Moscow, Russia

Going to Russia was a little more than we bargained for.  For example, who knew that you needed to get Visas over a month in advance to go.  And who knew how expensive Russia is.  We had always heard from Sam how Russia was so depressing and dirty and falling down.  But, in pictures it never looked that way.  It looked like any other tourist trap city.  But, we were in for quite a surprise when we found out how right Sam really was...

When we first got off the metro stop closest to the Red Square we were mesmerized at how clean and colorful the city looks.  It is the best part of Russia.  We kept on finding ourselves coming back here because of how it lifted your spirits.

(Here Michal caught another picture of me "trying to figure out what was going on." I never did figure out what was going on though.)

Within the Red Square everything looks pristine and classy - but the rest of the country is such a different story.  Buildings give off the appearance that they are going to fall down if you lean against them wrong.  We couldn't find any stairs that weren't crooked.  Things are dirty.  To top it all off, it's hard to find a place to eat unless it's (a) McDonalds or (b) someplace ridiculously expensive.  

 So McDonald's it was.  Our first meal was there.  The lines were ridiculously long... actually did I mention that such things as lines don't exist in Russia.  It's called "giant mosh-pit" with people pushing and shoving their way to get to the next cashier available.  Seriously?!?  I couldn't handle it, so Michal "stood" in line to order a meal for us... that and he spoke enough Russian so that he didn't get pushed around and could order off the menu.  Once we got our food Michal was shocked at how much it was - for two Big Macs and fries it was over $15, and he was surprised at how large the portions were for Europe.  To prove his point he decided to raise his hand against the fry-box to show how large the box was.  Even though we were famished when we got there, and after being used to "European portions" for the last 9 months, there was just too much food and we couldn't finish it all.

The Red Square was our favorite part of Moscow.  We spent quite a lot of time there and took loads and loads of pictures.  We had serious trouble finding other tourists to take our picture for us.  No one spoke English period.  So, Michal asked them in Russian, and then it was like they still were too shy to help us.  We ended up finding a few Germans and Dutch who were patient enough to help us out with pictures, especially our infamous jumping pictures.  After some terrible pictures we just decided to take each other's picture instead of dealing with terrible shots by others.

After touring the Red Square, we headed over to the Luzhkov Bridge where there are several trees that contain thousands of locks on them.  It is called "The Lock Trees of Love."  Here newly married couples, or any couple, can attach a lock to one of these trees.  It is very similar to the idea of attaching locks to the fencing on bridges - it's just that these locks are in the MIDDLE of the bridge on trees.

Anyway, here we met up with Grant Newman. Grant was a roommate to Sam his freshman year at BYU and when they got their mission calls a month apart from each other - they found out that they were going to the exact same place: Novosibirsk, Russia.  Since we had a professional Russian speaking tour guide - we took advantage and had grant show us all the cool sites of the city.

The first place that Grant took us was to a monument entitled: Children are the Victims of Adult Vices. When describing these statues the artist said it "was conceived and carried out by me as a symbol and a call to fight for the salvation of present and future generations." There are 13 bronze statues which represent evil vices of the world.  A human body with an animal head to emphasize the allegory of the fight against the World Evil.  While in the center children play oblivious to the evils going on around them; thus representing "indifference." The 13 vices represented are: Alcoholism, Exploitation of Child Labor, Drug Addiction, Prostitution, Sadism, Ignorance, Irresponsible Science, War (holding a strange Mickey Mouse Bomb), Poverty, and Theft (with the statue in the middle representing those without memory and the two children in the center totaling 13). There has been controversy over these statues as how propagandistic they appear to be.  I thought it was interesting and something I never would have taken the time to see... luckily I had a great tour guide.  

The last place we wandered by was Tolstoy's house.  It was extremely late - almost around midnight - so the picture quality isn't the greatest... but Michal was excited to see his house. 

Thanks Grant for being an amazing tour guide and showing us things we never would have seen nor experienced unless you had been with us.

The next day we started out by going shopping.  We wanted to see what great deals we could find at some local flee markets... Remember how I said that people in Poland wear American paraphernalia?  Well, I found it all over Russia too.  It was hard to get pictures of some of them, but I got these of a lady's shoes on the Metro.  American flags plastered over some ballet flats... very in-ter-es-ting! And I decided to show my Russian "team spirit" by posing with the manequins wearing the official Russian Olympic gear.  (Needless to say, the only Olympics you could watch while we were there was if Russia took in the top 5.)

