Victory Day

May 9 is a huge holiday celebrated in Russia. It's probably best compared to our 4th of July celebrations. May 9th  is a patriotic holiday to celebrate and honor the end of World War II and the veterans and civilians who took part in it.

The Mother Russia
We went to a massive burial site for all those who died in the blockade during WWII and it had a statue of the woman who represents Russia and all she stands for

Allison, Nicole, and Me in front of Mother Russia

The Russian flag flying on Victory Day.

An Eternal Flame to honor soldiers

The blockade by the Germans during WWII kept the people of St. Petersburg without food and supplies for 900 days. Now they place bread, candy, and other food on graves as a memorial of the times when they had nothing.

Order of St. George Ribbon

These ribbons were awarded by Imperial Russia to soldiers for brave acts during war times. The tradition has carried on and on Victory Day everyone had these pinned to their shirts or tied around bags, wrists, and trees.

A veteran at the cemetery on Victory Day.

The younger generation shows a lot of respect to their elders, especially veterans. We followed this man down the long row of graves and he received dozens of flowers and gifts from young people showing their gratitude for the service and sacrifice made for them.

Moscow and More - Part B

So, as I was kindly reminded the other day, my last post's title suggests a multi-part post. This shows to you I had good intentions when posting it, and have, yet again, not lived up to my own expectations. However, that ends here with this post, which picks up where the other left off. I know I left you all with a real cliffhanger...so here is my conclusion. (Kate Jones, the Home Alone style counting in the title was especially for you.)

We spent the first half of the second day shopping at a huge market. The market really did look like a Russian Disneyland. It was super rad! But, I was so distracted by all of the matrushka dolls that I forgot to take a picture of it. So the pictures pick up with us going to Red Square at night, which is one of the best ways to first acquaint yourself with this somewhat eerie Russian fortress.

The Russian History Museum.
 I think this building helps a person visualize the red in Red Square.

Saint Basil's Cathedral.
We were hanging out for quite awhile waiting for all the lights to turn on, and we started to get creative with our picture taking.

It was definitely worth the wait.

We came back to Red Square early the next morning to see our comrade Lenin, but were sorely disappointed. The timing of our visit happened to between two major Russian holidays: May 1 and Victory Day, on May 9. Consequently, we had a few surprises when we tried to get into the area that day. The first surprise was the unexpected police presence lining the streets and entrances to the Kremlin. The next surprise was, after finally getting through the scary Russian police officers, we found ourselves in the middle of a military training. I admit a Russian voice over a loud speaker and the return unison shouting from the crowd had a pretty creepy feeling. The most disappointing surprise was that because of these two holidays we didn't get to see Lenin. This picture is the display they were setting up in front of his mausoleum. 

I had a little confusion about what exactly the Kremlin and Red Square were. So, for those of you much smarter than me or already bored by this commentary you can tune out on this next part. Red Square is a literal square that holds Lenin's tomb, the Russian History Museum, and St. Basil's cathedral. It sits right next to the wall that contains the Kremlin. The Kremlin is an area of land that is blocked off by the famous red wall and it is equivalent to our Washington DC White House area. Within the Kremlin is an area called Cathedral Square which contains a lot of historical cathedrals and this is a picture of that area. 

The Triumphal Arch in Moscow.
Moscow ripped off France's triumphal arch, but it was a worthy structure to steal at least.

After three very long days of non-stop "fun" we were back on our favorite train home.  All-in-all it was a great experience and I really enjoyed the charms of Moscow.

Moscow and More - Part 1

I feel really lame bothering to post something at this point, because it has been so long. However, I have lots of new pictures that I want to share. So, hopefully I can make up for the last month of no posts and deliver some worthy shots of this strange, but wonderful, country.


First off, a couple of weeks ago we got the chance to go to Moscow for a few days. It was really, really awesome. I was  nervous about the trip because Moscow seems like a pretty crazy and scary place, but everything turned out great. We took the infamous Russian train, and I admit that because this was my first time ever riding a train I felt so much like I was about to board the Hogwarts Express I almost wet my pants. This fantasy was pretty quickly dissolved. Entering the train was a little like when Buddy the Elf sees the mailroom for the first time. Just kidding, it wasn't THAT scary, but it was a unique experience. You are very crammed in there and we had the top bunks on an overnight train. It was so freaking hot in there I really thought I was going to burst into flames. We made it though and it was a very Russian experience that I ended up loving in the end. So, anyway here are some pictures of Moscow! :

The train moved so slow that even on a long exposure it is a perfectly crisp image out the window.  I thought it was a joke at first. I kept waiting to pick up speed when we left, and we never did.

This picture is deceiving on the spaciousness of my space. I realize I come from a long line of women who tend to be slightly dramatic, but it is what I picture being trapped in a coffin and then being buried alive would feel like. Plus, it took the flexibility and skills of a ninja to both make and climb up to that bed.

