Moscow Layover, Take 2

This time around, I was doing the Moscow layover thing without Papa Beast, but I was still able to easily figure out the airport and the express train into the center of the city to meet our friend.

 

The express train drops you off near this Metro station, across the street from the Bolshoi theater.  There was light snowfall when I got into the city, but it doesn't show very well in the pictures.

 

My friend met me at the Metro station, and then we went to this lovely café for lunch.  It is owned by a local artist (who is apparently well known, but I'm not the most knowledgeable about the visual arts) and has a very eclectic style.

 

Case in point -- the boat hanging from the balcony!

 

Here's a shot of the inside of one of the Metro stations.  They really are beautiful there!

 

This bridge is full of metal trees that people use for the "love locks" -- a very unique and cute take on the craze.  :)

 

One of the trees.

 

 

A close up.  I love the heart-shaped ones.  :)

 

Having fun with photo angles.

 

More fun with my camera phone.

 

So beautiful!

 

Another beautiful Orthodox church in Moscow.

Inside Café Pushkin, where we stopped for tea and cake.

 

The cool elevator.

 

More elevator pictures.  Hey, it doesn't snow inside (it was hard at times to take pictures in the rain and snow, because I didn't want to damage my phone).

Details.  The metal tag is my coat check tag.  Sure beats a paper stub.

 

The inside.

 

Lets take a selfie!

 

My friend's coffee drink with the restaurant's monogram.

The sunroom, though it wasn't very sunny.

 

Honey cake.

Napoleon.

The pharmacy.

More details.

The mayor's residence.

A statue surrounded by falling snow.

The bar we stopped into for more hot drinks.



Loving the PS3 decorated in a traditional Russian style.

After a lovely day, it was time to leave my friend, and take the sky stairs for the flight to Bishkek.  Feels like something out of the Pan Am show.  :-p

Moscow -- as a day trip.

Okay, so the blog control panel is back in English, which is AWESOME.  I was able to figure out where it had the place to change languages, and I feel like I deserve a gold star.  :P

I'm so glad we decided to get visas for Russia so we could go into the city of Moscow and see the sights.  It's such a wonderful place, with so many beautiful historical things to see and places to go.  Our guide was a dear friend of a dear friend of mine (and now a dear friend of ours herself), and she was so wonderful and really helped us see all the amazing things in her city.

We rode the express train from the SVO airport to the center of Moscow, where Anna met us.  She took us via Metro to the Kremlin and all around Moscow, really.  It was a lot to do in one day, but it was really worth it.

People touch the nose of this soldier's dog for luck.  We touched it and had a fantastic day -- I don't know if it was luck or if it was just that Russia is such a wonderful place to visit.

We got to see the outside of the Bolshoi theater.  Some day I would love to come back with enough time to see a ballet here.

 

The geographic center of Moscow.

We got to see the changing of the guard at the war memorial.  They call WWII the Great Patriotic War.

Kremlin walls.  We also went inside the Kremlin armory to see the Faberge eggs and other treasures.  Photos aren't allowed inside, so we bought postcards for our scrapbook (and some to send when we get to Bishkek).

With Anna, our wonderful new friend, at the Kremlin walls.  Words can't say how much of a blessing she has been to us.

Inside the church near Anna's apartment -- saying a prayer that everything will go well with the rest of our trip and our adoption.  :)

Such a pretty church!

 

The outside of the church.

 

More socialist realism in the Metro.  They have a really interesting perspective.  The other mosaics in this station are airplanes, etc -- everything is about appearing as if the subject is looking down a hole at the people passing by.

Enjoying Russian ice cream with Anna.

GUM -- pronounced like "goo" with an "m" on the end -- the most exclusive shopping in Moscow.  It is very beautiful and historic, dating back before the Russian Revolution.

Saint Basil's reflected in GUM -- as close as we could get on this side of Red Square.

St. Basil's.  NOT the Kremlin.  :P

With Papa Beast at St. Basil's -- it was the back side because we couldn't get near the front due to a concert in Red Square.

GUM lit up at night.

The inside of GUM.

The wonderful spread of salads and other goodies at dinner.  :)

 

It was so hard to leave, really, and I would love to go back to Russia and spend much more time there.  Hopefully, I will learn more Russian soon.  :)

Another Trip to San Francisco

 

In early July, we went to visit my family for July 4th and my birthday all rolled into one amazing trip.  (Yes, I'm behind on the blog again.  No, I don't want to hear about how bad I am at keeping caught up.  Yes, the infamous Typhoid pill sickness was still leaving me dizzy and weak even into July.)

 

My folks live closer to the Wine Country than to San Francisco proper, but it's still a short enough drive to make for an easy trip across the bridge.  We loved what we saw of the Richmond District (Little Russia) when we visited at Easter, so we were looking forward to going back.

 

This time, we decided to try Cinderella Bakery.  They have amazing bread, pastries, etc, but they are also fantastic for lunch (borscht, sandwiches, pelmeni, etc). 

 

The beef and gorgonzola piroshky came heavily recommended by Yelp users, so we decided to give it a try.  It was even better than I expected it to be.  Even now, over a month later, (like I said, I'm behind on the blog) I can still taste the amazingness.

My husband and I also had the borscht and pelmeni, which were great as well. 

 

We wandered around a bit, seeing various shops.  One big highlight was the Russian bookshop -- we'd seen it before, when we went to Katia's at Easter, but it was closed for the evening last time.  This time, we were able to go in and shop for a bit.  We got a few alphabet books for our children to enjoy later on, as well as two copies of Hedgehog in the Fog (one in Russian, one in English).  It's  a great little place to stop by, and the ladies who run the shop are super helpful. (They explained the pros and cons of all the different alphabet books to me, and they never ran out of patience.)  The store also has the most fantastic Cyrillic typewriter in the window.  (Sorry for the glare from the glass.)

 

We really love exploring Russian language and culture -- it's something we can't wait to share with our children.