This was an item on my original bucket list. After this, the only non-completed bucket list item will be "have a family", which I probably will not get to for a little while.
My dad is a history buff and especially likes World War II sites. He loved the Churchill Museum in London. He knows many stories that are not in the history books or museums.
He told me a story of how Churchill was rushing to the radio station to broadcast a Fireside Chat. There were no cabs on the street, because everyone was at home in front of the radio. He finally flagged down a taxi. The driver said he was not taking any passengers. Churchill didn't want to reveal his identity. He kept offering the driver more and more money, until finally they guy said, "All right, to hell with Churchill! I'll take you where you want to go."
My dad is making flashcards to review the Russian he learned during his college years.
I am most excited about:
The Kremlin
Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg
Moscow metro stations
Church of the Savior
Where else should we go?
...
A while ago, I sent a 9gag joke to a Russian friend:
Russian friend: "Got to play to your strengths."
4 comments:
See the various palaces along the river in St Petersburg. Don't underestimate walking distances, esp in Moscow. What looks like a city block could be a half mile long, esp near the parade grounds.
Take the Grand Express overnight sleeper train from Moscow to or from St Petersburg. Old-skool train elegance and amazingly elegant.
Red Square and the Kremlin are worth seeing and are fairly large grounds and worth taking half a day or more to see.
Be prepared for silly-expensive hotel rates, esp near city center or tourist
Last year while on a vacation to Sardinia I laid by the pool reading Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky a post-apocalyptic story that takes place in Moscow's metro. Now, I've never been a great fan of this genre but this book really made me want to go to Moscow to look at all those metro stations that are described in the book.It's probably one of the strangest books that I have ever read that had me wanting to go to a place.
If you've cleared (almost) everything out on your bucket list, time for a new one!
I went to the USSR (when it was still that) when I was in high school back in '87; I don't know what Russia's like now. But, then, the subways in Moscow were indeed AMAZING, as was the Hermitage. Red Square is incredible. I also remember being impressed by this monument in Moscow: http://havecamerawilltravel.com/yuri-gagarin-monument-moscow
Have fun!
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