My Daily Walk to Class

Добрый День,

So a few of you (mainly my mother and father) have asked me to take some pictures of my journey to class. Yesterday was a sunny day so I decided it would be perfect for some photography. All in all it takes me a little over an hour to get to class. I have to ride on the metro for 8 stops (from the station Ясенево [Yasenevo] to Ленинский Проспект [Leninskiy Prospekt] which takes about 20 minutes, so the rest of my time is just walking. But since the weather has been pretty good so far I don't mind the walk.

So here is my walk via pictures...enjoy!!

First, my walk down Новоясеневский Проспект (Novoyasenevskiy Prospekt). This is the main road that my metro station Ясенево is located on.

The entrance to Ясенево. Notice in the top left corner the "M" for Metro Station.

Inside of Ясенево Station. It's kinda plain compared to some of the more heavily used stations.

The exit//entrance to station Ленинский Проспект.

This is a "park" that I cut through every day.

View down Улица Вавилова (Ulitsa [Street] Vavilova)

"Soviet Era Billboards" Lenin (Ленин) on the left. October Revolution (Октябрьская Революция) in the middle. USSR Workers of All Countries Unite (СССР Страна Соединяйтесь Пролетарии Всех) on the right.

View down Улица Орджоникидзе (Ulitsa Ordzhonikidze).

View down a side street. My school is the yellowish building on the right.

My school!

Sign on my school. Moscow Center for Quality Education.

Metro Station Кузнецкий Мост (Kuznetskiy Most). Probably my third most used metro station behind Ясенево and Ленинский Проспект because....

....Kruzhka (Кружка) which is the watering hole we frequent is located right next to Кузнецкий Мост.

Finally, a picture of yours truly with my Russian friend Ruslan.

I'm Back...But Not With Anything Too Fun

Good morning fans!

Well it's morning where I am (appx 1:15 am) and since I'm so dedicated I figured you all are just craving more info about my adventures. Well this post is basically just a hodge-podge of my adventures over the past week. It includes our excursion to the Tretyakov Gallery, walking around town, and on Sunday most of the museums in Moscow were free so there are some pictures of that too. I don't have too much to talk about so it's just going to be a visual post. Hope you enjoy the pictures and I love reading all of your comments so keep 'em up!

More to come when something exciting happens.

Товарищ,

Бен

View of the Kremlin wall.

Entrance to the Archeological Museum. This place was sweet. It is located underground, basically under Red Square...well next to Red Square, but you get the point.

This is the Voskresensky Bridge. It is it the Archeological Museum and it was built sometime around the 18th Century. It used to connect Red Square across a moat to the rest of Moscow...back in the day, of course.

Oh just a tank sitting out by the Kremlin...Nothing unusual about this. Ha. No, I think it is for Victory Day (May 9), the day that World War II ended. They symbol to the right of 65 has CCCP.

Russia's tomb of the unknown soldier.

Just normal Sunday traffic in Moscow. Ha

Christ the Savior Cathedral. Originally it was completed in 1860, but Stalin decided to have it blown up and a swimming pool was put in it's place. Then the cathedral was reconstructed in the 1990s. It literally is ginormous!

Statue of Dostoevsky, writer of Crime and Punishment, Notes from the Underground, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, etc.

Sign at the entrance of one of the few Pushkin Museums. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin is probably one of Russia's most well know authors...and Russians absolutely love him.

Statue of Friedrich Engles, the man who wrote with Karl Marx...hurray Communism!

Outside of the Tretyakov Gallery. One of the largest art museums in Moscow. Of course no photos are allowed of the art work so this is the only one you get.

...and this one. It is a bust of Pavel Tretyakov, founder of the gallery.

Pizza Hut! Went here for lunch last weekend. Got a large pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of Mountain Dew...just like home. Ha

Finally, here is one just for my dad and Sherry. Dad, here is a picture of some of the different hats here.

Пока!!

Question and Answer Time...Yay!

Hello again out there,

So a few of you have asked me some questions about my life here, and I've decided I should probably answer the ones that are still relevant. If I accidentally forget to answer a question that you asked just post it again under this and I'll answer ASAP.

Uncle Rick (Colonel Yuriy):

-I wish that we got to study at Moscow State University (МГУ = MGU), but instead we take classes at the Kitaigoradskaya School (Китайгородская Школа), which is just a four story yellow building in town. Not nearly as exciting as МГУ.

