Exploring Russia with Oleg and Natasha

Hello everyone!  I know it's been a while...I think over a year now :(  Apologies for falling SO behind, but I'm back, and promise to catch you up to date.  Get ready for a slew of posts (I should probably apologize in advance!).  Hope all is well, and enjoy!

April 2014:

Two weeks before embarking on our new adventure to China, we couldn’t resist taking one more holiday, this time to Russia, to visit our friends, Oleg & Natasha, in Moscow.  Never in a million years did I think I would be traveling around Russia with dear friends of ours.   

To make it even more special, we happened to be there over the Easter holiday, the most celebrated religious holiday in Russia.  To be included in their family’s Easter celebration traditions was truly amazing (pics to follow).

Politics aside, we absolutely loved our time spent in Russia.  It’s such a fascinating country, with SO much history, and beautiful sites to visit.  Not once did we feel unsafe, targeted, or that people were hateful towards us.  We feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit.

Our first night in Russia was enjoyed over a delicious, traditional meal with our friends.  Meals here are very extravagant, yet relaxed.  Soup is their specialty, and we found out that it’s typical to have soup, along with a main, for lunch and dinner.  Let’s just say we ate really well during our entire trip…everything was so delicious!

Detour on the way to dinner...

After dinner, we enjoyed a lovely view of Moscow at night over cocktails at Hotel Ukraina, one of the Seven Sisters.  The Seven Sisters are a group of seven skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style.  The buildings are beautiful and extremely elegant – their sole purpose?  In the words of Stalin – “We won the war…foreigners will come to Moscow, walk around, and there’s no skyscrapers.  If they compare Moscow to capitalist cities, it’s a moral blow to us.”

On day two, we all hopped on the train to the lovely city of St. Petersburg.  The beautiful facades that surrounded us here pleasantly surprised us.  Occasionally, we had to remind ourselves that we were not in the French Riviera or Paris.  We were in awe of the architecture and colorful buildings!

Our gypsy-mobile (aka taxi)...it was literally a random person who stopped for us.  So funny!

A few of the highlights…

Hermitage Museum – one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great.  We saw a teeny tiny fraction of the collection, as it holds over 3 million(!!!) items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world.  It’s housed inside the Winter Palace, off of the main square of St. Petersburg, Palace Square.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral – the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the city.  Along with the very ornate interior, we enjoyed a (very windy!) walk up to the top of the dome, for an amazing view overlooking the city of St. Petersburg.  

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood – this church was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, and therefore was dedicated in his memory.  This Baroque-style church was one of our favorites…not only is the outside magnificently beautiful, but the inside is COVERED in mosaics from floor to ceiling – over 7500 square meters of mosaics, to be exact – apparently, more than any other church in the world.

The Peterhof Palace – referred to as the “Russian Versailles” – it was laid out on the orders of Peter the Great. 

Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan -  the cathedral was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome, and was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church.  After the War of 1812 (when Napoleon was defeated), the church became a monument to Russian victory.

Coffee in the Singer House – a beautiful Art Nouveau building, first designed for the Russian branch of the Singer Sewing Machine Company…now, the city’s largest bookstore and café.

Peter and Paul Fortress – established by Peter the Great in 1703.  The fortress mainly served as a base for the city garrison and a prison for high-ranking or political prisoners.  The Peter and Paul Cathedral, inside the fortress, is the burial place of all Russian Tsars from Peter I to Alexander II (with the exception of Peter II and Ivan VI).

The Bronze Horseman – a statue of Peter the Great, commissioned by Catherine the Great – one of the symbols of St. Petersburg (in the same way that the Statue of Liberty is for NYC).  It was meant to express her admiration for her predecessor (aka a way for her to connect herself to Peter the Great in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people, since she gained her position through a palace coup).

Back in Moscow, we were welcomed home with an amazing Easter brunch!  Natasha and her mother had literally been cooking for hours.  Little did we know, this was just a precursor to the Easter feast enjoyed later in the afternoon.

Oleg and Natasha's adorable daughter, Zenya!

After brunch, we set out to explore the Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, and Saint Basil’s Cathedral.

Kremlin, meaning fortress inside a city, is in the heart of Moscow and includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and serves as the official residence of the President.  It has been inhabited since the 2^nd Century BC!  So, dating back to the grand dukes and tsars. 

Red Square is easily one of my favorite city squares.  Standing in the middle, you’re surrounded by the colorful onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral on one end, the towering walls and towers of the Kremlin, a Parisian-esque building housing many high-end stores, and then the State Historical Museum echoing the looks of the Kremlin towers.  We drank in the views from a lovely outdoor café – the perfect way to experience all the happenings that take place with the throngs of people congregating in the square.  Side note, it was here that we witnessed the only reference to the Russian take-over of Crimea, which happened right before we left for Russia.  A couple was holding up a Ukrainian flag in front of St. Basil’s, taking a picture – not even one minute passed before a police car approached them, words were exchanged, and the flag quickly rolled up and stored away in a back-pack.  It was then that we realized the scale of their security…we were a bit more tight-lipped after this occasion ;)

Since it was in fact Easter, we decided to stroll over to Christ the Savior Cathedral, one of Moscow’s biggest and most famous Orthodox Cathedrals…and then it was time for the Easter feast!  I mean, look at this spread!

With full tummies, we ended the day at the world-famous Bolshoi!  The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world, and we couldn’t agree more.  Knowing that we were in for a 4 hour opera performance of Boris Godunov, we all decided we would only stay for about half of the performance, if that long.  It was SO good though, that we ended up WANTING to stay the whole 4 hours.  The 4 intermissions, spent at the Champagne bar, helped :)

Oleg attended the Moscow State University, which happens to be another one of the Seven Sisters, situated on Sparrow Hills (another great view!).  We decided to take a tour of the campus, which was spectacular.  Fun fact, it’s the tallest educational building in the world!

We continued our educational day with a hike around Victory Park, Moscow’s open-air museum.  The monuments and memorials seen here were extremely moving, especially the Holocaust memorial sculpture (pic doesn’t do it justice). 

We spent our last evening overlooking the Moskva River, sipping on cocktails from a rooftop bar – the perfect ending to a magnificent trip full of endless amounts of history and emotion, bold and beautiful architecture, hearty meals, and wonderful memories made with our great hosts, Oleg and Natasha!

Cheers to great friends all around the world!