Trip Post 1 Flight and Moscow

Well here is the first few days of my trip...These posts take a while so I don't know when the next few days will go up!

Day 1 (July 23rd)
Depart for Europe:

I flew from LAX where they told me to be by 3:30 then didn't even open up the desk until almost 5 am to JFK where weather and air traffic patterns delayed my landing. Then by the time we had gotten to the gate and off the plane I had 25 minutes to get to my next gate which was, of sourse, all the way across the airport. By the time I got there they were on final boarding call. Then the lady didn't want to let me on because my visa exit date didn't match my return flight. Both her co-worker and I were trying to get her to realize that I was flying back from another country and that I would be leaving Russia via bus before my visa expired. But this woman was either dense or just enjoying causing stress, so she made me show her my itinerary and all sorts of nonsense. Meanwhile I am stressing thinking that they are gonna fly without me. I shouldn't have stressed about that because we were delayed by two hours waiting for permission to take off. The flight was okay but everytime we hit turbulance I was kind of freaked out. The food on the plane was better than I was expecting, which was a relief because I was starving. Eventually we landed in Moscow on

Day 2 (July 24th)
Arrive Moscow (Yay!)
And go through customs which took about 5 minutes max. I so thought it would be more hardcore. But then the guy who was picking me up scared me and I was freaked out that I was being kidnapped by this man who had grabbed me and my suitcase and threw me into his car and started driving off into the Russian countryside. The hotel was like 45 minutes from the airportand there are trees everywhere in Russia. I was praying the whole time that I not become a statistic. Then he dropped me at the hotel and I went to check in but my Russian isn't so good and the reception ladies knew zero English. I was so tired and stressed at this time I just burst into tears. Then some guy who knew a little Englkish came and helped me to check in to the Hotel, at this point I took a shower and a nap and waited to meet my group. At six we were supposed to meet down in the lobby with the whole tour and have dinner. I went down there and there was no one there. Eventually some lady asked if I wss with COntiki and I said yes and she joined me with about 5 other contikis who were waiting for the larger group to join us. I was so excited to see people who spoke Engkish, it was the first thing I said to them. We all had a good laugh and then sat around until some woman about whom there was no doubt she was Russian came up and said "Contiki I am your guide. Oliver is running Very late. You want to eat dinner. We go NOW!" And this was our first experience with Galena. SO we went and ate dinner. After dinner we sat in the lobby until about 9 when the tour finally got to the hotel. All the contikis went to eat while Ollie and Hans got them checked in. Then he handed out rooms and introduced himself and we got the first night speech.

I originally was supposed to room with this girl from Santa Monica, but it worked out that she wanted to room with someone else so I got to room with Louise this amazing Australian girl who I had loads of fun with.

Days 3&4
Day 3 We did a tour of the Moscow Metro and got to see some of the prettiest public transportation in the world. It costs 4 kopecks to ride the Metro and that is equal to 0.0016 dollars. So it is an affordable system too. It is very beautiful, but they are in the process of removing all the icons of communism, so we were able to see them befor ethey are all gone.



Me with My Canadian Friend Connie

We went to the Military Museum where we saw random things and were told stories of the horrors of Communism. It was a lot like my last semesters history class rolled into an hour or so, so I was bored, but the stuff was fun to look at.



We went to Statue Park and saw the only remaining statue of Stalin in Moscow (he is missing his nose) There were some other statues there that I liked better.



And then we went to Red Square where we had a picnic outside of the Kremlin (I had Sbarro)It was a very pretty park with a huge fountainy river type thing with a mermaid fountain that I forgot to take a picture of.





and took pictures in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. (The thing that everyone takes a picture in front of and u know they are in Russia!)




Then we went to an optional dinner where we had good Chicken Kiev and cheesy mushroom goodness. And this dinner was the birth of OzCan: A group of crazy friends who are roughly comprised of half Aussies and Half Canadians (as odd-girl out, the Canadians adopted me)




Then we got lost on the metro and ended up treking through Moscow at 9 o clock at night. It was still light out so it wasn't that big of a deal, but I did get horrible blisters from the exceedingly long trek. Then we got back to the hotel where we bought sprite and juice and hung out in the Canadians room until I was practically falling asleep sitting there. We could've hung out in the lobby or bowling alley, but our hotel was pretty dodgy and we were warned about the prostitutes and mafia men so we opted to stay upstairs.

Day 4

We went on city tour. It was a whirlwind of look at this and that.



Stopped for souvenirs, I did not buy this hat although the lady really wanted me too.



Took pictures by a church (it is famous but I forget why)But I could always wiki it I am sure.



Ate another picnic outside the Kremiln (Sbarro again) (The McDonald's line was too long)Bought Souvenirs (including a bag that became essential for the rest of the trip. It is MASH status. the best souvenier places are outside Red Square in Revolution Square.

Went on a tour of the Kremlin and the ArmouryL I got to see stuff out of Russia Land of the TSars and was very Excited. We also got to see Faberge Eggs that Nicholas II gave to Alexandra



Ate dinner at some restaurant. The food was alright, but the decor was better



And went to the Moscow Circus, where I watched the first half and slept through the second. I was really tired at this point... The acrobats were amazing though!






Novgorod and St. Petersburg up next!