It was a long journey to get here, but I got to ride first class with KLM, which was awesome! I even got a little tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream with my meal! Quality living!
I'm staying in Godzillas Hostel again, and it's been completely renovated! We have a private room, sheets and blankets, and even unlimited wireless internet for 1700 rubles/night (or about €22 per person).
Kelly and I toured around Moscow today. We saw Red Square, grabbed some delicious chocolate blini (kind of the Russian crepe) in front of Christ the Savior, and walked down New Arbot. Now I'm exhausted, but before I go to sleep: МОИ ФОТОГРАФИИ!
Red Square was empty! That was a big change from last year.
outside Red Square
Authentic Russian souvenirs now include rolls of toilet paper with American currency printed on them. To quote the Russian newspaper The Exile (which is an entertaining read, by the way):
The dollar is so worthless here that fanning out stacks of Benjamins has become Russia's newest ironic photograph pose, joining the likes of the lesbian kiss and the kukla-mukla lip pucker.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, outside the Kremlin
On the bridge to Christ the Savior, there are hundreds of these padlocks. It turns out newly-weds traditionally sign their names on the locks, clip them to the bridge and then throw the key into the river below.
statue of Peter the Great on the Moskva river
This statue was built in 1997 and is over 300 feet tall, making it the sixth tallest statue in the world. It has become quite famous since its construction due to its being insanely gaudy, obstructive and just plain ironic - remember how Peter hated Moscow so much that he built St. Petersburg? One critic calls the monument a "big toy soldier stuck atop a bunch of broken model ships."
Here's where we had some delicious, steaming, chocolate blini.
Near the Lenin Library is this statue of Dostoevsky. He seems so sad, looking out over the omnipresent giant advertisements (which I'm pretty sure the city puts up simply in order to hide the nasty Soviet architecture).
On our way home, Kelly found this sign lying in a stack of debris. Something for the French House next year ;)
