Moscow – to visit friends

Last weekend I was in Moscow. You wonder certainly: Why Moscow? A chummy couple with their four months old baby spends the year currently in Moscow. Within his first year of training as a diplomat, he was sent to Moscow. Well, there are probably better options, right?

As my boyfriend and I were the last years have flown a lot with AirBerlin (especially Munich – Cape Town) we had awards left. Even so much that it is enough for two people for a long-haul flight. Without further ado, we then changed our flights from Zurich-Reykjavik to Zurich-Moscow. Why not take the opportunity, if anyone ever is in Moscow who we know?

On Thursday we flew after work. Make a transit in Berlin and several passport controls we landed two o’clock in the morning in Moscow. After a taxi ride and arrival in downtown we have fallen to bed by four o’clock.

The first day turned out to be a sunny day: Perfect for sightseeing! Quickly snapped the Saint Basil’s cathedrale, the Red Square and Lenin’s mausoleum. Then stood gender matters on the agenda. The Russian women place great value on appearance. So it is not uncommon to indulge cosmetically. So my friend and I quickly took the opportunity to give us manicure and pedicure treatments. (And if you’re going to do this, then do it! We chose the Gel Polish option. The polish stays extra long. I’m wonder if I ever get it off again). The boys, however, had a few sauna sessions with ‘massage’ indulged in the banya. Massage means here: to beat with birch twigs (and in every part of the body!)…

On Saturday we strolled through the city. We’ve seen the Arbat and the Novy Arbat, from the outside the Bolshoi theatre and the cathedrale christ the Saviour and visited some parks. When we walked to a coffee shop we’ve seen a red car: Moscow is also not spared from the yarn bombing :-) The city has many influences, which can be read in the architecture: Italian ornamentation strikes monumental buildings with a touch of Asia. Next to their buildings they have lots of parks. Well, they also need some green in this 11 Millions inhabitants big city, right? The parks didn’t have any flowers (of course this time of year) but had colored woodchips instead. I like this idea as the parks look nicer during the fall and winter times with them.

Check this view from their appartement! That’s the building for the ministry of foreign affairs, one of those seven sisters skyscrapers. Very impressive! After a delicious dinner at White Rabbit, we’ve enjoyed the last couple of hours together. On Sunday afternoon we’ve already went back to the airport. Way to short trip! So many things to discuss with each other and so little time…

All in all it was a great but short trip to our friends. The travel arrangements were a bit tedious because we had to apply for a visa. But as soon as you get the visa, everything went fine. When we’ll visit them another time, we make sure we’ll stay longer. There might be an option to see the surrounding area of Moscow or even visit the city Saint Petersburg.