At the flee market Michal found some interesting buys.  We bought him this classic Soviet Union hat and one Russian doll - we got both for under $15 and felt like we got a deal.

Shopping can sure make you hungry, but the only thing that even looked appetizing were the crepes at the local "mall."  Michal made me try to order on my own.  It was a disaster... but he thought he was so funny by trying to catch it on camera.

I have no idea who the statue on the right is, it was just one of the many different statues located on one of the Metro stops.  

The statue on the left is of Dostoyevsky.  Michal idolizes Dostoyevsky, partly because he was a Russian Literature minor - but also because he really likes his books.  A picture of the statue had to have Michal in front of it - he just makes the picture complete. 

We wanted to spend the remaining time that we had in the Red Square.  We were going to go see Kremlin - but after getting in our Mosh Pit line - we realized it would cost $60 a person and that they closed in 2 hours and that it wasn't worth it.  So we wandered everywhere else instead. We figured that if we REALLY wanted to see it... I'm sure there is some video tour on YouTube that we can watch and feel like we didn't miss out at all.

Michal really wanted to see Mausoleum of Lenin.  Unfortunately, it's only open for about 2 hours each day - in the middle of the day - and we missed that window.  I felt terrible, absolutely terrible that Michal didn't get to see this (since we won't be coming back)... but there's always YouTube - right?

 At least this time we got MUCH better pictures of us together.  Don't you agree?

 Here we saw hundreds of people taking their picture on this "thing."  We had no idea why it was important... but of course... we couldn't miss out... so Michal jumped in and threw his coin and we figured we'd look up its importance later.  Well, come to find out, it's Kilometer Zero.  Apparently from this location is where all distance in Moscow is measured. There is also a legend that if you stand here and throw a coin over your shoulder while making a wish, your wish will come true.

Just as we were leaving, look who showed up...

Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky!  They wanted a lot of Rubles to get your picture taken with them - so instead we just snuck a few in when they weren't looking!  Michal isn't exactly posing WITH them, but we are happy with the outcome of the picture.

Last, but not least... remember how we said there were NO straight stairs in Russia.  Well, as we were headed home and out of Moscow - we wanted to document how true this statement really is!  Judge for yourselves from the pictures below...

The next city we went to was St. Petersburg.  The stairs there were straighter and things were cleaner.  It was more westernized and a major improvement from Moscow.

To be continued...

Riga, Latvia

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~Hilaire Belloc

In August, Michal & I fulfilled an item on our bucket list: we traveled for a whole month.  

We booked a trip to Russia, but our flight had an 16 hour layover in Riga.  It was through a super, super low budget airline called Air Baltic.  I guess it's their way of strengthening the economy in Latvia.  A lot of travelers come through this airport in the early evening, hit the city that night and leave the next morning for their final destination.  It was absolutely perfect because this was really only a one night city.  We walked about 3 hours and felt like we saw everything the tour books recommend.  However, downtown is overly charming and so we just wandered the streets for another 2-3 hours so that we could really capture the essence of this beautiful, captivating pocket-sized city.

 On the left is a cool church renovated to look like a castle.  The right shows St. Mary's Dome Cathedral covered in scaffolding. Beautiful organ music was flowing from within the walls as we walked by, but we couldn't enter the Cathedral.  We later found out that this historic building boasts of having one of the largest organs in the world with 6,768 pipes.

 Michal & I sought out the Powder Tower of the Latvian War Museum on the right... but we stumbled upon this house on the left.  We loved the architecture of it and the color.  We loved the way it looked so picturesque.  Then we looked up and noticed large cats atop of the pointy rooftops.  We were intrigued... took a picture... and decided to look it up later.  Come to find out that this structure is called, "The Cat House."  It gathers its nickname from the cats which are found placed as a part of the silhouette of the facade.  The story goes that the owner of this house was denied membership in the local Guild, so to show his displeasure he built two cat sculptures on his roof with their backsides facing the guild and their tails up to finish the insult.  Glad we stumbled upon it because it is actually a quite popular attraction in Riga.

 Riga's Freedom Monument.  This is a very symbolic and important monument to the country of Latvia and holds many revered meanings.  It is the most photographed monument in Latvia and is comparable to the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin or the Big Ben of London or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. From the importance of this monument to this city, this monument will debut on the Euro Coin (which represents Latvia) once Latvia accepts the Euro currency.

