russia: moscow wanderings

We started the weekend with a day trip, then on Sunday decided to stick around the city and knock a few things off the list. We'd been traveling most weekends during the year, but there is always something going on in Moscow.

First up was an ice cream festival in Sokolniki Park. I'd seen it mentioned on a couple Moscow related Instagram accounts I follow, who am I to ignore ice cream?

It was easy to meet up with the girls at the metro stop right outside the park, then figure out what was happening. Our expectations were not met, to say the least. I was hoping for lots of places to buy scoops of ice cream, but that's not what we found. Instead it was nearly all vendors with freezers selling ice cream bars.

There were two or three vendors with scoops available, all of them quite expensive. Sigh. We each had an ice cream bar, as well as a couple scoops, but it wasn't as fantastic an experience as we wanted. Darnit.

After ice cream we went out to Izmailovo, as Angela had a few more souvenirs to pick up before leaving the country. Claire and I didn't need anything, but it is a photogenic place to go, so we went. It was a long-ish metro trip between the two places, fortunately we like the metro :)

During that week I used my Wednesday afternoon to go out to a university campus. Russian State Social University was mentioned on one of the Moscow Instagram accounts, I'd never heard of it before. (I reckon the city of Moscow must have a ridiculous number of universities I've never heard about.)

This university was mentioned because of something they had on their campus: large scale models of the so-called Seven Sisters buildings around the city.

I had to walk through part of a botanical park to get to the university campus, but it wasn't hard. All the building models were right in front of the main building of the university, I didn't have to go exploring.

The models were super cool. Bigger than I'd expected, and just nifty.

I love seeing random stuff around Moscow.

russia: melikhovo and chekhov

According to Wikipedia, Anton Chekhov is a Russian playwright and short story author who is among the best in history. I haven't read anything he wrote, so I don't have an opinion of my own. That being said, Chekhov is a well known Russian writer, and not hated by the government, which means it is possible to visit his estate, called Melikhovo.

We decided to visit Melikhovo mostly because it is listed in my Lonely Planet guidebook, not because any of us has any interest in his writing.

Chekhov (1860-1904) was born in a port city on the Sea of Azov called Taganrog. 

He was part of a big family, he had six surviving siblings. (It doesn't say how many siblings passed away, or didn't make it through birth.) Apparently schooling wasn't completely his thing, as he was held back when he was 15, because of a failed test in his Ancient Greek class. (I'm pretty sure that nowadays you wouldn't be held back a full year simply for failing a single test in one class, at least I hope not.)

At some point while he was in high school his family went broke. To avoid debtors' prison the dad went to Moscow, and brought mom and other kids with him. They left Chekhov behind to sell off family possessions and finish his education.

(Which he had to pay for himself.)

During the next three years Chekhov read, wrote, tutored, and had several affairs, one with the wife of a teacher. Hmmm. What I get from this is that he was a good writer, but perhaps not a completely good person.

At 19 years old, Chekhov moved to Moscow to be with the rest of his family. Over the next 4-5 years Chekhov went to med school in addition to writing short satires about Russian street life to support the family. In 1884 he graduated from med school, becoming a proper doctor.

Wikipedia tells me he always considered himself a doctor rather than a writer, even though the writing brought in far more money.

Despite his medical training, Chekhov was unable to prevent himself from catching tuberculosis. Even though he knew what was wrong, he didn't officially admit his illness for quite a long time. Instead of treating other sick folks, he used the time to write.

In 1890 he traveled all the way to the eastern side of the country, to interview and count the prisoners on the convicts. He did this for three months, coming away with horrific stories and experiences about life in the penal colonies. 

He wrote a non fiction book about what he saw and heard.

In 1892, he bought Melikhovo, living there with his family for 7 years, until 1899. Even though he was officially living there, he continued to travel. His tuberculosis caused a hemorrhage of his lungs in 1897, after which doctors strongly suggested a change in his lifestyle. The next year he bought property near Yalta, in Crimea, and built a villa. He moved to the villa with his family in 1899. (I wonder if that villa is open for visitors now?)

He got married in 1901, though his wife lived in Moscow, pursuing a career as an actress. In 1904 he became terminal due to tuberculosis, but he still traveled to the German spa town of Badenweiller with his wife. He ended up dying there, and his body was transported to Moscow in a refridgerator normally meant for oysters. Chekhov was buried in Novodevichy cemetery, which is the final home of quite a few well known Russians.

