I'm back in Moscow and my tour is officially over. I spent the last day and a half with the rest of my group doing the prearranged acitivies. Everyone else left this morning and I now get four glorious days to myself to roam around and explore on my own schedule.
I have to admit that the activities that they arranged for us as a group were quite good. Straight from the train we headed to Red Square to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. Walking into Red Square and seeing the onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral is what really made me feel like I was back in Russia, even though I'd been in the country for about 4 days already.
We spent about an hour wandering around Red Square, which was just as fantastic as I remember, although seeing as I was wearing yoga pants and was coming off of 5 days on the train without showering, I felt a bit grimy and out of place. Still, the stop was totally worth it, since the weather has gone drastically downhill since Saturday.
Yesterday we took a day trip to the town of Sergiev Posad, about 75 kilometers outside of Moscow, to visit a stunning 14th century monastery.
After exploring the ornate churches and stocking up on lots of matrioshka dolls and other Russian souvenirs, we headed to a toy museum where we got to paint our own matrioshkas. While it was really fun, I don't think I'll be giving up photography in favor of painting any time soon. We ended the afternoon by having tea with a local family.
In the evening after our organized activities were done, I asked our guide to drop us off in town rather than taking us straight back out to our hotel so that we could find dinner and wander around a bit before everyone else had to leave.
We ended up on Arbat Street, a main pedestrianized shopping street in Moscow. I was immediately struck by how many Western chains have taken over the city since I was here in 1998. I can't remember exactly what used to line Arbat Street, but I know it wasn't Starbucks, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Cinnabon and the Hard Rock Cafe like it is now. While it's not at all surprising, it is a little dissapointing.
The other notable change is a new "downtown" area that is going up, with shiny new skyscrapers that look really out of place.
Finally, my plans to visit the Izmailovo Market that should be right near my first hotel have been dashed. Izmailovo Market used to be a massive flea market that offered a combination of traditional souvenirs, antiques and Soviet memorabilia and random stalls of clothing that appeared to have fallen off the back of a truck somewhere. While it was admittedly a little bit sketchy, it was fascinating and offered some things that you couldn't find anywhere else. Apparently the sketchiness won out, however, and a few years ago it was shut down. Now in its place is some tourist replica of a Kremlin of sorts that appears to be a cross between Disneyland and the Excalibur in Las Vegas (and is also the view from my current hotel room).
Those changes aside, Moscow still feels the same for the most part and I'm so excited to be back here. The Moscow metro is just as beautiful and clean and user-friendly as ever, and riding it last night made me feel like I was home again. I was even stopped for directions by a local, which always makes me laugh.
And now I'm off to begin my solo explorations of Moscow in the rain (alas, the weather can't be nice all the time)...
I have to admit that the activities that they arranged for us as a group were quite good. Straight from the train we headed to Red Square to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. Walking into Red Square and seeing the onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral is what really made me feel like I was back in Russia, even though I'd been in the country for about 4 days already.
We spent about an hour wandering around Red Square, which was just as fantastic as I remember, although seeing as I was wearing yoga pants and was coming off of 5 days on the train without showering, I felt a bit grimy and out of place. Still, the stop was totally worth it, since the weather has gone drastically downhill since Saturday.
Yesterday we took a day trip to the town of Sergiev Posad, about 75 kilometers outside of Moscow, to visit a stunning 14th century monastery.
After exploring the ornate churches and stocking up on lots of matrioshka dolls and other Russian souvenirs, we headed to a toy museum where we got to paint our own matrioshkas. While it was really fun, I don't think I'll be giving up photography in favor of painting any time soon. We ended the afternoon by having tea with a local family.
In the evening after our organized activities were done, I asked our guide to drop us off in town rather than taking us straight back out to our hotel so that we could find dinner and wander around a bit before everyone else had to leave.
We ended up on Arbat Street, a main pedestrianized shopping street in Moscow. I was immediately struck by how many Western chains have taken over the city since I was here in 1998. I can't remember exactly what used to line Arbat Street, but I know it wasn't Starbucks, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Cinnabon and the Hard Rock Cafe like it is now. While it's not at all surprising, it is a little dissapointing.
The other notable change is a new "downtown" area that is going up, with shiny new skyscrapers that look really out of place.
Finally, my plans to visit the Izmailovo Market that should be right near my first hotel have been dashed. Izmailovo Market used to be a massive flea market that offered a combination of traditional souvenirs, antiques and Soviet memorabilia and random stalls of clothing that appeared to have fallen off the back of a truck somewhere. While it was admittedly a little bit sketchy, it was fascinating and offered some things that you couldn't find anywhere else. Apparently the sketchiness won out, however, and a few years ago it was shut down. Now in its place is some tourist replica of a Kremlin of sorts that appears to be a cross between Disneyland and the Excalibur in Las Vegas (and is also the view from my current hotel room).
Those changes aside, Moscow still feels the same for the most part and I'm so excited to be back here. The Moscow metro is just as beautiful and clean and user-friendly as ever, and riding it last night made me feel like I was home again. I was even stopped for directions by a local, which always makes me laugh.
And now I'm off to begin my solo explorations of Moscow in the rain (alas, the weather can't be nice all the time)...
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