Tretyakov

I. Love. Art. So much. And there are tons of huge art exhibits here in Moscow. Slowly but surely, I'm getting to them. I went to the Tretyakov gallery a while ago, which is home to the largest collection of Russian art in the world. It's so big, it has two locations. 

This is the facade of the old gallery. It had SO much art. And most of it was stuff I didn't really recognize, so it was cool to see things like this:

ROMANOV! I'm sure I've already expressed my fascination with them, but here we go again: I love Russian royalty. Especially the Romanovs. 

Part of living in Russia is living the art. There is so much around me in this city that is literally awesome. St. Basil's Cathedral, for example, is so old and so beautiful and I can see it whenever I want. This painting of an uprising in Red Square shows St. Basil's in the background. It's amazing to think of the significance of these places in history. I learned about St. Basil's in my Humanities class in ninth grade. It was so fascinating. I should have a blog post just for this church, but I don't know where the pictures are. Long story short (and according to legend), Tsar Ivan the Terrible had this church built in the 1550s. When the architect was finished, Ivan poked his eyes out so that he could never create anything MORE beautiful. 

And speaking of Ivan: here is the handsome devil! And speaking of Humanities: I REMEMBER STUDYING THIS EXACT PIECE! Maybe it's not that cool...yes it is. I specifically remember this piece and I stumbled upon it in a Russian art museum. What are the chances? So anyway, next we went to the Modern Tretyakov. I only took pictures of what's in the back though. It's a graveyard for old monuments and art, so it was kinda fun. 

Lots of soviet influenced statues that portrayed oppression and the importance of power--obviously themes of the USSR (or in Russian, the CCCP!). I guess it's out-dated, so they just stuck it in a park with a bunch of other old art. In the background is this:

Peter the Conqueror. Lots of people think this is a weird statue, but I love it! It's so big and so strange. It's just in the Moscow River. 

So, come to Moscow for the ART! It's everywhere. It's amazing. Some of it's weird. I'll show ya the good stuff;) Until then, до свидания!

ESL--English as a Second Language

Don't get me wrong -- I wish English was my second language. You know, both my parents are fluent in German. They served full-time missions there for two years. My mom is half German and my dad is a quarter. Wouldn't you think they'd teach their kids? YEAH, ME TOO. But no, they wanted a secret language. Anyway, I'd kill to be a native German speaker. 


PICTURE THIS. You are a fabulously talented T-shirt designer, and English is your second language. Recently you've wanted to have some English writing on your shirts. So you come up with a few good ideas, and then what? You run it by a native English speaker, right? One would think. I've been noticing increasing numbers of shirts that just don't make sense here. I love it though; it's hilarious. Take a look:

"My Little Black Dress." Excuse me, but there is nothing black about that dress. That dark color you're seeing is blue. I don't think this is an appropriate substitute for a cocktail dress anyway. But thanks for the laugh. 

This one just makes me chuckle. I guess that's probably what penguins think about...except when they're freezing their little tushies off! Don't people watch March of the Penguins??

This shirt makes no sense. I guess it got lost in translation...BUT, this is the best EVER:

In case you think you're misreading this shirt that is very clearly on a BOY, it says "I'm a very famous girl." Well, okay. YOU GO GIRL. LOUD AND PROUD HONEY. Note to self: It's not just about the designer. Make sure you know what your shirt says before you wear it. Or don't, and provide humor for the thousands. 

So come to Moscow and see the very well-dressed and the very strangely-dressed. We can even buy you a shirt with Russian writing! But we'll make sure the message is appropriate. Until then, до свидания!

A Short Note on Traffic

Traffic here is ridiculous. If you don't believe me, check out this video. 

You'll notice a few things. First, there is no accident in this picture. The problem is purely the number of people on the roads here. Second, at :43 you can see some cars moving between the two lines of traffic. That is not their lane. That is illegal. However, not driving that way literally gets you nowhere. It can take two hours to get from the city center to my house. Which is less than five miles! This exact situation happened to me:

I tried to capture the seemingly infinite number of cars that were just stopped on the road. Zero movement. This is not unusual for Moscow. What is unusual happened next:

CLEAR ROADS. What? After we passed an intersection, everything opened up. I was in the car with a friend who has lived here for about ten years and she said Medvedev or Putin must have been on the roads. When they need to get somewhere, they close the roads so they have no traffic. Clearly, this country values nothing if not efficiency. That was such a frustrating day. 

But hey, I was stopped in traffic for PUTIN. Don't you want to be able to say that? Friends, this really is the best time to visit Russia. You don't have to pay for a hotel, taxis, or tour guides. We can provide all of that for you. Don't wait until we find out we're moving, because by then it will be too late. My parents always say how they would LOVE people to visit. We have plenty of room! Come visit and maybe you'll be lucky enough to NOT have much traffic! (Actually, summer is the best time of the year for that!) Until next time, до свидания!

