Moscow in Photos

It's about time I posted some photos from my recent adventures. Two weekends ago I was in Moscow, last weekend I spent hanging out with the John Forté band, and this weekend...well, I'm sick.  The downtime is a good chance to post some new content.

At Moskovskiy Vokzal in St. Petersburg, a large map of
Russian train routes decorates the main hall.

The Red Square was our first stop on my whirlwind tour of Moscow.

An up-close view from the base of St. Basil's Cathedral.

Ashley, Joe, myself, and Olivia pose in front of Lenin's Tomb
(which was unfortunately closed due to renovation).

We stopped for $10 cups of coffee and blini at this café
in front of the temporary ice rink in the middle of the Red Square.

Inside ГУМ ("goom") - Moscow's biggest mall.

A traditional celebration of Maslenitsa, a pagan holiday that marks the beginning of  Spring, but also seems to coincide with the beginning of Lent--which all good Russian Orthodox acknowledge.

An old grotto and part of an old city wall run parallel to the red Kremlin wall (behind).

After the Red Square everyone split up and Joe and I headed off for an afternoon of wandering - first to the Christ the Savior Church pictured here. It was just recently built (in the last 20 or 30 years) on the site of what was previously the world's largest swimming pool. 

Leaving Christ the Savior, we walked over a bridge giving us this remarkable view of the river.
See that enormous man standing on the boat statue with his arm outstretched? It was originally meant to be Christopher Columbus, but apparently that didn't go over so well and it was later said to portray Peter the Great. 

We visited the beautiful Tretyakov Museum,
where Joe posed with his new friend, "Striborg." 

I risked death by a mean Russian museum guard to take this picture.
I am captivated by how tangible the fabric of this woman's dress appears. 

The next day we visited Ismailova Park, Moscow's biggest souvenir market and flea market.
We were actually impressed with the quality of most of these paintings.

Ismailova also happens to have what is widely known as the city's best shashchlik - shown above.
Definitely one of the best meals I've ever had, but I think that eating it in minus 10 degrees while sipping hot gluwein and strolling a busy market with good friends might have had something to do with it. 

Joe really wanted to buy one of these "ugly sweaters."
I actually think they're kind of attractive.
After a long debate it finally came out that it was really only the turtleneck that made them decidedly ugly.

I thought that this fur hat would go nicely with my mink coat.
Unfortunately, it was a little too furry and I completely obscured my
view in all directions. 

"NOT Kids World"..."Sale, Appraisal, Purchase, Military Antiques and Coins"
Who names their store "NOT Kids World???"

Politically incorrect t-shirts. This one says: "Kalashnikov World Tour: Afghanistan, Vietnam, Angola, Laos, Nicaragua, El Salvador....Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Iraq."
Some people claim that if Russia hadn't produced so many AK-47's, wars like the ones currently raging in North Africa wouldn't be possible -- or would have stopped sooner -- because of an arms shortage.
Either way, not really something to laugh about.

After visiting all the vendors of chess sets at Ismailova,
Joe finally settled on one to mail home for his dad's birthday.
This one isn't it - this is just one of the more creative ones that caught my eye.

I really enjoyed my time in Moscow!  And, I'll have you know, the train ride home was much less eventful than the first.