The statue holds three stars which symbolize the 3 regions of Latvia.  During Soviet occupation Latvians told the Soviets that the monument depicted "Mother Russia" and the 3 stars she was holding represented the 3 Baltic Republics: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  This is the main reason that this monument was honored and not removed during Soviet occupation.  Another reason is because occupation authorities knew how sacred and symbolic the monument is for the people - and fearing protests - didn't remove it.  However, the Russians opened up the street passing the monument in hope that the monument would eventually crumble.  Luckily this monument survived as did the hope and spirit of this country.  One interesting fact about this monument about that the woman atop (a symbol of freedom) faces the west, while the monument of Lenin, located down the street during occupation, faced east.  With their backs to each other it shows how Latvians looked to the West for help and resisted the East. 

 Colorful and picturesque streets.

These 3 houses are nicknamed "The Three Brothers" and represent a superior example of medieval architecture.  These houses are the oldest stone houses which are still standing in Riga and were built between the 15th Century (White Brother) and the 18th Century (Yellow Brother).  The "White Brother" also houses the Latvian Museum of Architecture.

The Banks of the Daugava River in Riga is absolutely stunning and breathtaking.  The light shimmers off the water creating a glistening city in its reflection.  Upon the rivers banks can be found the Statue of St. Christopher - the Founder of Latvia.

According to legend...

In ancient times, before Riga was built, a very large man named Kristaphs (Latvian form of Christopher) built himself a hut on the right bank of the Daugava River.  He earned his living by carrying people across the river on his back.  They disembarked at the spot where Riga now stands. One night Kristaps awoke to the sound of a child crying on the left bank of the river.  He waded over, picked up the babe and began to carry him back across the river to the hut.  With each step, Kristaps found that the child became heavier and heavier until by midstream only with the greatest of effort Kristaps made it to shore.  (Legend goes that the babe was really the Christ Child in disguise, but he was bearing the weight of the sins of the world.)  With his last ounce of strength, Kristaps laid the child on the rug in front of the hearth in his hut and dropped off into an exhausted slumber. In the morning Kristaps awoke to discover that the child had disappeared, leaving behind gold.  Kristaps was a humble man and never spent the gold during his lifetime by gave all the money to build Riga near the sport where his hut once stood. 

In about 1510 a large wooden sculpture appeared in Riga on banks of the Daugava River.  The statue was nicknamed "Big Christopher."  The people of Riga loved this statue and adorned him with ribbons, floral wreaths, and candles and begged for his protection against the city.  It is remarkable that this statue still stands, but iconic images of this statue with a child on his shoulder can be seen throughout the whole city of Riga and even on some old Latvian coinage.

 On the left is the Town Hall Square; the right - St. Peters Church.  A fun fact about this church is that it has been destroyed... A LOT.  So once the tower was rebuilt they took a piece of glass to the top and threw it off the top.  Superstition was that the more pieces that the glass broke into - the longer the church would stand.  Alas, a pile of straw cushioned the glass and it only broke into two.... and as luck would have it... the tower burnt to the down the following year.  The last time the tower was rebuilt they performed the glass ritual again and the glass shattered... or shall I say... there were "smashing results."

More charming streets in Riga.

 This statue is unusual a Rooster standing atop a cat standing atop a dog standing atop a donkey. Why are they standing on each others backs?  That's the whole story behind the interesting sculpture.  While traveling these 4 animals passed a cottage and when they looked inside they realized that it was being robbed.  They decided to stand on each others backs to give the robbers a musical performance and get food in return.  Instead the robbers were scared away by this "strange animal" and the animals were able to therefore enter the house and enjoy a great meal. 

This statue is based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grim and represents the Town Musicians of Bremen.  The statue was a piece of art that was a gift from Bremen (Riga's twin city) in 1990.  In fact, the sculpture is an exact replica of the one in Bremen City Hall located in Bremen, Germany.

 This is one of Michal's masterpiece pictures.  He has decided to start taking pictures of me because I am so curious at what others are doing and always join the "crowd" trying to figure out what is going on.  Michal often teases me that one of these days there are going to be gunshots somewhere and instead of us running, I will want to "go see what happened."  Here they were giving free archery lessons.  I missed out on the lessons, but didn't miss out on what was going on.

And this was Michal's most artistic picture of the day.  We decided to head home around 9:45pm - and it was STILL light outside!  We were so happy that it was because it let us do more exploring of the city that we never would have been able to see without it staying light outside for so long.  I guess that's a benefit of traveling in the North, but not fun if you have to live here and wake up early in the morning from the sun coming up early.