Novodevichy Convent:

This was pretty much your standard looking convent. The fun fact is that it was built for Peter the Great's sister Sophia who he banned here when she tried to overthrow him. As a little extra motivation to keep her in line, he hung some of her helpers outside her window. Emily Jones, if you're reading this, now would be a good time for "There is beauty all around..."

Perhaps the coolest part of the convent was the fact that it stood next to Swan  Lake. The very lake that inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet of the same name. It was a pretty little lake and park and we saw lots of brides and grooms having their pictures taken. It was quite romantic.

Cathedral of Christ

This is tallest Orthodox church in the world, according to wikipedia. Which I trust because anyone can post anything on there, so you know you're getting the best possible information.

So this picture and the one below offer you a little comparison shot to see how big it really is.

This is the door in the middle from the picture above, and that is my little friend Kristen.

Me and Nicole with a side shot of the church.

There's a cool bridge behind the cathedral...

...with an excellent view of the Kremlin.

Kiev (Part 2)

The next, and final destination, was Kiev, Ukraine.  I admit, the first night we got there I was pretty wigged because it’s a full fledged city with all the crazy that comes with that, but I quickly fell in love. We did so much there that I wouldn’t even know where to begin so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking and supplement where I can.

This is one of the important political points during the Orange Revolution a few years ago. It's also just a really popular square for shopping and entertainment. On the weekends they close down the streets leading to it so pedestrians can just walk around and enjoy the sights.

This is a monument in the same square as the giant clock.

Kiev

St. Petersburg

(The monuments are so much alike...I guess there are only so many things you can do with a monument.)

This is called the Golden Gate. It was a bit of a letdown when I saw it was made of wood, but it was still very cool. It's the original entrance to Kiev where anyone who wanted to go in or out of the city had to pass through.

Saint Sophia's Cathedral, a well-known cathedral in Kiev.

Saint Sophia

St. Michael's Cathedral, another prominent cathedral in the city center.

St. Michael

A view of St. Sophia's from St. Michael's

A view of St. Michael's from St. Sophia's

A view of the city from behind St. Michael's

This was just a funny statue in a seemingly random place. Just a way to make the city a little prettier and cultured with some art. It reminds me of some of the efforts being made in Cody...

....yeah...similar, right?

This is St. Andrew's church. It was designed by the same architect who designed the Hermitage/Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, which is of course my favorite building in St. Petersburg. 

So, this was a very cute park near St. Andrew's. All of the equipment is covered mosaic-style with tiny colored tiles.  The story is that the government wanted to come in and use this piece of land for a new apartment building, but this particular spot has a really incredible view of the city, being perched on the top of a hill.  The neighbors protested because they wanted to continue to enjoy this view of the city, but the government would only stop the building if the land became of some value. The neighbors raised money and donated their own money to commission the building of this really unique park of tiles. This particular playground was based around Alice in Wonderland...loosely. You can see they took some artistic leniency with it, but it was really beautiful.

We had the chance to go to the newly dedicated Kiev temple.

My friend Allison Russian posing in front of some cupolas at Lavra. We literally were imitating exactly a pose we saw busted in all seriousness.

Lavra is a working monastery in Kiev and is a huge complex where monks live and worship. Women are required to wear a skirt that falls below their knees and keep their heads covered with a scarf or hat if they want to enter the grounds.

Me and "Big Mama".

This monument is called Big Mama and is the Statue of Liberty of Ukraine. This monument signifies Ukraine's freedom and contains one of the coolest museum's in the base of the statue which is focused around their participation in World War II.

This is another monument in the same square as Big Mama and it is freaking enormous. For some reason the one guy has no neck, it looks really awkward so we tried to imitate him.

I wanted to give you an idea of how massive this monument is, so I had my friend ninja her way down there to sit on it and compare. We discovered later that perhaps you are not supposed to get so close to it since it is usually surrounded by water.

A view of the Dnieper River from Big Mama's square.

More of the Dnieper. Please don't judge my appearance. After a week of staying in hostels...you begin to look the way you smell.

Outside of the Opera House.

We were able to see Romeo and Juliet the ballet and Carmen the opera. Romeo and Juliet was awesome! However, we could only make it through 2/3 of Carmen. The opera was in French and the subtitles in Ukranian, there is only so much culture a girl from Wyoming can take in one night.

I am officially over half-way through my time here in Russia and cannot believe it. Depending on the day I cannot believe it has gone so fast, while other days I cannot believe I won’t be enjoying smoke-free-booze-free air for another two months. Luckily the former happens far more often than the latter.  On all days I miss my family and friends though, and I am really, really grateful for Skype, which ironically was invented in Tallinn. See why I loved that place so much! Hope everyone is well.