The point of our trip was to see Melikhovo, so I'll describe his life there a bit more. There was a main house in which he lived with his family, as well as a completely separate building for the kitchen. 

Apparently he didn't want the smell of food to get into the main house. There was also a doctor's office, where he treated the employees of the estate as well as other peasants in the area. Those who were poor he treated for free. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a good idea to treat people when he was a tuberculosis patient himself, buuut.....

Chekhov also helped to build schools, and a fire station in the surrounding areas.

There was also a small cabin where he did a lot of his writing, I think this is supposed to be the highlight of the estate, but we didn't visit it, because it was quite small, and had an extra entry fee. 

Plus we'd already seen various personal estates of well known Russians, and figured it wouldn't be that different.

Getting to the estate wasn't very hard, we took a train to the city of Chekhov (known as Lopasnya until 1954,) then caught a marshrutka to the estate of Melikhovo. We wanted the basic entry ticket, which allowed us into the house, kitchen, gardens, and doctor's offic. The lady selling tickets really wanted us to pay the extra fee for the writing cabin, it took a while to figure out what she was trying to say. I got frustrated, as I thought I was pretty clear, but she went on and on. Oh well, eventually we got the tickets we wanted.

We visited each of the buildings I listed above, I liked the doctor's office the most. The main house was crowded with tour groups, it was not fun to walk through there. It was nice to see the house, not so nice to try to get around all the people. When visiting the kitchen we were only able to stand in the middle and look into each of the two rooms.

The writing cabin was quite cute, and very photogenic; especially when you add in the nice landscaping of the area. Even so, we didn't feel as if we were missing anything.

The lands of the estate are still well kept, so we liked walking the paths as much as visiting the buildings. One of the paths was lined with purple flowered trees, which were blooming beautifully.

After visiting everything, we had to wait a while for the next marshrutka back to the city of Chekhov. The bus schedule I found online was quite different from the one listed on the paper posted in the bus stop. I'm just glad we always have plenty to talk about.

When we got back to the city I figured we should explore a bit, since we were there. We ended up finding a couple city signs, including one that said I love Chekhov. (In Russian.) 

Much to our amusement, we stumbled upon the grand opening of a grocery store, which including music booming on the street, and ladies dancing just outside the entry.

Since Chekhov is a normal Russian city, we also found WW2 monuments and a statue of Lenin. It's not an exciting city, and I'm pretty sure the only reason tourists come here is as an add-on to visiting Melikhovo.

We found a museum in the city dedicated to Chekov, something about a post office and his writing. I was able to buy a few postcards, which were stamped with his signature. Unique souvenir, to say the least.

We ended up having an early dinner at a pizza restaurant, then caught the next train back to Moscow. An easy day trip, I'd recommend it to visitors.

russia: moscow: krasnopresnaya park

Even though I've got a guidebook specifically for Moscow, many of the things I see around Moscow are found through social media. Krasnopresnaya Park is probably not a park I would normally have visited, as it isn't all that big, nor is it very famous.

The reason I decided to visit the park is because of something small, to be found all over the park.

Several trees around the park have small paintings of fairytales, painted on the tree trunks themselves. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but it's pretty neat.

The social media post that had let me know about the existence of these paintings also had a map showing me where each of the trees is located around the park. 

When I first arrived at the park I thought it would be easy to pick out the right trees, but that wasn't the case at all, thank goodness for the map! Very thoughtful of whoeva put the post together, instead of me ending up wandering all over the park and getting frustrated.

Krasnopresnaya Park was founded in 1932, something about the landscape and gardening art of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. I'll be honest, I found the park pretty boring, except for the trees. There is seasonal decoration during the winter, but it still isn't anything to write home about. 

And the statue of Lenin, in one corner of the park. I wonder if I'll ever be able to say I've seen all the Lenin statues in Moscow.

russia: a weekend in and around Moscow

We spent most of the first 75% of the year traveling around Russia on weekends. For various reasons, we've ended up planning to stay in Moscow during the last  two months of the school year. There are heaps of day trips to do, and each time we do one we learn about more. (The list of places to go never gets shorter, no matter how much I see.)

We met up early Saturday morning, at 0815, at Strogino metro station. Just outside the exit of the metro station was the marshrutka we needed to get to our destination for the day. 
We boarded, but a minute or so later I realized the driver was smoking while waiting for departure, which was gross. 

