inspired
Scotland. The land of haggis and kilts. At least that’s what most people think of when they hear about Scotland. Unless if you’ve watched Outlander. In that case, you probably think of Jamie Fraser, shirtless, on a horse, galloping through some lushes green forests… Anyway, …
Hall Winery 401 ST HELENA HWY S On this day, my friend had invited me to a wine tasting at one of her favorite wineries. As a member of their wine club, she is allowed to treat us to a free tasting once a year. …
This is the third and finally post on my trip to Moscow. I already can’t wait to go back during winter for a third time (if you missed my first post where I mentioned going as a child, you can read it here). Maybe when I need to renew my Russian passport I’ll go again… Hopefully by that time there is more peace between Russia and the US. Until then, you can read this post where I make you jealous that I was able to go right before the war broke out.
Before our trip, I made a list in my notes app called “things to do in Moscow.” One of the things we hadn’t done yet on my list was try ponchiki donuts. Out of the handful of times I’ve visited Russia, I have yet to try these famous donuts that I was seeing on others travel websites. I told my mom what the two most popular places were to get them and she suggested the one next to VDNH park. That way I could try the ponchiki and we could also see the ice rink and park decorated for Christmas and New Years.
They had just reopened when we came and there was still no line. I’ve seen picture online where it looked very crowded so we got lucky.
The ponchiki donuts were good and very addicting. I could probably eat a dozen, but my babushka reminded me how unhealthy they are and too many would make me sick.
After donuts and coffee, we walked along Park Ostankino towards the VDNH aquarium, Moskvarium. VDNH, also called VDNKh or All-Russian Exhibition Center, is a large exhibition park where people can enjoy nature, but also learn about the soviet union and it’s history. It’s huge with plenty to learn and experience in one park. Just imagine you travel to a city and want to visit their art museum, history museum, aquarium, space museum, and more. Well, in Moscow, you can see all that inside of one park. Make sure to plan for an entire day there.
When I visited in summer, we also walked through the park and the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics across the street. There were lots of cool things to explore and learn about the soviets history with space travel. This time around, we didn’t go inside of any of the museums or buildings. Even though I really wanted to because they looked so cool! Most of them were closing soon since we were visiting in the evening.
In winter, VDNH is decorated for New Years and Christmas (just like the rest of Moscow) with beautiful lights throughout and a massive ice rink! The ice rink was unique because it was shaped like a running track instead of the small oval ones I’ve skated on.
By the time we walked to the ice rink, I was already freezing from being outside for so many hours. We walked across the bridge above the rink, took some pictures, froze my hands some more because I took my gloves off to use my camera, and walked towards the park entrance where we would catch a bus back to the apartment.
On this day, we went back to the center of Moscow to see more holiday lights. I had a bunch of random streets and squares saved in notes app of locations that I saw on Instagram with pretty decorations. We didn’t have it all mapped out, but some how kind of stumbled upon everything while walking down the street because they are all so close to each other.
We walked passed the Bolshoi Theatre towards GUM right behind it and kept walking down that street stopping to take photos of any decorations.
The light tunnel on Tverskoy Boulevard was last on my list and the last of the holiday lights we saw. After taking some pictures and walking through it, we went to a large McDonalds on the other side of Novopushkinskiy Park. I LOVE going to McDonalds in other countries because the menus are different (and better) than America. Moscow had unique pies and desserts which we tried for the first time with a yummy forest berry tea.
My mom was feeling a little under the weather, but I still needed to get some souvenirs for my friends back home, so my babushka and I went to Izmaylovo District on our own.
Izmaylovo has a huge market in the morning with millions of souvenirs to choose from. They’re also much cheaper than stores if you are comfortable haggling. Besides souvenirs, there’s a few restaurants and museums in the park. Plus, it’s just a really pretty place that’s worth going to for the pictures of soviet architecture.
Make sure to buy a Russian Matryoshka Doll while you are here! Some other good souvenirs to get are hand painted wooden spoons, balalaika, jewelry box, fur hat, amber accessories, and vodka. My favorite souvenirs in Russia are always hand painted and wooden. I love looking at the unique designs.
