Moscow

Can You Laugh When Things Go Wrong?

Have you ever tried to navigate your way through a new city where you didn’t speak the language? It’s a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be challenging. If you keep a good attitude and can laugh at yourself when you make mistakes (because trust me, you will make mistakes) you will get to your destination or achieve your goal with a smile on your face.

While in Russia, my friend and I came across many signs that we had no idea how to read. We were looking for a post office to mail some post cards and we thought we found one.

We walked into the office and saw that people were going over to a machine then selecting something, then waiting for their number to be called. Well, we tried to do what they did and walked over to the machine. This is what was staring back at us:

Could you have figured that out? We didn’t. We just laughed hysterically because we knew what we looked like to the people in the office, we had absolutely no idea what we were pushing but we chose one of those and waited.

When we got to the counter we showed the lady our postcard and pointed to the place where the stamp would be. She looked at us a bit funny them we broke out our dictionary and showed her the word ‘stamp’ in our dictionary.

She took the dictionary and found the word she needed to tell us in Russian.

Guess what it was?

Bank.

We were in a bank, not a post office. Again, we laughed and she laughed because it was funny. So, we thanked her in our broken Russian and walked out of the bank.

We eventually found a post office but that was on a different day and that is not a short story so I’ll save that adventure for another post. Just remember, don’t take yourself too seriously when you travel to another country, these experiences of laughter really help make the trip memorable and isn’t that what it’s all about?

Have you traveled to a country where you didn’t speak the language? How did you manage?

Shopping Center In Moscow, GUM

Do you know there is a huge shopping center in Moscow? With all the talk about Russia because of the Olympics, I thought I’d show you some pictures of GUM, a huge shopping mall in Moscow. It’s right off Red Square so you can see this and The Red Square in the same outing.

When I showed my mom these pictures she was amazed because she said when she was there in the 60’s the mall was empty. She said the shops were open but there wasn’t anything in any of the shops. Well how things have changed! This mall is totally upscale and filled with merchandise.

All of the pictures below were taken inside of the mall, check out the pic directly below. See the row of bikes? People can park their bikes inside the mall, isn’t that cool?

There were ping pong tables inside but I didn’t see anyone playing.

We did not try the rye bread drink but now I wish we had.

That’s me!

Check out the Versace advertisement on the escalator.

Are you a fan of malls? Have you ever seen a mall similar to this one?

Moscow Metro – Part 2

Have you been to Moscow? In all seriousness, they have the prettiest metro stations I have ever seen and I still can’t believe how immaculate and lovely every station was. There are several different stations pictured below and this is the second of several posts where I will show you the beauty of the Moscow Metro. Did you see part 1? There really isn’t much to say because I think the pictures speak for themselves. I have so many more pictures to share with you!

Have you ever been to Moscow? Is it someplace you have thought about visiting?

Saint Basil's Cathedral In Moscow

Have you ever been somewhere and gotten emotional? Seen something while you are traveling that made you stop in your tracks and just take it in? That is how I was when I saw Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow which is in The Red Square.

First of all, I never in a million years thought that I would travel to Russia. My mom was in Russia in the 60’s and she has told me stories about The Red Square, the Moscow metro, and how it was for her to travel around Moscow as a Black woman. I have heard about Moscow all my life and have always wanted to visit, but I just thought it was one of those places I would only read about and never get to experience.

So when this trip became reality, one of the things I was most excited about seeing was Saint Basil’s Cathedral. I didn’t realize how excited I was until I started walking towards it. You have to go through an arch to get to The Red Square and as I was walking towards the arch my heart was beating faster and faster. I was so excited. Then I saw Saint Basil’s Cathedral from far away and my eyes started to tear.

As I walked through the arch the tears started falling down my cheek and I was a bit embarrassed cause I know I must have looked ridiculous but I was so happy. Just knowing that my mom had walked in this square so many years ago and that I was able to travel to this place after hearing about it all my life and to now be standing in direct line of this majestic building that has mesmerized me my whole life was overwhelming.

And sometimes you have built up this expectation in your head about how great you think something will be then when you see it you think, “Is that it?” That’s how I felt about The Mona Lisa (I’ll tell you about that later) but I was not disappointed at all with Saint Basil’s Cathedral. It was as beautiful as I thought it was going to be and I couldn’t stare at it enough. I walked around it, stood in front of it, and just stared. It is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen.

We spent four days in Moscow and everyday I made sure to go and look at Saint Basil’s Cathedral. In fact, on the way to the airport we asked the taxi driver if we could drive around it one last time and thankfully he agreed.

The pic below is of us as we jumped out, had the taxi driver snap the pic and then we headed to the airport. I have never seen architecture like this before, and I still can’t believe that I was able to see something so beautiful in person. It met all my expectations and I’m still thrilled that I was able to see it.

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Have You Seen The View From The Ritz Carlton In Moscow?

When we were planning our Russia trip we decided that we would eat at one fancy restaurant in Moscow and St. Petersburg. While we were in St. Petersburg we ate at a fancy shmancy hotel and we decided have drinks at the Ritz Carlton. Why not dinner at the Ritz? Well, since the food in Russia didn’t really sit well with me, at this point I was no longer eating in restaurants. I was making my own food at our apartment because I had been sick one too many times. So we settled on drinks on the rooftop bar at The Ritz Carlton.

As you can imagine we were pretty excited about the view. Neither one of us ever thought that we would be sitting overlooking The Red Square. Have you ever taken a trip that you never thought was possible? Russia was like this for both of us and on this night we were in awe of our surroundings. We just sat and took in the magnificent view and enjoyed our drinks. Guess how much a drink at this bar cost? Wait for it…

This sign perplexed both of us. We couldn’t understand why there was a Miami sign on a Moscow restaurant. But as you can see from the pics, it seems as if they have a whole Miami theme going on.

So this was my drink. Normal looking drink, don’t you think? We both only had one. Wanna know why? This bad boy was $30!!! Yep, thirty dollars for one drink. So clearly we only had one. It was nice to soak up the ambiance and have a nice chat with my lifelong friend but for that price, we drank our drink slowly, paid our bill and continued our conversation at our apartment.

See what I mean about the Miami motif? I don’t think I have ever seen a car on a rooftop displayed this way.

Can you see how the seating area has blankets on the backs of the couches?

Sorry this pic is blurry. I tried to fix it as much as possible cause I wanted you to see the bar. Palm trees and sports cars, all on a rooftop in Moscow. Who would have thought?

So there you have it, my lovely evening on the rooftop of The Ritz Carlton. If you happen to be in Moscow, just the view alone is worth the exorbitant price for drinks. When you travel, you can almost guarantee that if you choose to eat or have drinks at a Ritz Carlton, the view and/or your surroundings will be spectacular.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, please check out some other posts I’ve written by clicking on my post archives to the right, clicking under ‘you may also like’, or share this post on one of the social icons below. Thank you and please come back!

Moscow Facts

When I was in Moscow I was walking down the street when I saw a bunch of people sitting outside enjoying their meals. I didn’t think anything was strange about it until I looked a little closer and realized that in Moscow it’s a fact that if you sit in a some cafes, they will provide you with blankets.

I thought it was cool how each restaurant had different colored blankets.

Have you ever seen anything like this? This was the first time I had ever seen a restaurant offer its patrons blankets for their comfort, and I thought it was a nice touch. What do you think?