I'm guessing that is against the rules, but I have no idea who to call to fix the problem. We hopped back off, and stood outside to wait for 15 minutes. The weather was amazing, so waiting outside was totally fun.

The marshrutka ride was easy, and almost empty. Apparently no one is on that route at 0900. We got off at the right spot, and remembered that our sight of the day was only going to open an hour later, at 10. We got close to the ticket window to try to figure out the price we'd have to pay, and were told that it was the first day of the season, so the estate would be opening late, at 1300.

The lady suggested we walk down the street a bit to another museuem, the museum of technology. Since we had nearly four hours to kill, that seemed as good an idea as any. The walk was on a pavement that went through a wooded area, so it was actually really pleasant.

We arrived at the museum of technology about 20 minutes before it opened. We weren't the first to arrive, there was already one family waiting. While waiting we figured out we'd pay the full entry price, which would allow us into the museum, as well as on the outside grounds. (You can also pay for just walking around outside.)

The museum of technology is just over 11 years old, and is the baby of Vadim Zadorozhny. There are three floors of exhibits inside, consisting of cars, bicycles, motorcycles, horseless carriages, etc... There are also small arms, and some displays related to WW2. Downstairs were items related to everyday life, like toys and hygiene items and radios and Tvs, etc...

The old cars were the best part of the museum, hands down. Soviet brands like ZiL and Gaz, international brands like BMW and Mercedes, Harley Davidson and Indian. There were also small airplanes hung from the ceiling. A.MA.ZING. We loved everything inside.

Everything displayed outside was of the sort we'd seen before: tanks and military planes mostly. It was nice, but not as cool as the cars. There were young families out and about, with the kids crawling all over the tanks outside.

After taking a snack break on one of the benches outside we decided to walk back to Arkhangelskoye. We got back to the entrance gates at 1245, there was already a queue. I wonder how long they'd been waiting. Right at 1300 employees started handing out free entrance tickets, and we passed through the gates.

Arkhangelskoye was a grand estate from the early 18^th century. It was owned by a couple families until being nationalized by the state in 1917. It is now a state museum.

We walked through the gates to find out not all the landscaping had been finished. Some of the trails were still sand and dirt, others had pieces of wood over the sand and dirt to help you walk. When will all of it be finished?

We walked around outside first. The property is extensive, with a fair bit of it landscaped in a classical garden style. There are tunnels of greenery, and lines of trees. There are statues at regular intervals, and the whole thing creates an atmosphere of a western european royal property.

On one side of the property is a place called the Colonnade. It's just what the name makes it out to be, a series of columns. According to everything I read, it is unfinished. I don't know what that means; should the columns go all the way around? It's photogenic, of course.

In the middle of the columns is a small chapel, I think it is an exhibition space now? The painting on the walls and ceiling is gorgeous. When we stepped inside there was a piano and chairs set up in preparation for a concert. Before stepping into this chapel our tickets were checked, which we found interesting. Since the day was free, why bother to check for tickets?

After the colonnade we went back to the main palace. We had to wait a few minutes for people to come out, I assume the employees were keeping a steady number of people inside; not too many, not too few.

We had to put on shoe covers when we went into the palace, and our tickets were checked again. Again, since the day was free, we weren't sure why. The use of shoe covers in this country drives me nuts, since they're horrible for the environment, and don't stop dirt/water from getting into a building.

This palace made me think "dacha version of a grand european palace." instead of carving on the ceilings, everything was painted in a 3D way. Some of the ceilings were the same, painted in a way to create a 3D impression.

The second floor of the palace was closed, as I think renovations are still going up there.

We got to see a huge, fake meal set up in a grand dining room, a bedroom with the tallest canopy ever, and a few other rooms. I'm sure I could look up the purpose of each room but I'm too lazy for that. My favourite room had tall windwos, lettting in the beautiful sunlight.

After finishing with the palace we left the property. A bus and a metro and a quick walk brought us to dinner: a burger place.

The next day Claire's foot hurt, so she opted to miss the outing with Angela and me. Angela waited for me on the platform of my metro stop, a station called Baumanskaya. From there we rode all the way to Tsarytsino, which took nearly 40 minutes. (And cost us about 50 cents (USD) each, yay for government subsidized public transport.)

Tsarytsino has been around as an estate since the 16^th century. For years it was owned by one of the royal families. Catherine the Great bought it after falling in love with the beautiful landscape. 

