Москва!!!!!

I took the overnight train from St. Pete to Moscow on Wednesday night, and have now been in Moscow for 4 days. It is very cold here, around -20 degrees. I am wearing my long underwear right now. My first days here, I wandered around the city a bit, and went to a few museums. The Pushkin museum and gallery are amazing!! Picasso, Matisse, Degas, lots of neat stuff!! It felt good to be so independant and to figure things out on my own, and actually have to communicate with people in Russian, without anyone there to help me. I even managed to get lost (but i guess that doesn't take much effort in such a big city) and got directions from a babushka on the street. The metro in St. Pete has 5 lines. The metro in moscow has something like 12 lines. In one metro station I've been to, I was lost for 30 minutes! There was a restaurant in the metro!!! I thought I was at an airport. There is a city under Moscow, I call in Metrocity.

Yesterday I went to Arbot and wandered around, but it was very cold. After my hour commute there, I walked around for an hour, and was to cold to continue, so I went back to the apartment. The city is beautiful, and huge, but on my own, it's a little intimidating, and a little boring without someone to share it with. Luckily, today, I was greeted by my 2nd babushka. She picked me up this morning and we decided to go to the Kremlin. We spent the whole day exploring it! The snow was falling, and it was beautiful. The Kremlin is quite huge, and we did a lot there. First, she insisted on buying me souveniers to prove I was in Moscow, then we went to Church square, where there are 5 churches, dating back to the 13th century. They are beautiful!! We had a tour of the Palace Jewels, and of the Armoury, and wandered through Alexander park. I love babushkas, while we were on tours, she always pushed me to the front of the crowd and told everyone to be nice to me because I'm short. Wonderful. On our way home, we stopped and got cabbage and meat pies from a vendor outside the metro, only her pie was missing the cabbage, it was empty!! Poor babushka.

I wonder what kind of adventures I will have this week :) Merry Christmas!!!!