russia: moscow knick knacks

After the two trips of Murmansk and St Petersburg, we decided to stay in Moscow for the last full weekend for the ladies in Moscow. All three of us had a hard time believing the year was already over, as time had flown by. (Weekends had flown by, the workdays in between not so much.) This year was full of fantastic traveling around Russia, I'm so glad we did all of it.

We started our weekend by going back to the Ritz-Carlton for high tea. The tea itself wasn't nearly as good as we remembered from October, but the cakes and other food were yummy. I don't think I'll want to go back by myself next year. 

On the way back to Claire's flat, (where we were all now staying,) we stopped at three different supermarkets to make sure we had enough food and snacks for the next week and some.

After relaxing for a little while, all three of us got gussied up and went to a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre. This is one of the iconic activities of being in Russia, I can't believe it took us so long to do it. When the Bolshoi has a performance of the Nutcracker on New Year's Eve, it is THE thing to do that evening, and tickets sell out within minutes of going on sale.

We had wanted to go all year long, but finding a performance where we could buy tickets online, and had affordable tickets still available, and working around all our weekend trips made it more difficult to sort out. We went to see a performance of the opera Don Quixote.

The girls didn't read the synopsis ahead of time, so they were pretty clueless during much of the performance. The opera is sung in French, which doesn't mean much. Even if you speak/understand the language in which an opera is sung, you're not likely to hear the lyrics clearly enough to sort out what is happening. As with many operas, this one had supertitles, but they were in Russian, which didn't help the three of us at all.

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the grand, classical theatres of Europe. Very plush, very gold, great ceiling. We were glad we went, though all three of us had sore feet from wearing somewhat fancy shoes, something we're not used to doing, at all.

The next day, Sunday, we attempted to go to one of the many museum estates around Moscow, this one called Kuskovo. I thought I had it sorted out as to how to get there, but I didn't get it right. The train we were on didn't stop at the stop I was expecting, so we got off at the next stop.

Unfortunately, we had a hard time figuring out where to go from the next stop, so we changed our minds and just walked around that random area of a suburb of Moscow. It wasn't particularly memorable, that's for sure, but the weather was good so we didn't mind.

At that point Claire had finished her school year, and since she wasn't coming back for the next school year, she didn't have to go to any of the end of year meetings. Angela had finished her school year a full two weeks earlier, and wasn't coming back, so she didn't have meetings either.

I had one more week of school, so the girls took the week to go to Volgograd for 3 days. They got to see the world's largest Lenin statue, I have to admit I was jealous. This was graduation week for school, so it was a week of concerts and such. Fun to watch my kids, and realize how much they'd progressed over the course of the year.

On Wednesday afternoon, I took the metro out to Aviamotornaya station, and walked from there to a specific building. I'm not sure why I wanted to see it, but I did.

Gosplan Garage was listed on a russiabeyond post of random buildings to see around Moscow. I don't remember the history of the building at all, but it stuck with me as an art deco car garage. I guess that's a bit strange sounding, but hey, most of what I see is a bit on the strange side.

Along the way to the garage I walked past a small park with a WW2 memorial. Even though I've seen more than my fair share of these by traveling around Russia, I'll never stop taking a few moments to honour those who gave everything. Never forget. 

turkey: instanbul, with seoullites

i think this was my 3rd visit to istanbul...though when i came to turkey for my winter holidays in 2011-2012 i started and ended my trip in istanbul, so i guess i could say i've been here four times...anywho, the purpose of this visit was to hang out with a girlfriend from my years in korea...
my flight left kyiv at 0640, which meant i didn't get much sleep and was at the airport plenty early...ugh...the benefit of an early flight means i don't waste the day traveling, i landed in istanbul right on time...visa and passport control went really fast, there weren't many people in the queues...the visa guy even put the sticker right where i asked him to, no questions asked! (usually they - passport people and visa people - want to know why i want a stamp or sticker in a particular place)...

my second favourite coffee chain is called caffe nero...i like them because they have good chai lattes and chocolate fudge cake...there are a number of branches in istanbul, including two at the airport...guess what i had for breakfast? :)
i took the havatas airport shuttle bus to their dropoff near taksim square, it's a 40 minute ride or so...(depending on the time of day, of course)...amanda picked me up and we went back to her flat for a while...we've known each other a few years and have some of the same issues going on in our lives right now, so it was great to catch up...

eventually we got moving, and went back to the hotel at the bus dropoff point...there we picked up lancelot, another seoullite...i didn't know him, but we have mutual friends, and he's a traveler, so i figured he was okay...
the three of us hopped in a taxi, amanda told the driver where to go, and asked for the meter...the driver said no, and his fixed price would be 40TL...amanda threw a fit, told him he was dishonourable for trying to gouge foreigners...(she spoke in turkish)...all three of us got out of the taxi, and found another...this one said his set price was 15TL, as there was bad traffic along the way we wanted to go...

amanda said absolutely not, so we climbed out of that taxi as well...eventually we got a third taxi, and the driver agreed to use the meter...our final fare? less than 10TL...
we went to a hotel next to Ciragan Palace, on the Bosphorus river...the setting is lovely...amanda and some of her friends had arranged to gather to enjoy the holiday (Christmas) by having high tea...it was nice, we enjoyed ourselves...at one point we walked out to the edge of the river to take photos as the sun was setting...beautiful...
somehow, we didn't have to pay for any of the three of us...when we asked for our bill, the waiter said there was nothing left to pay...

then we asked for the bill of the other table in our group, to see if they had somehow paid extra...they didn't, and our waiter didn't seem to care...so, happy holidays to us, and we will pay it forward...
we took a taxi to an area of the city known as galata...you have to get up a steep road/stairs to get to the base of the tower, but its not a long way...we didn't go up the tower, maybe next time...i'm told there are great views from up there...galata is an area with heaps of little restaurants and places to hang out...amanda told us the steps in the area are usually covered with young adults on weekends, just hanging out with their friends...