She ordered a grand palace to be built, I believe that started in 1776. In 1785 she came to inspect the construction, as the palace was almost complete. She decided she didn't like it, and had it torn down, ordering it to be rebuilt, and to be better. Construction continued for another 10 years, until she died. Her successor had no interest in completing the building, so it just sat there for more than 200 years. The Russian state took it over at some point, with major completion and renovation work done from 2005-2007. The whole estate is now a museum estate, with the park area open and free.

The first time we came to Tsarytsino back in September, the weather was great; it was the same this time. Sunshine and warmer temperatures, yay! We walked through the park around the property, trying to avoid some of the people. We didn't really succeed, but we tried. We indulged in overpriced ice cream, just because it was there.

To get into the museum, you take an escalator down underground, which is where the ticket desk is located. There are several ticket options, we chose the most basic: the grand palace and bread house. You can also visit the opera house and greenhouses for extra fees.

We entered the palace first, which has several floors to visit. The first floor was the most boring, (to me,) as it was just pictures and information. I think it was mostly about the renovation, and some of the items that had been found in the ruins. There were also pieces that once existed in the palace, all quite fancy of course.

The second floor was my favourite. We went up what I think of as the middle staircase, which was really fancy. Mirrors, marble, spirals, etc... It was a double staircase, with platforms at each floor level. I loved it, and could've spent more time in the stairwell.

There were two grand rooms on the second floor: one was Catherine's room, which had a whole LOT of gold. Gold columns on the walls, gold on the ceiling, and a statue of Catherine at one end. There were large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, though I think they were overrun by the gold everywhere else. The floors was wood patterned, I loved it.

The other grand room had AMAZING chandeliers, columns on the walls, and was more of a red shade. It also had fantastic flooring. Off one side of this room was a small room filled with period clothing. You could rent the costumes for a little while, then prance around the room and have fun photos taken. (We skipped this.)

The top floor of the palace was rather boring as well. Two big rooms, both mostly of wood. I think they could both be used as concert halls. From there we took the stairs all the way down to the ticket desk area, then went the other direction, coming up in the Bread House. I don't know why it has that name, because it is now an area where art is displayed. I liked some of the pieces we saw, but nothing struck me as particularly great.

We took a few more photos after walking back outside, then made our way to the metro station. About 45 minutes later we met up with Claire at another station, we all walked together to a small cafe that serves grilled cheese sandwiches. A great way to end a great weekend.

russia: moscow and tulips

Finally, a Wednesday with good weather. A lot of the time I'm convinced that if I have the afternoon off it guarantees the weather will be awful.

I hopped on the metro back to the neighborhood in which I lived last year, as it was tulip time, and I wanted to take every opportunity to see my favourite flower around the city.

One of the spots the city puts in tulips is in front of Moscow State University. The view was just as pretty as I remembered. 

Who are we kidding though, you could put tulips in front of a wall and I'd still love them. Favourite flower since first grade, when I was 7.

Back on the metro, to a house museum near school. Unfortunately when I got there I found a sign on the gate saying it was closed for renovation. I didn't see a date on the sign, so who knows how long the closure is for.

I'll try again next year to see a house in which Chekov lived for a while.

russia: ulan ude, ivolginsk, and babushkin

The last stop of our May holidays was a city called Ulan Ude. It's the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, on the eastern side of Lake Baikal. (The republic surrounds the lake.)

Ulan Ude has just over 400,000 people, according to Wikipedia and the 2010 census in Russia.

Ulan Ude was settled the same way much of Siberian and Eastern Russia were settled: as a fort, by the Cossacks. They did this in 1666, and called the fort Udinskoye. The arrival of the Trans Siberian Railway is what caused/helped most of the growth of the city.

Our train arrived on time (of course,) the next morning in Ulan Ude. The sun had already come up, so we didn't need to hang out in the station. We wanted to take photos with the train station sign, but the back side of the station was under renovation so that didn't happen. Argh.

We knew we wanted to do a day trip that day, and we couldn't check in early, so we put our bags in storage for the day and started walking. About 10 minutes after we walked out of the station it started snowing, hard.

Yes, I know we were in Siberia, which is pretty much legendary for winter, and winter weather, but we were soooo not ready to deal with a blizzard in nearly mid May. 

There was no shelter nearby, so we just kept walking.

Our first team photo was in the snow, at the world's largest Lenin head. I have no idea why anyone would think to make his head this big, but they did. It's 7.7 meters tall, or 25 feet!