We still had a few more days before our flight home, but we all were feeling sick at this point. We weren’t sure if it was Covid or something else. I just had a fever, headache, and restless legs at first. About two days later I was eating a piece of chocolate and realized I wasn’t tasting it. That’s when I began to panic that I could have Covid when I needed to fly home in just two days! Long story short, we took our 24 hour PCR test that was required before the flight. My mom’s tests both came back negative. Mine…inconclusive and positive. I was stuck in Moscow under house arrest (basically) for two weeks. I was so upset. If you’re wondering, the reason my moms came back negative was because she got sick a day or two before me. I’m sure all of you have had travel plans affected by Covid. It’s horrible. From the extra expenses of taking those Covid tests, to getting stuck inside a room for two weeks. I hope we never have to deal with that mess ever again.
-Ayla♥
Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The architecture is very unique outside of Eastern Europe. Then add some Christmas lights to it? Absolutely stunning. If you haven’t see my last post yet, absolutely check it out for some of the …
The first and last time I visited Moscow during Christmas was in 2003 when I was 7 years old. Even though I was so young, I had fond memories of my two weeks there. Memories that I thought about often. Nineteen years later, I finally …
Around Halloween last year, I went to the city of Columbia for the first time. For those of you who don’t know the geography of California, it’s located about an hour outside of Yosemite. Most of the area is populated with different campgrounds and hiking trails. But more importantly, it’s where the Gold Rush was taking place in the 1850’s. I’m not sure how big of a deal the Gold Rush was for school children outside of California, but it was a major topic during our state history studies in 5th grade. We dressed up, did fake gold panning, churned butter, made candle wax… They really transported us to the 1800’s. Knowing what a big deal the Gold Rush was to California, it made visiting the “Gem of the Southern Mines” and a Gold Rush boomtown that much cooler.
It’s hard to believe that this was really how the towns were built almost 200 years ago. And that Columbia was one of the largest towns in California at the time! The park looked like a movie set I would see in Universal Studios. (It doesn’t surprise me that scenes from Back to the Future III were filmed in the area.) I’ve seen old Western films before, but never really thought, “this was a real thing. America really looked like this.” It’s silly to say, but the old west movies have done a good job because the set designs looked exactly like this historic park. Note: The town has been rebuilt a few times due to fires and deterioration.
We spent a few ours walking through the park and going inside each little store. The staff in these stores are actually dressed up for the time period. It’s a cute place to shop and the stores are real places you can buy from! My favorites were probably the candle store and the candy store. Both have A LOT of goodies inside. Across the street from the candle store, back on the main street, was a place to make your own candles! They were closed for the day when we went, but it would be a fun activity for kids and candle lovers.
The City Hotel is one of a few hotels in the area, however, this is the one located right on Main Street in the park. The woman working at the hotel on this day told us a bit about the history of the hotel while we looked around the rooms. We didn’t know this before, but she said the hotel is haunted and a very popular place for guests to stay the night around Halloween. Lucky us for coming in October. If haunted hotels are something that excites you, the room rates were very reasonable and the bathrooms have been modernized. Almost everything else in the hotel is accurate for that time period.
We didn’t look inside the Fallon Hotel and Theatre. But it’s by the famous Jack Douglas Saloon where you can try sarsaparilla, order dinner, and watch a show before going to bed. This hotel seems larger and had room options from $115 to $50 a night. Hopefully this one isn’t haunted too…
Close to the Columbia State Historic Park is the Moaning Caverns Adventure Park. I have a previous blog post that mentions my visit to the Caverns. I recommend visiting both if you are planning a trip to Colombia or even just driving through with your family.
Happy Halloween! Let me know in the comments if you’re going on any spooky trips this month.
-Ayla♥
Let me start off by saying this was my first time leaving California since 2018. I was so excited to book these tickets and FINALLY go on a trip. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about Covid though. I had so many …