seems like I've seen a million picasso's by now and I've only seen about 2 or 3 pieces from the rose period). Anyway it was totally fantastic.

I thought these buildings were pretty cool. This is going to sound bad, but I can't remember if it was Stalin or Lenin that built these. They were 7 around the city and they were built for his sisters.

The Russian Market

I loved this market! There was so much stuff I wanted to buy it was ridiculous, but I didn't buy it all, don't worry. We did however buy tons of Martrushka dolls. Not all for myself, but I have to say when I got home and looked at all of them I realized that I might not be able to give some away that I thought I would, so we actually went back and bought a couple more. Seth had to put a stop to it. Besides that though, we bought 2 soviet astronaut vintage posters and a few other little trinkets.

We ate in this smokey restaurant and for some reason it was full of stuffed animals.

When we got home we went through all our loot. And since we are 10 years old we decided to take some pictures of me modeling the merch.

I really enjoyed this trip and I was sad to leave. When people asked me how I was liking it there, the best answer I could come up with is "it's interesting" and it really is. I can't say I fell in love with it, but it was so different than anywhere I've ever been and it was so interesting to see this entirely different culture. It was so great spending time with my family, which was definitely the best part.

I also learned a ton about the country's history and it was all fascinating. I don't think I'd ever come here on my own, it's a difficult country to visit. Nobody speaks english and it's pretty hard to get around. Once we came to Europe we couldn't believe how easy everything was. Anyway thanks so much Aunt glo and Uncle Tony for an amazing three weeks!

Next stop: PARIS!!!