More walking brought us under a Victory Arch. This one crossed the street, painted beige. Not as photogenic as other arches we've seen around the country. Since it crossed a busy street there was no way to take a centered photo, which is usually what I prefer.

As it was May, the fountains of the city had been turned on. Since it was also blowing snow, this made for an amusing contrast, at least for us. I tried to take a photo, but the snow didn't show up well, oh well.

This particular fountain was right in front of the theater, which was gorgeous as usual. One of these days I'm going to plan a trip well enough that I book myself tickets to a performance in one of the theatres I see. (Probably in the warmer months, so I can wear appropriate shoes with nice clothing.)

We found a small cafe for breakfast. It wasn't amazing, but it was warm, which was much appreciated at that point. 

Trying to order was confusing, though I don't know why. Language issues, I think. We thought we were ordering off the menu, but it seemed as if the lady put in a basic order then added various items as 'extra.' In the end they forgot to bring Claire's drink, she was disappointed. Sigh.

From there we walked to a mini bus station to catch a marshrutka to a big Buddhist temple complex. We had to wait a bit for the marshrutka to fill up, then we had an hour long ride. The landscape was beautiful, but marred by the rubbish caught in the bushes all over. Plastic bags, ribbons, etc... 

So sad that people can't seem to put rubbish where they should. Or better yet, use less so there is less rubbish to begin with.

The temple complex in Ivolginsk is beautiful. Colourful, and quiet. There are rows of prayer wheels all over, as well as several different temples. As far as we could tell, not all the temples were open, but that was okay. There were small cabins on one side of the property, I think you can rent them for a day or two, as if you're a pilgrim. It would certainly be a calm place to stay, though I'm pretty sure that even I would be bored. 

I kinda led us clockwise around the property, as much as I could. We went inside two of the temples, which were awesome. We spun most of the prayer wheels we saw as well, always following those clockwise. There was one spot with several large stupas, though I didn't see anyone praying near those. I'm not sure of the difference between what is inside a temple and a stupa. There was another large temple under construction on the property, I wonder how long that will take to finish. And what it will look like, and how it will be different from the other temples that already exist, and who is paying for it.

We left because the wind and snow were picking up, and we were cold. Angela went off to the toilet and just a minute later the bus to go back pulled up. We yelled her name, hoping she would hurry, because we didn't know how long it would be until the next bus came. Thankfully she came quickly enough, and I think the driver understood we needed our friend, so all three of us were able to take the bus.

We got off the marshrutka as it went back through the city, not too far from the Lenin head, instead of waiting to get all the way to the mini bus station. 

It was a lot easier to walk back to the train station from that point to grab our bags, then check into our flat for the next couple nights.

As our flat was located right near a whole bunch of restaurants, we didn't have to go far to get food for dinner, yay.

The next morning we got up early so we could do another day trip, this one to a small lakeside town called Babushkin. We'd all loved our visit to Lake Baikal in March, and were hoping to see it again, but from the other side of the lake. During part of the train ride we got glimpses of the lake and realized that some of it was still frozen!

The train station in Babushkin was really modern and new. The rest of the town, not so much. Half the roads we followed to get to the lakeshores were dirt, or at least unsealed. The walk to the lake shore went through town, and wasn't the least bit interesting.

Then we got to the lake, and it was all worth it, all over again. Despite the cold, it was beautiful weather, and we were on a 'beach.' Our initial views had all of us just standing there taking it all in. So pretty. I need to come back to this lake in summer and fall, because I bet it is just as gorgeous.

Babushkin is not where people come to see Lake Baikal. There is no tourist infrastructure, at all. We walked along the beach, not seeing a single other soul, except for the guys out fishing. They were out in the water, all wearing waders.

One of the guys was sitting in a rubber raft, the others were standing in the water. I imagine they were all cold.

Further along the beach we founded a couple abandoned train cars that are probably used as shelters or homes at various times. We also found a lighthouse, totally covered in graffiti. I wonder if it is still used at all, or when it was last used.

Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous every time we looked at the water. The beach was not sand, it was small rocks, most of which were pretty smooth. Even though we thought everything was beautiful, I don't think locals hang out on this beach in the summer.

Eventually we went back into town, and go figure, another snowstorm rolled in, fast. It only last about 15 minutes, but whoa, it was fast.

