February 19, 2008: WE HAVE ARRIVED IN RED SQUARE! Moscow!
We made it to Moscow! The flight was about three hours long. Not bad! As we flew into Moscow you could see field after field of white. Lot of snow on the ground. Once we made it off the plane we went through customs. I was thinking this would be some long process. Lot of questions. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind. Remember I grew up under the Soviet Empire. These people were supposed to be our enemy. So in my mind I thought the worst. Of course, once we got to the gate there was a nice lady who looked at my passport photo and looked at me – looked at my passport photo and looked at me. She then looked over a few things and stamped my passport. She took one last glance at my photo and then me! That was it – I was on my way.
Once we picked up our luggage, we met our driver. A big guy. Big muscles and sort of gruff looking. He didn’t speak much English. We put all of our bags into his van and away we sped. And I do mean sped! He must have been going way over the speed limit for most of the way into the downtown area.
The traffic was horrendous. It reminded me of New York City. CARS EVERYHWHERE! People cutting in and out of traffic – horns blowing (not as bad as China though). It was a bit scary! There was slush on the roads but I don’t think they were slick.
It took about 15 minutes to go one block (once we were downtown). There were soooooo many cars. We passed the Kremlin and made our way to the hotel. We are actually only a couple of blocks from Red Square.
It was dark when we got here so we decided to go grab a bite to eat but not before we walked through Red Square. Now, keep in mind, all of the images of Red Square, that I have in my mind, are the images of when I was growing up with the big parades where they used to show off the nuclear missiles and their army. I think most of you will remember those scenes on the nightly news (that was when we had the news three times a day instead of 24 hours a day – also before Britney and Paris Hilton). So this was my mental image of Red Square. What Red Square USED to be like and what it is today are two different things. Now there is ice skating and people selling fur hats. There is a big mall called Gum but spelled differently of course. A VERY expensive mall for Russia. I would think that most people could not afford the types of store in that mall. I would imagine that I couldn’t afford much in that mall. David confirmed that indeed this was a very expensive mall.
Anyway here are a few photos. We found a nice restaurant after we visited Red Square. I had Elk – which was good – a bit tough but something different!
We didn’t bring the flash with us – will take more photos tomorrow. We are going to the Kremlin and some other sites. We are going to a Russian Ballet on Thursday Night. Should be interesting.
I have no idea what this says or what this is! I thought it was cute though.
As you enter Red Square this is what you see…walking up from
the north
The entrance to Red Square
Ice skating in Red Square (that is the mall behind there)
The Kremlin is behind this wall
This is where all the great Soviet leaders would stand and watch the military pass by.
Joey in front of St Basil’s Cathedral – Red Square – Moscow, Russia
That would be me in St Basil’s Cathedral – Red Square
St Basil’s Cathedral – Red Square
Joey trying to figure out what he should have to eat. The menu was several pages long.