9 мая -- день Победы

Ninth of May -- Victory Day, that is to us who only speak 'Murrican ;)


This is Russia's Celebration of V-E Day, and it's pretty cool. People always tell me May is the prime month of the year in Russia, and part of Victory Day's charm is that it's always warm and sunny for the parade. Not so, my friends. The one year that Katie gets to spend at the Victory Day parade: CLOUDY AND COLD. "No matter," said we, as my family and I got up early to get a good spot along Тверская Yлица (Tverskaya Street) so that we could see the infamous parade. 

So these bad boys were parked right in front of us for about 20 minutes while the other half of the parade merged onto the street ahead. They say it's the only day that police officers and military guys smile and wave at people. And wave they did! They tried to ignore us for a while, but the Burt girls in my ward and I wouldn't give up. We got a smile and a wave. 

Mоя семья. My family. I don't think you're ready for this jelly. Oh check out my mom's flag. People wave these and tie orange&black striped ribbon to cars and bags and everything. The orange represents the fire from the war and the black represents smoke. I'm pretty sure...

Alright, HOW COOL is that? It's huge, and just driving through the square. Mark's quote was "Why doesn't America have this stuff?!" To which my dad explained that they do, they just don't flaunt it. Then of course we had an active definition of the word "flaunt" for Mark. I swear, living with these people is something else. I also like this picture because you can see one of Moscow's many statues that mark historical events. Right below this spot is a very important Metro stop, I just learned. Stalin addressed a crowd in the central hall of the station, which is the first to sport a new colonnade style when built in 1938 (for my fellow lovers of architecture).

The whole group. Now how does it feel, friends, to not be in this picture? Pretty bad right? Lucky for you, there are tons of things like this in Moscow, so if you visit me, we can take pictures and talk about our wicked experiences at historical sites. Sounds awesome, right? I know. More to come soon! Until next time, до свидания!

When Depression Hits.

On the way home from a vacation full of sun and happiness, just imagine how I felt looking out the airplane window to THIS:

Snow. In mid-April. I wanted to cry. It's been a long winter, friends. I'm a Texan, I get two days of snow and call it a successful year. I've have loved all the snow, but enough is enough. 

At least when I landed it wasn't too bad. In the city, the snow is mostly gone, and it's well above freezing. This means, friends, that Spring really is upon us! 'What's the prettiest month in Moscow?' I ask my native buds, and guess what they say! MAY. 

SO. You better get your plane tickets booked. I am not kidding when I say we want visitors! We have plenty of beds, and we have nice weather. And come on, you know you want to be able to tell everyone you've seen the Moscow Kremlin. And not just in Mission Impossible. DAVAI, get your booties over here! Until then, до свидания!

Happy Spring!

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. -Lewis Grizzard

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" -Robin Williams

Well, friends, there ya have it! March marks the beginning of Spring in Moscow. The "party" to which Williams is referring is called Maslenitsa. At this celebration, loud music is played and a doll representing Winter is burned. They also eat pancakes.

SO, just thought I'd attach a picture of the beautiful spring weather! It's pretty hard to tell, but it's snowing and quite windy. But, Grizzard, if you wanna wake up and go party in the March wind, all the Russians are doing it!

That's pretty much a perfect depiction of what Moscow looks like for most of Winter. Cold, dark, snowy, and overcast. At least it's warmed up though! It's right about freezing currently. The other day, we hit -33C. Yes, I'll be able to tell my grandchildren that I walked to school in that. So come to Moscow so you, too, can tell your kids stories about your nose hairs freezing when you walk outside! Until next time, до свидания!

The Metro

Every great city has one: an underground train system. The universal burning rubber smell...♥ In London it's The Tube, in NYC it's the Subway, but here in Moscow, it's just the Metro. It's one of the best in the world. I personally like it because whenever I'm going somewhere, I'm usually in a hurry, and I wouldn't like waiting for ten minutes for a ride. I've never had to wait more than two minutes for the next metro car. It's incredibly efficient and in the center of the city, the stops are pretty close together. Here's a map:

Pretty straightforward, right? UH, NO. If you'll notice, there is a dark blue line and a light blue line on the map. Underground, the colors are switched. And there is an "Arbatskaya" on both of them. Try to meet someone at Arbatskaya on the blue line, I dare you. It's actually not that bad once you get used to it. I'm on the dark green line at Sokol. It's fourth from the top. There are some really beautiful metro stops. 

Chandeliers and gold leafing. Very Russian. I love going to the pretty stops. I get to appreciate Russian art without going out of my way. It's incredible that they make the metro so beautiful. It's crazy to think that this is just the underground transportation. And they're pretty clean too!

This one always reminds me of the Ministry of Magic building. Every time I come here I ready myself for a raging duel that is sure to break out one of these days.


So come to Russia and ride the Metro with me! Seriously, my mom hardly ever lets me ride it alone, so I need a buddy. There is a lot more where these pictures came from, and you should definitely come check it out. And preferably before I forget all my English. ;) Until next time, До свидания!