The map showed a museum in town, but it was closed. It wasn't a Monday, so we figured it was for the holiday weekend. Or maybe locals just open it wheneva they want? It's not as if keeping it closed was going to miss a lot of foot traffic.

We found a 'cafe' with basic Russian food. I was okay with that, because I can always have solyanka, which is basically a kitchen sink meat soup. Then we went next door for boozy, because we were all still hungry.

Obviously we had nothing left to do at that point but kill time until the train back to Ulan Ude. We looked into at least three different stores, but there was nothing of interest. Really cheap Russian ice cream bars are not tasty.

We found one memorial on the way back to the train station, I think it was a general war memorial.

By the time we got back to the train station we only had another hour to wait. All three of us had our phones, so it was no problem to pass the time.

We got back to Ulan Ude too late to get dinner, so we had to make do with the snacks we hadn't yet eaten. Oops.

The next morning we got up and walked back to the train station to cross the tracks and find a bus stop. We didn't have to wait long for the bus we wanted, which took us up a hill to a Buddhist temple sitting on top. The views over the city and surrounding area were great from up there. There were a couple big gold stupas right at the entrance; one of them was a museum and the other was filled with small Buddhas inside.

There is a 'tunnel' of prayer flags around the entire back side of the temple, while walking through it we saw people adding more flags. So many prayers, I hope most of them came true.

Claire and I went into the temple, though Angela wasn't interested. There was a small sign that said photos were allowed with a small donation, so I put money in the box. 

I took photos, trying not to get in anyone's way, and following the respect rules I know. I hope I remembered them all. It was a nice temple, with a giant Buddha in front, and small cushions the monks sit on while praying.

We took the bus back down the hill, mostly because it was a steep hill, which would've wrecked our legs, not because it was all that far. Near the train station we tried to find the railroad history museum, but that didn't seem to exist anymore. There was a spot with a locomotive on display, looking the same as other Soviet trains.

While trying to find this museum we stumbled upon another Lenin statue. This one was full body, but not nearly as big as the head in the city center.

After resting up in the flat for a while we went back to the city center to find more to see. We found the city history museum, which wasn't big. Just three small rooms, all on the same floor. Even so, we liked the photos, items, and descriptions exhibited. It's always neat to see what people used in daily life 100 years ago.

We walked all the way to the end of the main street, as we could see a church down there. 

Only the bottom half of the church was open, I wonder what the 'main' sanctuary looks like, or if it is used at all now.

A couple blocks away from the church we found the memorial to the victims of repression. It's a dramatic memorial, including barbed wire, and a wall with names. To get there we passed the original 'mansions' of many of the city's merchants. They had historical/informational signs in front, but weren't open for visitors.

More walking brought us to the central market. Set up like the central markets of a lot of towns, there was a meat section, dairy section, produce section, pickled food section, etc... 

I got some dried fruit, and wanted kimchi but couldn't figure out whether I'd be able to take it with me on the plane or not.

Park Pobedy was the main park of the city, and there were heaps of people out having fun with friends and family. There was a giant fountain in the middle, also running. Of the fountain we'd seen in the snow and this one, one of them is called the musical fountain, but we didn't hear music around either of them.

At the back side of the park there was a giant set of stairs, at the top of which was a WW2 memorial, complete with tanks, wreaths, and plaques with 3D profiles of soldiers. There was also an eternal flame, one level above the whole thing.

We had dinner at a random restaurant in town. We got to look at menus in both English and Russian, it was interesting to compare the two. Not all items were listed on both items, and the English translations were entertaining at times.

On the way back to our flat we picked up Subway sandwiches for breakfast the next day, since our flight left in early morning. 

I used this walk to find a moment of no traffic near the Victory Arch, and stand in the middle of the street to take the photo I wanted.

We'd twice checked with our landlady about leaving early in the morning, as we knew she had to travel an hour to get there. We wrote the time in 24 hour time, so there was no question about when we were leaving. Despite this, she didn't show up when she said she would. We called over and over again, waking her up, argh. We used texting to figure out where we could leave the key; she returned our deposit by bank card, so it wasn't a huge issue but it was still annoying.

Fortunately it only took about 20 minutes to get to the airport, the rest of our journey was easy enough. We were on a budget airline, and boarding started an hour early because they checked the carryon bags of everyone. If your bag didn't fit, you had to check it, and they were on it. Since we'd paid for checking a bag, we were happy to see this happening.

I can't wait to get back to the eastern half of Russia.