-At my apartment we have Wi-Fi. Sometimes it goes down for some unknown reason, but usually it is just as fast as in the states. Many of my classmates do not have internet at home so they have to go to internet cafes to check their Facebook or update their blogs.

Mom:

-Don't worry I was not the one who broke the bell...it was like that when I got there :-)

-The young gentleman in front of the Tsar Cannon is my classmate Steve. And the young lady in front of the Tsar Bell is my classmate Andrea.

-As to which was my favorite, the convent or the cemetery, I would probably choose the cemetery. It was very neat because A) it is only very famous Russians who are buried there, B) instead of just plain headstones almost every grave was marked with a bust or some sort of sculpture relating to the person and their life and C) it was very different compared to a cemetery in the US, there were many trees and shrubbery. Also when I got home I told Larisa and Sergey that I thought the cemetery was very big...they laughed and told me it is one of the smallest in Moscow. Ha

Sherry:

-The atmosphere before the ЦСКА match did remind me of OSU/mich week. Tons of people out enjoying the festivities.

-Here in Russia, I have seen a few types of vodka that we have back in the states (like Stolichnaya) but they also have many brands that are Russian. For example, the one that we always drink at the bar is called Stolichnaya Doctor...and the doctor always knows best right? :-)

-Last time I was in Moscow I picked up one of those fuzzy hats (Шапка =Shapka), so I don't think I need another one. But I would be happy to pick you up one if you'd like??

Once again, sorry if I ACCIDENTALLY missed one of your questions :-) Leave it again below this post and I'd be happy to answer.

Signing off,

Товарищ Бен (Comrade Ben)

Park Pobedy (Парк Победы)

Привет Soviet Fans,

On Friday after class a few of my classmates and I headed over to Park Pobedy (Victory Park). It is a big park on the west side of Moscow that the Soviets basically decided to build to commemorate the Russian victory of World War II (Russians call it The Great Patriotic War). Along with containing numerous tanks from the war, a giant obelisk of St. George slaying the dragon, and museum, Park Pobedy's metro stop is the deepest in the world. It is approximately 90 meters deep (over 290 feet) below the surface. The escalator ride from the bottom to the surface takes over 3 minutes! So here are some photos of the park. Enjoy!

PS: Hopefully one of these days I'll get around to answering all of the questions//comments you left. I haven't forgotten so keep commenting!

Москва (Moscow) on the side of a hill in flowers.

Approaching the the museum and obelisk. Fun fact: the obelisk is 141.8 meters high, 10 cm for each day of the war.

Top Half of the obelisk.

Bottom half of the obelisk. The statue at the base is St. George slaying the dragon.

Close up of the bottom of the base.

Flag hanging above the entrance to the museum. It says "Patriotic War" around the hammer and sickle.

Pretty self explanatory, just kind of funny :-)

Lunch, yummy! I had a beer and a pre-made, saran wrapped, microwaved cheeseburger.

One of the tanks in the park.

My friends climbing on the tanks. From left to right: Rachel, Graham is sitting on the turret, Steve is looking oh so happy in front, and some Russian boy who was quite fascinated.

Yours truly looking off into the distance...I was really just looking at the road, nothing exciting but I think it made for a great photo. Right?! Ha

Holocaust memorial with part of the museum in the background.

Пока!

Game Results and Tour

Loyal readers, Привет!

So yesterday could have been seen as somewhat of a bust. After posting that I was going with Graham and Steve to walk around the stadium, I was telling Sergey what we were planning to do. He then informed me that you are not allowed to walk around the stadium on game days without a ticket. Actually you cannot even get off the metro at the station by the stadium without a ticket. Just another example of how Russia differs from the US. So instead of going to the stadium, I met up with Graham and Steve at the bar we always go to (Кружка = Kruzhka, literally it means beer mug). We got to the bar about an hour and a half before the start of the game and luckily we got the last available booth. So we just hung out there, had some beers and vodka shots and watched a great futbol match. Unfortunately ЦСКА got beat 1-0 so they are now out of the tournament, but it was still one heck of an experience to watch a game of that importance in a Russian bar with crazy soccer fans all over. When I was walking through the metro station near Kruzhka there was just a sea of people wearing red and blue (the colors of CSKA) and they were all singing and passing around bottles of vodka...yes, vodka in the metro. Ha. It was completely crazy.