Next city, coming soon...

Not missing out on Warsaw

William Feather once said, "One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure."  Therefore, Michal and I decided to go out and embrace Warsaw.  We decided to head out and make sure that we see all the museums and sites which gives Warsaw its character.

Our first stop: Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego.

(The Warsaw Rising Museum)

This museum was put together to show what WWII was like from a Warszawian's perspective.  It doesn't take sides - just gives facts on how the Germans AND the Russians invaded Poland.  Poles wanted to preserve their culture so the museum teaches how Poles resisted, silently and publicly, the invasion of their city.

The Museum isn't organized very well, but it has some incredible artifacts!  Not only that but it puts you in the middle of the action with sounds of bombs and sirens constantly going off.  It also is very interactive as you can pick up various calendar-page-pamphlets which teach you about what historic "uprising movement" happened on that date.  The pamphlets are all in Polish - luckily I had my own private translator with me!

Michal loved this motorcycle with the attached seat at the side (like in Indiana Jones).

Within the Museum, you can wander the sewers of Warsaw.  It helps you to have a feeling of what those who ran through the sewers and were a part of the Warsaw underground experienced as they tried to pass information along to rid the city of the invaders.

 While in this Museum, Michal became like a little boy when he saw this old Radio.  I learned, this day, that his grandpa had one just like it when he was growing up.  Going over to dzadek's house was one of his favorite past times as they sat together and listened to this radio and Michal was able to hear war stories from his Grandpa.

This museum does a great job of showing how much Poles loved Warsaw and even when the population was reduced to less than a 1,000 people - it was still rebuilt and now remains as an amazing city full of adventures and things to explore.

In fact - The Warsaw Rising is so important to Warszawians that every year on August 1st - at 5pm - a siren goes off.  The siren lasts for one whole minute and the whole city stops to pay its respects for those who fought valiantly to keep the culture, traditions, heritage, and language a part of Poland.  This single act defines so much of Warsaw's history and explains how passionate Polish people are about who they are and where they come from.

Sites in this video: from the first slide to the last - The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, The Palma (The Palm Tree at a Major intersection in Warsaw), Zloty Terasy (The Downtown Mall), Plac Defilad (by the pala, Centrum Metro Station, Kolumna Zygmunta (Zygmunts Column), The Hard Rock Cafe at Zloty Terasy, Palma (On the building in the background it says: The Nation is Building it's Capital), Centrum Metro, Plac Konstitucji, The National Opera House, Charles de Gaulle Statue, The Piłsudski Square, Near Centrum, Palac Kultury i Nauki (The Palace of Culture & Science), Centrum Metro, The Piłsudski Square.  

I absolutely love this video and I absolutely love Warsaw.  This video makes me feel a sense of Polish Pride to have lived there and experienced such an amazing place.

After leaving the Museum, I realized that remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto wall weren't far away and Michal had never seen this during his tenure here.  I felt a little proud to be his tour guide... but truly - my favorite part of this picture is the fact that Michal is carrying my purse.  He is such a gentleman and in many pictures can often be found carrying my stuff for me!

 On the way home, that wasn't the ONLY cool thing that we came across.  I can't believe that I have missed these accents in Warsaw.  I loved them and always wanted to remember them - so - I took a picture of them.

#1.  I love it how when you pull into a MALL parking lot - it tells you how many parking spots are left in the whole lot.  Since it was a Sunday evening, and the mall was closed, this lot was very empty.  But as you proceed to the entrance it tells you how many spots are on each level so you don't have to waste time driving around looking for one.  Once in the parking garage there are little lights located above the spots - green if they are open - red if they are taken.

(I stole this picture from a friends blog, so hopefully you can see what I was talking about.  Red means the spot is taken - and green - off in the distance - means a free spot.)

My favorite find of the day: the Piano crosswalk between the Palace of Culture & Science and the Zloty Terasy square.  I LOVE these crosswalks.  I can't tell you how many times I've crossed here and never noticed this piano keyboard.  Maybe it is the crowds, or me not paying any attention - but it was my happy moment of the day.  Admit it - you like it too! 

