Our first night strolling Red Square!  To me this was nearly momentous, having grown up during the peak of the Cold War.  Strolling (and even watching Cokie goose step!) through the old evil empire's front yard was great.  We hung out in the square doing vodka shots (after all, it was cheaper than water...) until well in to the early morning hours...

The "Candy Castle!"  Cokie loved this amazing basilica.  I was very impressed with the beauty and design of Saint Basil's Basilica.  I was stunned when I learned that Stalin wanted to bring it down simply because his troops had to turn to avoid hitting it while marching through Red Square.  What an idiot.

All lit up at night, Cokie said it reminded him of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

We started and ended most of our days in Moscow by strolling Red Square as our hotel was about a km off the main drag.

We spent most of our time trekking the streets of Moscow.  We also took a Moscow River cruise.  All in all, once we got used to the gruff and rude nature of the Moscovites, we learned to relax and enjoy the city more.

Comrad Cokie!  We spent one morning walking the massive Izmailovsky Park on the outskirts of Moscow's main section.  We really started to get the hang of the Moscow Metro.

We visited the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.  I was unaware at the time that this was a rebuilt version as Stalin had it torn down.  This man was a complete moron.

Crossing the Moskva River! 

We spent the better part of a year planning our multi-month expedition to Russia.  Throughout the entire process, we used a local travel agency in Moscow to handle a lot of our domestic travel arrangements.  I had been emailing Elena (seen here) for nearly a year and we finally met her for a brief time when she was delivering our Transsiberian Train tickets and a few domestic flight vouchers.  We gave her some jewelry that Som had hand made.  Elena was so touched that we heard about Som's gift to her from many of her contacts throughout the trip!

We spent an entire afternoon exploring the amazing art deco Ryabushinsky (Gorky) Mansion.  This spectacular home reminded me of a Frank Lloyd Wright home but only much more interesting.  For some reason, I could not convince the resident Stalinesque Broomhilda that I had paid the entry fee.  She kept following us around asking me demanding questions in Russian.  I couldn't quite understand what she was saying to me, but I finally figured out that she was calling me a liar and that I had not paid!  Finally I found the lady I had actually handed the money to and she vouched for me.  But even after that, she glared at me as if I was some sort of thief.

We spent another afternoon strolling the Old Arbat section of Moscow.  To most tourists this was just a funky and artsy-fartsy part of the town, but to me it was a trip back in time to the Cold War.  I remembered news reports back in the 80's of the Russian school children who made these tiles to plead with Ronald Reagan to stop US agression.  Interesting as this was about the same time that Russia was invading Afghanistan. 

 On our final day in Moscow, we finally made it to Gorky Park.  There is really nothing special in this overblown and horrendously overpriced dump of a park.  The vendors there were very rude to us and on two occasions refused to take money from us.  I had no idea why they were so rude - perhaps we simply had a simple misunderstanding.  But two food stalls refused to sell us any food at all, yet helped some local folks who were immediately after us.  So when Cokie rented this little buggy for a couple laps around the park and started to plough through the gardens of the park, I was not all that sympathetic and even laughed in satisfaction.  Som knew exactly what I meant.  The man who rented us the toy was terrified.  Som and I thought it was charmic.

Som enjoying a $12 latte on Red Square!  Moscow was the most overpriced city I had ever been to.  Service pretty much sucked everywhere too.

A famous fountain in the Old Arbat, a favorite meeting spot for Moscovites.

Tolstoy's actual apartment! 

We visited the Novidevichy Convent and cemetery one afternoon.  The grounds were absolutely spectacular and there was even some good birding in the pond next door.  The cemetery was filled with heroes from the Soviet era and we enjoyed our walk through history.

Kolomenskoye Park's ancient oaks gave a glimpse of what the forests around ancient Moscow must have looked like.  This area was a favorite haunt for Peter the Great.

Dating back to 1532, the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye Park on the outskirts of Moscow was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

Peter the Great's cabin in Kolomenskoye Park. 

This giant canon in the heart of the Kremlin is supposed to be one of the largest canons anywhere.  Note the size of the balls behind Cokie.

One afternoon is not enough time to tour the Kremlin properly, but we gave it a good try.  This is an image of the Ivan the Great Belltower.

Yum!  This $20 water bottle was worth every penny!  Actually I found out the hard way that it was NOT the complimentary water provided by the hotel...

Our room was more than adequate. Even though it was more than I had ever paid for a hotel room in my entire life, it was considered to be cheap by Moscow standards, especially considering how close it was to all the action.  Here is Cokie wearing one of mommy's dresses enjoying the room.  (I am wondering about that kid...)

Moscow's Metro stations are superb examples of art deco design.  Each one is unique and spectacular.

On our first day in Russia, before we even explored Moscow at all, we traveled several hours south of Moscow to Serpukhov near Prioksko-Terrasny Nature Reserve.  This beautiful old Russian hamlet was an example of what Russia used to be like.  Here we are at Visochky Cathedral which is very rarely visited by tourists at all.

There was no way I could spend one week in an area without doing some sort of nature activity!  On our first day in Moscow, we arranged a driver to take us several hours south in to the Siberian wilderness of Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve to see the last herds of European Bison in this part of Europe. The differences between these forest dwelling bovids and their praire-dwelling cousins in North America were obvious. 

To see our complete Russian Species List, click here!

Be sure to visit our Russia Galleries!