Today my group took a tour of the Novodevichiy Convent (Новодевичий Монастырь). It was a convent that was originally founded in 1524. Unfortunately I was in a rush to meet my group and forgot my camera...so no pictures. But here is a link to a site with a brief overview of the convent along with some pictures: LINK. Also, after the tour of the convent we walked next door to the famous Novodevichiy Cemetery (Новодевичье Кладбище). Once again, no pictures but here is a LINK to its Wikipedia page. It's a cemetery only for famous Russians. A short list of who is buried there is Boris Yeltsin, Nikita Khrushchev, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, and Stalin's wife...plus many others.

So that ends the written tour, hope you enjoyed. Check out the links and leave me your comments!

ПОКА!

ЦСКА vs Inter

Futbol fans listen up!

Ha. For all of you who may not know, and I'm assuming that's just about everyone, there is a HUUUUGGGGEEEEE soccer game in Moscow tonight between CSKA and Intermilan. Now, tickets were like impossible to find and the ones I did find were like 500USD, so needless to say I am not going to the game. But, I am heading down to the stadium (the one featured in some pictures below) with my friends Graham and Steve to see all the festivities. It should be a crazy game, because CSKA is down 1-0 to Inter so basically they need to win tonight to advance to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals... which would be awesome! As you may be able to tell, I am super-duper excited for this game!

Hopefully when I get home I'll have some pictures to share and stories about the game.

Keep on the lookout and GO CSKA!!!!!!!!

Easter Sunday Supermarket Travels

Happy Easter to everyone!
Today was mostly just another day in Moscow because my family isn't really religious so we did not do anything special for Easter. However, today I did go with Sergey to the supermarket (гипермаркет = gipermarket). It was quite an experience. Although it's called a supermarket, it was more like a giant Walmart. Emphasis on giant. Each aisle in the store was numbered and there we 80 aisles. Ginormous! We were there for almost 2 hours shopping for the month. I thought the place was packed with people, but when talking with Sergey about it, he said that it was basically empty compared to most days. We bought many things, to list a few: water, Siberian pop, beef, chicken, bread, candy, and even hot-sauce so that I can make Buffalo Chicken for Sergey...he's very interested to see what it is, since it's basically my favorite meal. Also we bought a roasted whole chicken to eat for dinner tonight. Sergey and I basically devoured it when we got home...it was awesome!
That's about everything exciting that I have to report from today. Just going to relax and watch some tv (not understand everything, but watch it nonetheless) with Larisa before going to bed.
Well I'm out... Пока!

Moscow Kremlin Tour

Hello Russian Enthusiasts,

...okay, most of you probably aren't Russian enthusiasts, but you enjoy reading about my adventures in Moscow right?

Anyway, Wednesday was our tour of the Kremlin, and it was great! We had a tour guide and our tour lasted 4 hours, so we saw basically everything that is available to the public. However, inside all of the buildings, churches, etc. in the Kremlin you are not allowed to take pictures so all I have are pictures of the outsides...still cool though. Ha. The coolest building we went into, in my opinion, was the Armory. It's basically a museum of everything once owned by the Tsars. Inside they have outfits that Peter the Great wore, and the dresses that the Tsarinas (wives of the Tsars) wore on their coronation and marriage. Also they have carriages that the royal family used to ride in and tons of weapons like rifles, pistols, sabers, swords, and also protective gear like helmets and chain-mail armor. But I don't have any pictures of that, only of the buildings and the grounds of the Kremlin. So here they are!

The Trinity Tower (AKA the tourist entrance to the Kremlin)

View of the Trinity Tower from inside the Kremlin.
View down one of the streets in the Kremlin.
View of some government buildings.
View of the arsenal. Tons and tons of cannons.
View down a street next to the arsenal. More and more cannons.
The Russian crest atop a building.
The Tsar Cannon. The largest cannon ever made, but never fired.
The Tsar Bell. The biggest bell ever made, but never rung.
Other side of the Tsar Bell. That piece broke off before it could be rung.
Ivan the Great Bell tower located on Cathedral Square.
Uspensky Cathedral.
Blagoveschensky Cathedral.
Archangel Cathedral.
...and that ends the photo tour. Hope you enjoyed :-)