 My second favorite happy spot of the day - this lady's outrageously colored hair.  I believe that I have seen every shade from carrot orange, to magenta, to purple on someone's head who lives here.  I don't know if it's on purpose, or accidental - but it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.  The only requirement is that you have to be a short Pole between the ages of 50 and 65.  I haven't seen this extreme color on anyone else - but trust me - if you were to visit this city... it would be one of the first things that you notice immediately.  The bright, uncomfortable, hair colors you see on older lades.  Well, that and Men between the ages of 30 and 50 who wear fanny packs... and teenagers who wear American flag paraphernalia. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photographs of the latter two.

 I believe you have heard me talk about how Poles idolize Chopin.  He is so important to Poland and Warsaw.  Thus, we had to visit the Chopin Museum.  I don't have anything positive to say about the museum and therefore won't be writing much about it here.  The other sites (Zelazowa Wola & Lazienki Park, and the Chopin benches downtown) are much, much, MUCH better!

I love, love, love Warsaw and am so happy it has such a rich culture and history that I can explore with Michal... (and that he can translate everything for me that I don't understand!)

A Traditional Polish Wedding

Ever since moving to Poland, I had always wanted to experience a traditional Polish wedding.   Luckily, Michal had a childhood friend who was getting married in Warsaw and invited us to attend this special event. 

It was my first time attending a Catholic Wedding... and my first time at a Polish Catholic Wedding.  I had no idea what was going on... I was actually surprised at how long it lasted.  Normally in the movies it seems like the ceremony is 5 or 10 minutes... but in reality they take about an hour.  In addition to the ceremony, the Catholic Priest invites the congregation to have Holy Communion. I have to admit, my favorite part of the whole process was watching the couple and seeing them just beam.  It was so worth it.

 After the wedding the couple stands aside the church and greets everyone who came.  Similar to the typical lines you can see in Mormon receptions... including mine.  Here the couples hug and chat with everyone who came and this is the time when you give your gift to the couple.  It is not common to give an "item" to the bride & groom... however, it is expected to give cash.  So as the greet everyone the best man and maid of honor stand with baskets to collect the envelopes.

After greeting everyone they hop in their car and head to the reception. 

However, BLOKADA is very traditional... and so Michal (and some of his friends) set up a blockade. The car must stop and is not allowed to pass until they hand out a bottle of Vodka to those who are setting up the blockade.  In other words, this is when the drinking officially starts - 5pm... but not when it ends!

 After the couple arrives at the reception they are greeted by their parents who bring a plate of bread and salt.  The couple participates in eating some of the bread and taking a shot of vodka in the small little glasses.  Then - they throw the glasses over their shoulders.  If the glasses break it's good luck... if not - well - they always break.

 The wedding continued with a formal sit down dinner.  Except that the first meal starts at 7, the next meal is at 9, then at 11 and at 2 (am) the last "little" snack is served.  It is a LOT of food.

But the best part about the wedding celebrations are all the songs that they sing and customs that they have - which ALL include drinking a shot of vodka.  Michal and I had to be real tricky with this.  My excuse was easy: "I am pregnant."  Michal's was a little trickier.  He started out by telling others that he doesn't drink because he is Mormon - but after 4 shots - they all forgot... so we ended up either filling his little shot glass up with Sprite or Gazowana (gas water) to fool those who were taking lots and lots of shots.  Michal's friend - Marcin - had the most... I believe.  I started counting at 11pm how many he had.  From 11pm - 2am he had 14 shots of Vodka.... and he could still dance and sing coherently.  I was amazed.

After this point, my camera didn't cooperate with me and politely decided to go to sleep for the night (or run out of juice)... but I still want to talk about the Polish traditions that happen at the reception.

In America when you want the couple to kiss, you tap the glass with a knife.  In Poland to have the couple kiss they sing: "Sto Lat" and then after the song continue with "Gozko, Gozko" which means "sour, sour" - the idea behind this is to encourage the couple to kiss because kisses are sweet and do away with the "sour." However, if they want the kiss to be longer, drunk guys will continue singing "Gozko, Gozko, Gozko" until they give a kiss that is "long enough" or "acceptable" to their drunk liking.

Other than that they drink and dance and eat and repeat the process over and over and over again.  The celebrations went until 5am - and the next day they start at 1pm to finish the celebrations from the night before.  We got home at 4:30 am (thanks to the Metro being closed - FYI it closes at 3am and opens again at 5am.... so we sure stunk at timing our departure).  The next day was really hard to push through... but I am so glad and happy we went.  It was QUITE the experience and one that helps me feel "a little more Polish" for taking part in this traditional celebration.  Thanks Lukasz & Karolina for a great wedding!