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!