Moscow, I Love You, Pt. 4

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

I mentioned in my first Moscow post that I found a lot of recommendations from Polly at Let's Love Local. One of her suggestions was Хачапури (Khachapuri). Her suggestion was spot on. Our food was really good. After breakfast we walked to Третьяковская Площадь because I knew there was a Lenin Statue there. Right next to the square there is a bookstore called Moscow, which was recommended by one of my students. I enjoyed browsing through the store because they had such a variety of books (including some books in English).

Like most of the jumping from one metro to the next that we did this trip, we took another metro to Московский государственный университет (Moscow State University). I thought the University of Cincinnati (my alma mater) had a beautiful campus, but dang! This University was MASSIVE. Well, actually just one building was. It could have easily been mistaken for Hogwarts or something. Moscow really likes to take a step above and beyond the rest of the world with anything they do.

Next, we followed another one of Polly's suggestions and went to Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) because there was a good look-out there. When we first got to the park we noticed a sign for a small zoo, so we headed in the zoo's direction. Of course, there were a ton of birds, but there was also a cage of squirrels. The squirrels were extremely cute and funny! You can see them in the video I posted here. Remember when I mentioned the 5 Year Story on my trip to Mexico? It's an event that usually happens to make the trip memorable but it usually isn't a good thing? If you don't remember you can read about the previous experiences here and here. On our way from the zoo to the look-out we had our 5 Year Story for this trip. We were trying to find the look-out and we weren't really sure to go. We saw this old building in the middle of the woods with a dirt path going next to it. We thought it might lead us to the look-out so we took it. The moment we got around to the back of the house I looked over and saw a couple engaged in the act of love making. I IMMEDIATELY turned around without saying anything to A and just headed down the main path. It was so awkward, but so funny at the same time. Word of advice: Don't get off the main path. The main path leads right to the look-out.

Next, we went to центральный детский магазин because they also had a city view on top of the building. I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but it was a child's paradise. If I was a kid I don't think I would have wanted to leave! The inside reminded me of a storybook. The views from the top of the building were stunning as well. You can see the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral from the top and many other buildings in Moscow.

Our afternoon wasn't finished. We ended up going to ВДНХ, which is a giant park with so many attractions inside. A kept trying to get me to go to the amusement park or do something else but I was so tired from walking around the past three days. We sat on a bench for a while, and I started to feel myself getting sick but I didn't really think anything about it because I thought it was just from the temperature dropping.

We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we were both getting really hungry. We took the metro to the Kropotkinskaya station which happens to be next to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. A let me stop so that I could take pictures. For dinner we went to Pinzeria by Bontempi where we had the most delicious pinzas I have ever eaten. We actually got a second pinza to share because we were both still hungry!