Vladimir for a Year

After our trip to Suzdal, my family and I had another great dinner with my host family. It was very powerful to see my parents interacting with my host parents (with the help of my host sister and I acting as translators), knowing that even 25 years ago, it would have been totally impossible for a guy from Toledo, Ohio, to have dinner and drink cognac in Vladimir with a guy from Gus-Khrustalny, Russia. Wow.

The next day, we left Vladimir on a train bound for Moscow. After we arrived in Moscow and we taken to the apartment we had rented (apartment rental is a great way to save on hotel costs in an expensive city like Moscow), we ventured out into the big city. We first took the metro to a big souvenir market a little outside the center of the city. We got there as the market was closing for the day, so my parents didn't get to see the full craziness that is Izmailovsky Market, but my sister still bought a matryoshka. We then went to a hole-in-the-wall Georgian restaurant that I discovered on my first study-abroad trip to Moscow in 2010. And by Georgian, I don't mean peaches and fried chicken--there is a country called Georgia, after all. Georgian cuisine is flavorful and features a lot of grilled meat, thick soups, and roasted breads, and, after a year of bland Russian food (when the most colorful and exotic part of your diet is ketchup, you have a problem), the kharcho and khachapuri we ordered hit the spot. They use cilantro!

We then strolled the Arbat, a pedestrian street that has long been a center of commerce and fashion. Today it is lined with countless restaurants, most of which are Western chain places (that odd moment when you stand between a KFC and a Dunkin Doughnuts in Moscow, Russia). We got coffee at Starbucks and did some people watching, which I think is the best thing to do on the Arbat.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs building--not far from where we stayed

On the ceiling of our metro station

The Izmailovsky market

Browsing for souvenirs

It's a strange place

Partisan statues in the metro

Elektrozavodskaya--my favorite metro station

I don't know why, but Russians always fold napkins and present them all fancy in restaurants and at home. Lots of effort where it doesn't count--so Russia