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, …
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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
It was ten years ago when I went to Paris, France, with my mother. It’s hard to believe how much time has went by since I still remember a lot from this trip. I remember arriving to the airport and being greeted by my mothers best friend, Vita, who was allowing us to stay in her apartment during our 9-days in Paris. She immediately went in to greet me with a kiss. I wasn’t used to the french way of greeting so I stubbled a bit not knowing which cheek she was going to. I remember being slightly embarrassed by it at the time.
Looking back, I don’t think I realized how successful my mothers friend was. I knew she lived in Paris, which to me meant you’ve made it. You’re cool if you live in Paris. But not only does she live in Paris, she is also an entertainment director who’s in charge of musical events and performers from all over Europe. To add to her coolness, she also speaks four languages.
The first thing I did after getting settled into Vita’s apartment was have a nap. I always have to take a nap right after getting off a plane. It was about 5pm when I woke up but it was still light out because it was summer. My mom wanted to go someplace since it would be a waste to spend the entire first day in the apartment. So the first thing we decided to do was go, of course, to see the Eiffel Tower.
I remember seeing the Eiffel tower for the first time like it was yesterday. We took the metro from Champs-Élysées to the stop “Trocadero.” When we got out of the metro we started walking towards two large buildings. (I now know they were the Maritime Museum and Museum of Architecture and Monuments). As we walked along one of the museums, I started to see a large open area (Palais de Chaillot) and suddenly…the Eiffel Tower came into view. It was like a scene from a movie where the characters of been on a long journey and to their surprised, through the mountains, standing on a cliff, they finally see what they have been looking for their whole journey.
My mom and I walked through the park and crossed the Pont d’lena to get closer to the Eiffel Tower. It was larger than I imagined. I thought it would be half the size, but it was actually huge. I wanted to climb up it so we went to the ticket office to see how much it was. The price to take the elevator was expensive but the person working there told us we could also take the stairs for free (or maybe it was for a few euros). We decided to take the stairs even though she said we couldn’t go to the very top without an elevator. Going up the stairs was easy for me at the time. It probably wouldn’t be if I went now. I quickly climbed up to the second floor leaving my mom in my dust.
We went up another level and by that time the sun was beginning to set. We stayed up there until my mom received a call from Vita. She called to tell us that the metro would be closing soon and her son wouldn’t be able to come get us if we stayed any longer. It was almost 11pm and it surprised us how late it was because there was still some daylight. I guess daylight lasts much longer in France than it does in the US.
When her son came to get us, I was shocked to learn it was his first time seeing the Eiffel Tower too. He’s lived in Paris his whole life and only now saw it. I guess it isn’t as big of a deal to see it if you were born in Paris.
I remember the next important thing I wanted to do was see the Mona Lisa. The line to get inside the Louvre was long. It was also summer so that could be why it was so packed. Once inside, I was on a mission to find the Mona Lisa. I didn’t care about anything or anyone else except for her. I followed the signs that were placed all over the museum. “Mona Lisa this way” with an arrow. I felt like they were purposefully putting me through a maze because I had to walk down many halls and rooms until I finally reached the room with Her. It was a large room and a crowd was gathered in the center. I wasn’t expecting so many people to be standing in front of Her. All the other paintings had no one stopping to take pictures. She was also in a glass case and the other paintings were not. Thinking back, I was really dumb. I should have appreciated the other works of art in that museum. I’m sure there were much prettier artworks, but I was too focus on the most famous one. I don’t even know why it’s more famous than any other painting.
In my photo you can see glares and light flashes from cameras because of the glass case the painting was protected by. At least I didn’t get a hundred hands holding up cameras in this picture.
After walking around the museum, we walked around the parks near the Louvre. The whole area where the museum is located is beautiful. It was a lot of walking and my legs were sore the rest of the trip.
While on this trip we did a few things to get around and see all the sights. We used the metro, the hop-on hop-off bus for 2 days, and a Seine River cruise. My mom really likes going on river cruises when we are in places that have them. I could probably do without the cruise because seeing things and taking photographs while moving isn’t ideal. Pictures always turn out better on land. I also don’t appreciate the wind blowing my hair around. I do however like Hop-on Hop-off because it saves you a lot of time. Taking a metro to every spot and walking can be time consuming and exhausting.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip from 10 years ago and seeing some of the sights in Paris. A #10YearChallenge was going around social media in January so I thought it would be fun to talk about a trip I took in 2009. What trips were you on 10 years ago?
-Ayla♥
