recap of a life unterwegs

As promised, my fifteen favorite photos I haven't posted yet and:


a map of all the places I went (excluding the US). In dark green are the countries I went to over the semester, in red are the specific cities, and in brown are the countries I've been to before.


Constance, March
gravestone of a Jewish soldier from WWI who died fürs Vaterland (for the fatherland)
ironic, seeing as what would happen a few years later


Berlin, April
Jewish memorial


Berlin, April
Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery


Moscow, April
That disgusting statue of Peter the Great towers over Christ the Savior, one of the most beautiful churches ever.


Cairo, May
An odd statue stands in front of skyscrapers. No one knows what the statue means anymore, tho, as the lettering at its base was rubbed off.


Cairo, May
Red sails on the Nile stand out in the smoggy evening.


Luxor, May
statue of a pharaoh towards sunset


Radolfzell, May
Birds fly over the Naturschutzgebiet on Lake Constance.


Augsburg, June
sea green and yellow light


Augsburg, June
near the entrance to an art museum


Montreux (Switzerland), June
A cruise boat crosses Lake Geneva in front of the Alps.


Zurich, June
The captains of Europe's EM 2008 teams dwarf visitors in the Hauptbahnhof.


Oslo, June
Vigeland


Dubrovnik (Croatia), July
Where's the Cheshire cat?


Constance, July
I pose for the first and only time with those weird blue statues in front of the university.

So in closing, thank you for reading, thank you for all of your comments, and I hope you enjoyed. I know I did ;)

Всё хорошо, что хорошо кончается.

So I made it back safely to Constance!
“Yeah, whatever,” you say, "Just tell me about the exciting adventures from your last few days in Moscow!”
Very well, I’ll indulge you:


the U of M!
but seriously, the Moscow State University
It’s certainly not pretty in the traditional sense, but it is … hm …looming? intimidating? massive? Also, notice the woman in the bottom left of the photo. I love it.


One of the things I love the most about Moscow is that it has loads and loads of cheap and decent kiosks all over. Here is a caravan of kiosks, with all of the best. From the left: stardogs (not very good, actually, but it’s an anomaly), Kartoshka (potatoes from 40 rubles!), pirozhki (stuffed pastries), Grill XXI (I’m not actually sure what this is), Russian Chill (ice cream – Russians love their ice cream, even in the middle of the winter when it’s subzero), and finally my favorite: Blini!


On Friday we went to Novodevichy, a beautiful Russian monastery.


again

Walking into the monastery was like walking into the eye of a storm. Suddenly everything was calm; no one was yelling at us; the sun was shining; everything was still and gorgeous. I even saw Russians smiling!

Then we went to the zoo. Thank God it was free for students.


I have absolutely no idea.


This is exactly what the zoo looks like. Most of the cages or pens are empty, everything is cement, and it’s in the heart of Moscow (notice the lovely cityscape). Also, there were signs everywhere saying it’s forbidden to feed the animals, but left and right I saw Russians chucking greasy carnival food at the drooling animals.

Then in the evening Khatia (a friend I met last interim in Moscow) met up with us. We went out to eat at an amazing tapas place right near our hostel. Although it wasn't the cheapest place I've eaten at, it was definitely one of the best since coming abroad! Then we went to Red Square in order to see it lit up.


photo of Khatia and me

So if you decide ever to come to Moscow, here are some things to keep in mind:

* Almost certainly someone in your group needs to speak Russian. Muscovites either are unable or refuse to speak English. At the very least, you should be able to read the Russian alphabet.

* Be prepared for the Russians to be insanely rude to you. Kelly says they make the French seem wonderful.

* It's basically a sin not to try some chocolate blini.

* Use the metro. It's beautiful and extremely reliable.

So that’s it. Moscow was a blast – much better in the Spring! – and now I’m back to class. I’ll post photos of Constance in a couple of days.

Хорошая погода - в Москве?!

So we've actually had spectacular weather throughout the week! And (knock on wood) it's only supposed to continue to get better! Kelly tells me that the typically day in Moscow at this time of the year only gets around 4 hrs of sunlight. For the last two days, however, it has been cloudless from morning till night!


Yesterday we went to Red Square again. We went into St. Basil's and heard some gorgeous live choral music.


Then we went into the Kremlin and walked around, looking at all of the beautiful churches inside.


Here's a shot from the so-called "Secret Garden." We decided it's called the "Secret Garden," because it's almost impossible to get to. Basically every way you turn, there's a Russian rent-a-cop blowing his whistle at you and telling you "Nyet! Nyet!" It took us ages to find a path on which we were allowed to walk.


Crockpot (aka the Cyrillic D): just for you, Lindsay!


Moscow in the sun
(Christ the Savior in the center and the Kremlin on the right)

Then today we went to the Tretyakov. Unfortunately you can't take photos in there, but Kelly says this museum was in itself worth the trip to Moscow. I love it.

After that we went to Gorky Park - just for you, Dad!


Surprise! It's somewhat unattractive. My guess: It'll clean up in the summer.

Many St. Olaf students travel abroad in "less developed" countries and then flaunt pictures of themselves with "the natives" in order to seem culturally diverse and philanthropic. ("Oh facebook stalkers, look at me befriending this little African child! I'm the least racist white tourist ever!") Luckily Gorky Park threw me up this opportunity for my very own "ethnic baby" photo:


Russians, like the Germans, reject everything PC.


Gorky Park: Birthplace of Romance.

But truthfully, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Gorky Park. Like I said, I'm sure it's nicer in the summer, and I bought ice cream. Plus, the woman who sold me the ice cream was uncommonly friendly: When I tried to look for exact change, instead of yelling at me, she told me, "Take your time." (!!!)


Christ the Savior near sunset


Did I mention I went to the Caribbean?

Oh, and I almost forgot: We met this very strange French guy in our hostel, who apparently found his Russian girlfriend on the internet and is now very surprised that she's only interested in him for his money. He says she's very demanding and sometimes cruelly blunt. One time she gave him back a present he bought her and told him "This is really awful." That really cracks me up. So word to the wise: The WWW might not be the best place to find true love.

Жить в бизнес-классе!

I'm in Moscow!

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 ;)