MOSCOW for Victory Day (День Победы)

According to good ol' Wikipedia, Victory day is: The Soviet Victory Day[1] or May 9 marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and some post-Soviet states). It was first inaugurated in the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, following the signing of the surrender document late in the evening on 8 May 1945 (9 May by Moscow Time).

Victory is probably the biggest holiday here next to New Year's. You've probably seen the HUGE parade that occurs on Red Square every year that basically showcases Russia's military power.... in an absolutely over -the -top fashion.

Obviously a couple friends and myself wanted to head to Moscow to experience this crazy day first hand.

A little summary of events:

-Our eight hour train ride to Moscow from Petersburg was great. Train was clean, bathroom had toilet paper AND hand-towels ( I know, insane), and besides the unidentifiable red stain I found on the sheets that were given to me , everything went smoothly.
-We arrived in Moscow around 630am, which was great... we were able to figure out the insane Moscow Metro when it wasn't so crowded. Although later it looked like this:



-After visiting Tolstoy's Moscow estate (which had all of his old things almost exactly as they were left), we visited the famous Novodevichy Cemetery, where people such as Yeltsin, Krushchev, Bulgokov, Gogol, Checkov, etc were buried. For a cemetery, it was pretty lively.

-Went to STARBUCKS on Старый Арбат, where I payed for an overly-priced chai tea latte. The 190 rubles was worth it to feel like I was in America for 20 minutes.


My Starbucks cup says "Masha"



- Aaaand after this we decided to check into our hostel to take a little nap... no I'm just kidding. The hostel didn't "receive" our reservation. Uhhh.. Even after we showed the hostel lady our confirmation number that was sent to us through Hostel International she said :" Well, even though you have a number, we don't use Hostel International here. And anyway, theres no space"..Yay! But no fear, we found another hostel next to Старый Арбат so all ended well. The new hostel had a naked baby running around and some Russian teenage boy kept hanging out in our room while we were trying to nap... BUT the place had real beds so I was happy.

-The next day I woke up with a wicked cold but I'm a champion so we left the hostel around 8 to try and see the parade. Everything was closed but we did see the flyover:




-After a lot of walking around we went to see if Red Square was opened (it had been closed for the parade). It finally was! We had to go through 4 security check points- which, sorry Russia, weren't very effective-- glancing into a bag for 3 secs isn't really... "security".

It was a lot smaller than I expected, and full of people waving Soviet Flags...

Anyway here's a pic of me in front of the gorgeous St. Basil's Cathedral:


All in all it was a great trip and I definitely want to go back!


For further enjoyment:

Nastya beat me over the head with an umbrella today. She stopped right before her mom came by the room and gave her mom a big grin. The mom walked away smiling at the fact that the two of us were "getting along".

Sochi! "Открой Новые Возможности"

Finally after a few months of cold St. Pete, the study abroad group headed south for some much needed sun. Sochi, for those of you who don't know, is going to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics. While my time in Sochi was a blast, the collective 98 odd hours I spent on the train there and back were even more interesting. I'll explain:

The train, as you can see, has coupees on one side, and regular beds-that-turn-into-tables on the other. Each bed thingy is a bunk so there's another bed on top. (I'm finding this hard to explain for some reason...hope the picture helps). I've never seen anything quite like it. It was a 2 day train ride there, and 2 days back. The first night we boarded around 8pm, and all was well until lights out. Around 3am, when the train stopped in Moscow, more people boarded. I was unwilling taken out of my REM cycle when an obnoxious молодой человек started to put random things on my bed. I sat up in my half-asleep stupor and said:

Me: "Ну..это ваш пакет?" Well is this your bag?
"Нет, девушка, это ваш пакет"No, girl, this is your bag.
"Нет, это не мой пакет" No, this isn't my bag.

He sighed and grumpily put it somewhere else. Then he dropped his train ticket on my face.

After that I figured since I was awake I might as well go to the bathroom. On my way there my face hit about a dozen dangling feet... (the beds are not long enough for the average person) and поэтому I woke a bunch of people up. And then my face smelt like foot.

If that wasn't enough, the next day, I'm sitting on my little bed-table-thingy, minding my own business, when out of NO WHERE a FISH falls on my face!! An entire fish. Tail, eyes and all. I screamed and caught the attention of pretty much the entire train, and realized it was my obnoxious bunkmate's lunch. I threw it back on his bed while he was napping. Then he knocked his cookies down on my bed. Then his passport fell. This is when I found out he's apart of the Moscow Circus. Figures.

After the 47 hours finally ended, we arrived in Sochi. In case you were wondering, this is what I look like after a 2 day train ride:


Gross.



ANYWAY now for the point of the blog: Sochi.

Excursion one: Visited a tea plantation. One of the first in Russia (If I heard correctly) Got to sample some awesome tea and other nummy treats:


Excursion two: A hike up a beautiful mountain. Became one with nature and saw a waterfall:


Excursion 3: Another hike. I believe the top was called Axyn. You could see Abxazia from the top:

Before the climb (Notice teeeny building):


After the climb (view from said teeeny building) :

I'd say the view was worth it. Even if I couldn't feel my legs.

Excursion 4: Krasnaya Polyana!! This is where the olympics will be held. Went on an hour ski lift ride to the top of a mountain:

Was chilly at the top but the view was incredible!

Last excursion: Went to a trout farm. Was so underwhelming I'm not even going to write about it.

All in all it was a great trip! They have a lot of work to do for the Olympics but I think they'll pull it off. It's a beautiful place!

Next trip: Moscow! Stay tuned!