Tag: Exploring

Christmas in Edinburgh | Scotland

Christmas in Edinburgh | Scotland

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, 

Christmastime in Moscow, Russia | Day 7-9

Christmastime in Moscow, Russia | Day 7-9

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 

Christmastime in Moscow, Russia | Day 4-6

Christmastime in Moscow, Russia | Day 4-6

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 most stunning churches and light displays.

Day 4

Church of St. Nicholas

This day of our trip was a “big religious holiday.” I put it in quotes because my mom says that almost every other day. Big religious holidays are a regular thing in Russia. This religious holiday in particular is every January 19th, the day Christ was baptized. You might know it as Epiphany or Baptism Day, but in Russia, it’s called Krescheniye. It’s famously the day when Russians line up to take a dip in an ice hole. It’s believed that on this day, the natural springs water is holy. If dipping your whole body into a frozen lake isn’t your thing, you can do what we did. Go to church and drink the holy water.

We went to the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki. It might be my second favorite church in Moscow. After St. Basil’s in Red Square, of course. The design is beautiful and I love the red and green Christmas colors. Inside, the church had large gold drink dispensers where everyone was getting the holy water. Think of a vintage Apothecary beverage dispenser, but as tall as you. People came to church with bottles and jugs, so they could use/drink the water until the next Krescheniye.

After church, we took the subway to the Crimean Bridge and walked across to go to Gorky Park. This was one of the things I was most excited to see while in Moscow for Christmas. Not for the bridge or the park, even though they’re both great, but the ice sculptures.

I remember being 7 years old, walking through a square or park at night, watching maybe a hundred ice sculptures being made. It was beautiful, exciting, and a magical memory. I’m not sure now if I was in the Red Square or Gorky Park when this happened. But I told my mom I wanted to see those ice sculptures again. I didn’t get to watch them being carved like when I was 7, but I was happy I got to at least see them again, in Moscow, around Christmas, like I did as a child.

Gorky Park

After looking at the ice sculptures for a bit, we got a hot coffee and walked around the park to see more Christmas lights. It was very cold, though, so we didn’t walk through the entire park.

Day 5

The next day, my mom, babushka, and I went all the way to the Tekhnopark subway station in the south of Moscow. My mom saw a new theme park on the news, so we decided to check it out while we were in Moscow. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we got there, all I could think about was the, “It’s a Small World,” song and ride at the Disneyland Park in California. The outside looked like a Disney castle. Inside was a mall with a theme park in the back.

The mall was very clean and not busy at all. Maybe because it was a Wednesday and most people wait to go on the weekends with their kids. I actually enjoyed the emptiness, but it was weird to see such a large, nice-looking mall, with hardly anyone around. My favorite part of the mall was the international section will all the buildings that looked like different places around the world. But they were actual stores on the inside, like H&M and Zara. Some of the stores and restaurants are ones me have in every mall in the U.S. so they weren’t a big deal to me, but probably cool to try if you’ve never been to The States.

The theme park, called Dream Island, is the main attraction and why everyone goes here, but I ended up not going instead the amusement park. My mom was sore from walking around the mall and I didn’t want to go into a kids theme park alone. What was I going to do? Go on rides alone? Just look at the rides? I’m also not too sure if the rides are only for small children or all ages. Either way, it wouldn’t be fun to go in alone.

Day 6

The next evening, we decided to visit Arbat Street in the Arbat District. It’s another shopping street, and one of the oldest streets in Moscow, that we wanted to see decorated for Christmas. It’s a popular place to buy souvenirs too. Although, the souvenirs on this street will be a little more expense than the markets. I wouldn’t say this is a MUST-see street in Moscow during the holidays, but it is close to the red square, and has LOTS of souvenirs and Russian candy to buy for your friends back home. Even if you don’t need souvenirs, the one’s in these shops are extravagant and fun to look through.

Sorry it’s taken me a month to write this post after publishing the last one. I have one more post about Moscow that I will try to get up. Hopefully quicker than this one!

-Ayla♥

P.S. If any of you have been to Amsterdam, I would love some recommendations or leave me a link to your old posts. I’m going this Spring.

Christmastime in Moscow | Russia

Christmastime in Moscow | Russia

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 

Columbia State Historic Park | Columbia, CA

Columbia State Historic Park | Columbia, CA

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 

Normandy Village | Berkeley, CA

Normandy Village | Berkeley, CA

A Fairytale Village in Northern California

Location: Spruce Street and Hearst Ave

Normandy Village, also known as Thornburg Village, is a neighborhood in Berkeley that resembles a French Village. As someone who adores European Architecture, it’s definitely my favorite continent, I HAD to see this place in person. Lucky for me, it’s not too far from where I live in California.

Getting to Normandy Village wasn’t difficult. We took BART to the Downtown Berkeley station and from there walked towards UC Berkeley. We stopped at a boba shop on the way too. Because who goes to Berkeley and doesn’t indulge in some boba? After the pit stop, we kept walking towards campus. Once reaching Oxford St., we headed left towards Hearst Ave. After that, we turned right onto Hearst and within a few minutes we were at the Village.

The village can be a little easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for; so make sure to pull up Maps if you don’t see it. The “village” is actually a few houses and condominiums next to each other, but the rest of the neighborhood looks like normal apartments and homes in Berkeley. Please remember to be respectful and quiet too since people do live in the village.

If you’re wondering if there is a reason to visit this small neighborhood in Berkeley, it’s basically just a good place to take picture. Whether it’s graduation pictures, outfit photos for Instagram, updating a photography portfolio, or a piece for your Bay Area blog.

We were fortunate that no one else was at the Village taking pictures on this day. There can be a crowd of people on weekends according to someone who lives in the area. We only saw a few students and residents coming home while we took our pictures. I should note that we had gone during Covid and businesses in the campus area had much shorter hours. However, we were not as fortunate in other ways.

Normally Berkeley has overcast and slightly cold weather, but we got unfortunately lucky. By that I mean, it was a very sunny and warm day which is NOT ideal for photography. Especially if you are trusting someone who isn’t a professional to take the photos of you. There was awkward shadows cast on my face and on the buildings in MANY of the pictures, as well as harsh sunlight. If you’re with someone who’s a professional, they’ll notice this and tell you where you should move/face. The BEST and most PERFECT day and time to go to Normandy Village for a photoshoot is on a weekday, and when the weather is more cloudy than sunny. We went on a Tuesday around 2 PM. After 5 PM would be better to avoid the bright sunlight.

If you do end up going on a bright day, a little modeling hack I have for you is wear a big hat. This will prevent a lot of eye squinting and the shadows on your face won’t look as awkward if you are directly facing the sun.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this post! As most of you know, I haven’t been leaving the country much since the start of Covid. Exploring little places nearby has been the only way I could get my travel fix. Visiting the real Normandy in France would be a much more exciting experience if you’re able to travel there. But if you’re someone like me who is in the area, it’s worth stopping by for a little photo session.

-Ayla♥

Affiliate links may have been used in this post.

A Day in Mission District | San Francisco

A Day in Mission District | San Francisco

I wanted to share with you pictures from my day in an area of San Francisco many of you may not know of. Mission District is a part of San Francisco that even I rarely find myself in. I am a major foodie, so the