Moscow

1. Metro (Subway)

While our girls were "working out", the mom's were able to explore Moscow.
If it weren't for Katia (our girl's former coach who moved to Colorado Springs and now is a good friend of ours)
we would probably have been stuck at the gym.
Katia took us out and introduced us to Moscow's Metro system.
We learned how to buy ten "billet" (rides). They use a scanned ticket instead of coins.
I would scan my ticket but it wouldn't let me pass! It was so funny!
I found out that I need to scan with my right hand and enter on the left.
Being left handed, I was going through the wrong gate!!!!

One of our first "outings" was with Katia and three moms.
Here is a picture of Tracy, me and Katia. Denise is taking the picture.
We were being "solemn" like the statue at this Metro station.

 

We were in "awe" with their Metro! It was so beautiful!
There were statues, beautiful tile pictures, and wonderful architecture!
We learned that as a tourist, you must take the Metro so you can see the different stations!

Here is one of the tile pictures at a Metro Station.

The Metro is very deep under ground.

We figured out the different lines after we got a map. It is hard to figure out when we don't know Russian.

With an english map, we were able to get around the city pretty well.

 

2. Arbat

On my first outing with Katia, we went to Arbat street.
Katia explained to us that this is a street that you would come if you were dating.
It has lots of street vendors, shops, and restaurants.

In one of the stores there, they had my ultimate Stacking Doll!
I think it had 25 dolls.
I couldn't afford to buy it - it cost more than 300 dollars!

We had a purpose for choosing this street. It has the only Hard Rock Cafe in Moscow!
Tracy and her family collects Hard Rock t-shirts from all over.
We weren't very happy with the selection. They only had a few sizes of the t-shirts that they had.
We were able to find a few things there and it was our first experience using credit cards.

We found an ice cream vendor as we walked along the street.
I tried pistacio ice cream and thought it was good - Denise and Tracy thought it was awful!

One of our funniest memories happened as we were walking down Arabat street to the Metro.
Katia had warned us to not wear flip-flops. She had trouble with them with so much walking.
Tracy didn't listen and wore them.
Her flip-flop got stepped on in the middle of a busy street and it broke!
Denise saw Tracy and started pulling her out of the way of traffic not knowing she broke her shoe!
Tracy and Denise managed to get out of the road and we were all laughing so hard!
We still had a long way to walk but with all of us troubleshooting, we figured how to
use things we had (the handle of our Hard Rock bag, and Katia's hair elastic)
to fix her shoe good enough to walk.
It was one of our funnest and funniest adventures of the whole trip!

 

3. The City of Moscow

Our gym director took us on a bus tour of the city.

We stopped and took pictures at different monuments and places.

This was the highest place in Moscow. It didn't seem too high compared to our Utah mountains
but it did have a beautiful view.
It overlooked the Moscow Olympics (the one the US boycotted) Stadium.

The highlight of the day was Shopping!
We went to a shopping area that had great prices on souvenirs!
My problem was that I didn't know what to buy.
I didn't know prices and we only had about 45 minutes to shop.

They had tons and tons of stacking dolls of all sizes and shapes.
Some went down 5 dolls and others went down 20!
The prices were so varied. I learned the difference in quality, size, and amount of dolls.
But I didn't learn it fast enough. I only bought a few things in the time we had.
Some of the good "shopping" moms got almost all their gifts for home!
You also don't pay the price they offer.
The Americans that go there and pay full price are getting ripped off!
I'm not too good at bargaining for lower prices.
I used my talented friends to help me out and get a better deal!!

 

4. VDNKh Exhibition Complex

We asked coach Natasha for one afternoon practice off for the girls
so we could take them sightseeing. Natasha (although not happy) let us go.
Katia took us on the Metro and we walked past this cute "stacking doll" vendor.

We were heading for a park that had a fountain. This is the entrance to this HUGE park.
This was built during the Soviet Union time in the '50's.
This monument expresses the "Soviet" ideal, the "Worker and Collective-farm Woman".

After entering the park, there was a long walk to the front of the park.
There were pretty flowers and landscapes along the sides of the walk.

As we got close to the Main Pavillion, there were these characters.
You have to pay to have your picture taken with them.

Behind the Main Pavillion was a beautiful fountain.
It is called "Friendship of the Peoples" fountain.
We were so disappointed that it wasn't running that day. It was a bit cloudy but not rainy!
The girls are posing like the gold women.
Katia told us that each woman represents the past "Soviet" providences.

Behind the Main Pavillion and all around the fountain were buildings
that represent the different "Soviet" provinces.
The Soviet Union is now broken up and new countries were formed.
Now this is just a beautiful park with "commercial" shops in many of the buildings.
We did find one building with beautiful tapestries for sale at very good prices!

One of the buildings had a "Butterfly Exhibit".
We wore plastic booties over our shoes and enjoyed looking at the beautiful butterflies.

Shireen and many of the girls had butterflies land on them.
I was trying to get my camera out and ready for this picture and the butterfly had already flown away!
But Michelle got this picture for me!!

Outside of the exhibit they had cute butterfly pictures on the wall - a perfect picture opportunity!!

Although we were "adjusting" to Ulga's cooking back at camp, the girls (and the moms) were so happy
to see the "golden arches" of McDonalds right outside the park!!
Their Big Macs were wonderful and their chicken nuggets were just the same as back home!!

Of course bathrooms were always hard when we were out sightseeing.
The smart ones of the group went at McDonalds.
Shireen got desparate after we left.
She got to experience their portable bathrooms that cost money!
She didn't like me taking this picture but it's such an interesting part of international traveling.

Michelle took this picture of another portable bathroom.
You didn't know which kind you would get, the regular "sitting" kind,
or the"hole in the ground" kind that Shireen had to use several times!

 

5. Russian Circus

One of the neat things we did on the trip was to go to a Russian Circus.
In a book I was reading about Russia, it said that they consider the Circus to be
an art form on the same level as the Ballet, Opera, and Theater.
Their performers are pretty famous.

The outside of the Circus building had some really fun "Picture Opportunities"

The fascinating thing about inside their building was the chance to have pictures taken
with different animals. I don't know if it would be allowed here in the USA.
But the girls really loved being able to do this!

I paid less money to use my own camera.
The camel was not cooperating and putting its head up correctly
so the man took my camera and made sure we had a "perfect" shot.
Shireen was loving this!

We were not allowed to take pictures in the circus but we did buy a program that had good pictures.

They performed everything in these pictures. They had highwire, lots of great tumblers,
clowns, tigers, and a great bear act. The girls were very impressed with their talent!

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