we finally got home around 2300 that night, i crashed fast...since i hadn't had much sleep the night before, then been awake and social most of the day...
the next morning amanda and i got up slowly, it was awesome...after tea and breakfast, amanda searched online to find a hamam for us...she found a great deal for the botanica spa at the radisson blu hotel in pera...IT WAS AWESOME...our ticket got us towels, bathrobes and slippers...we were also able to hang out in the jacuzzi for a while, drink water, and stay warm in the sauna...

our hamam service included a full body scrub, a mini massage, foam bubbles all over, and shampoo...i haven't been that relaxed in a while, it felt soooooo good...plus my skin was super smooth...i would love to do that regularly!!
lancelot met us that night for dinner, i wanted to have tantuni...kinda like a turkish version of a soft burrito...(foodies will scream at me for that comparison, but i don't know what else to say)...sooooo good...plus we found a place with friend mussels, and mussels with rice inside a mussel shell...by the time we got home, we were full...awesome!

the next morning we got moving a little earlier, and went to the organic market not too far from amanda's flat...it was fun to wander around and see what was available...honey, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, etc...
after the market, we hopped on the metro to meet lancelot...amanda noticed we could take the metro a way she hadn't gone before, then we would take a tram afterward...lets just say it took us much longer than it should've to find the connection to the tram after leaving the metro station...eventually we figured out where to go (thanks google maps)...we met lancelot, and made our way to the mosaic museum...

along the way, amanda noticed a carpet store...she's been looking for a carpet, and had already been to the mosaic museum, so she told us she would find us in a little while...the museum was fairly small, she didn't think we would spend much time inside...it was indeed a small museum, but the mosaics were pretty impressive...the mosaics are displayed on the walls, and in a fenced off area in the middle...
after exiting the museum i walked through another market area...lots of jewelry stores, random souvenir stores, and more...

then i found amanda in the carpet store...when i got there, she had one carpet she liked a lot spread out on the floor, but was still looking...she ended up finding another carpet she liked even better, then the negotiations started...amanda had no intentions of buying a carpet that day (she told me later she'd told the salesman from the beginning that she was just shopping) but the salesman kept trying to negotiate...
after leaving the carpet store, amanda and i went to an indian restaurant for snacks...while i'd been in the mosaic museum, lancelot had left to go to the archeology (or is it architecture?) museum, and had agreed with amanda to meet up at 1730...amanda and i had some time to kill before then, and decided we were hungry...that restaurant had an amazing lassi...sooooo good, and big :) ...the top floor was a covered balcony with a fantastic view of the hagia sofia...

we met up with lancelot and started making our way toward dinner...when i first sent a message to amanda asking if she would be around during these holidays, i mentioned i wanted to go to this steak house again, as we had during my first istanbul visit...the steak house is in a mall with fancy shmancy stores, and isn't the cheapest place to eat in the city...but it's sooooo worth it...dry aged steaks: perfectly tender and full of flavour...YUM...two of amanda's friends joined us, dinner was lovely...

the next morning i headed out by myself, as amanda had to do a lot of paperwork...another activity i'd wanted to do during this trip was go on a bosphorus cruise/tour...i chose one that was 2.5 hours, and involved getting off the boat for 30 minutes to visit a palace on the asian side of istanbul...(one of the awesome aspects of istanbul is that it is the only city in the world - i think - on two continents)...
the cruise was nice, though the guide had a peculiar way of speaking english...it was fun to see the palace where we'd had tea a couple days ago from the river, as well as other sights in the city...plus, although it was cold, it was also sunny, which always makes me happy...
the palace we visited is called Kucuksu, and was built by the sultans as a hunting lodge...no one ever spent the night, it wasn't meant as a residence...according to the guide there are also kitchen facilities, he also said no cooking was ever done there...it's relatively small, but very fancy...every room has a fancy ceiling, and a chandelier...

the floors are all wood, and are beautiful...the patterns of the wood are complicated, no nails or glue were used in the building of the floor...no photos are allowed, but i broke that rule, as did plenty of other folks...our group entered through the back side, the front side is on the river...it's quite nice...i asked the guide how many people were in the hunting parties, he said minimum 300, sometimes several thousand...!!!
the boat dropped everyone off at the pier near the spice market...i ate a fish sandwich from a boat docked next to the tour boat, it was good and not as expensive as i expected...i then walked through the spice market, only stopping when i saw a stall with ginger...i liked the guy, he didn't pressure me to buy, he just waited as i looked...
after the spice market i made my way up the hill of sultanahmet...i went back to the indian restaurant, i wanted another lassi :)

i ended up spending too long drinking the lassi, i got to the blue mosque 10 minutes after it closed for the day...booo...i was disappointed, but i've seen the mosque before, and it's not worth getting upset about something i can't change...
i made my way back home, i had some time to relax before picking up lancelot at the metro station and bringing him back to amanda's flat...amanda had told us she would cook dinner, it was really really good...not only was the food awesome, she made it...i love turkish food, so eating out all the time isn't horrible, but who doesn't love yummy homemade food??
lancelot left after a while, and i started packing up...boooo...
my flight leaving istanbul was scheduled for 0555, and the earliest airport shuttle bus was at 0400...i get nervous about being on time for flights and such, i figured it was better to take the 0100 bus, and take no chances...either way, i knew i wouldn't get much sleep...
the lady who checked me in to the flight put me in an exit row, so i had plenty of leg room...i also had all three seats to myself, so i was able to lay down and sleep a little on the flight, yippee!!
i love istanbul...