Karen & Dennis (aka Mom & Dad) visit Moscow

Karen, Dennis, Cameron & Megan in Red Square

Karen & Dennis in front of the gardens outside the Kremlin

St. Basil's Cathedral

My Mom and Dad arrived in Moscow the Friday after Kristin and Trey left. So – we were becoming experts at having visitors by this point. After picking them up from the airport (where they had actually arrived 30 minutes early! And before I got there!), we headed back to our place so they could rest up before we went to an early dinner – again at my favorite – Pasta della Mamma. Cameron didn’t arrive from the UK (yes, again – for work this time) until late that night, so he missed our on dinner, but luckily his sweet wife picked up some togo for him.

On Saturday morning, we tried to cook up a “Traditional Moates’ Breakfast,” however, there was no bacon to be found at either of our grocery stores. So – we skipped the bacon and had the eggs and toast instead. We walked down to the Kremlin, where we met our tour guide who took us through the Kremlin (again for me, 1st time for Cameron) and Red Square. It was a great tour! My dad loved the commentary asides from our guide. And I loved seeing it all again from the perspective of another tour guide!

Saturday night we went to Café Margarita – which unfortunately isn’t Mexican, but is called Margarita for the novel, The Master and Margarita, a famous Russian novel based on this area of town, Patriarshy Ponds. It is a great little place (only about 10 tables), and they have live music – 2 fiddles and a piano – each weekend. We had a ball shaking our shakers, and clapping along to the songs. We didn’t really sing along much, as there were several songs in Russian!

On Sunday, we went to a little known area of town and down about 18 stories for our Cold War Tunnel Tour. I have to say – this is probably one of the best tours I have been on here in Russia! These tunnels are at the depth of the Metro (18 stories down – which luckily I got to take the elevator with my mom and Renie!). Stalin had them built in the height of the Cold War so that they could run things in the face of a nuclear attack. There was a propaganda film we watched which was so 180-degrees from the films we saw growing up, it made you think that all Americans were war-mongering bastards. I’m sure the truth (if you can call it truth) is somewhere between the films I grew up with and this film, but it was completely amazing and informative to see things from a different angle.

In fact, the very same day we were on the tour, NBC Nightly News aired a clip about the Tunnels. Here is the link – it begins about 10 seconds after the first story….

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#25664282

On Monday, my Mom, Dad and I walked down the Boulevard to Christ the Saviour Cathedral. It was a long walk, but a beautiful day. After touring through the museum, we walked back and stopped for lunch along the way.

I sent them off to St. Petersburg on their own on Tuesday, and hoped that everything would go smoothly! Luckily no real snags, and they really enjoyed their St. Pete trip.

Once they arrived back, we took the boat tour through the city – while it was pouring rain, where luckily we were under cover – and enjoyed a quite night where they tasted my new cooking abilities!

On Saturday we went out to Ismailova to shop for all sorts of souvenirs. Although I think I ended up buying more than they did!

We sent them onto Dublin on Sunday, and I’m so glad they had the chance to come and visit us. Like Kristin, I know that travelling to Moscow, Russia was not the top of my Dad's must-see places, however, it turned out he absolutely loved his trip! My Mom – who has experienced a little bit of world travel in the past (Norway), had high expectations from the start!

Kristin & Trey visit the Motherland....

After a long day of travelling from London (amid many flight delays and plane changes), we finally arrived back in Moscow with Kristin and Trey. And wouldn’t you know it, the lovely Moscow weather was overcast and rainy! But that was fine as it was late and all we wanted to do was get back home and go to sleep and eat (oh yeah – did I mention that we hadn’t eaten all day because amid the plane change, the crew forgot to load the food??)

Monday morning we woke up and treated Kristin and Trey to the “Traditional Moates’ Breakfast” of bacon, eggs, and toast. We thought we were going to tour the Kremlin that day, but the tour agency messed up, so we then tried to go to the Moscow Zoo, which happened to be closed on Mondays! So – we settled for heading down to Starry Arbat (Old Arbat) and walked down the pedestrian street and looked at all the matroishka dolls and paintings along the way. Kristin was most impressed with the new Starbucks and the way it had both the English and Russian signs on the outside. Once we got to the end, I told them that it would take about the same amount of time to walk home as to take the Metro, so we decided to walk. Big mistake, as we got caught in a torrential downpour! It was lightening and thundering all over the place – which is also quite funny as Cameron and I were convinced that thunderstorms did not come to Moscow. So – our theory was disproved, and we were caught in the brunt of it.

After we made it home and dried off, we settled in with a nice glass of wine and then met Cameron for dinner at my favorite – Pasta della Mamma. After dinner, we headed down to the Red Square to take some pictures – yes – Kristin gets credit for the picture that leads our blog! It turned out to be a beautiful evening.

On Tuesday we had our tour of Red Square and the Kremlin. This was actually my first time inside the Kremlin. We had a great time – and our tour guide told us lots of stories and facts about Russian history.

Trey in front of the "largest" canon in the Kremlin

Tuesday evening we took Kristin and Trey to Scandinavia (our favorite patio venue) across the street from us and met up with a bunch of our friends. We also met some new friends who will be moving here shortly from the UK! We’re looking forward to their arrival!

On Wednesday, we ate at the McDonald’s right by our place, which is also the very first McDonald’s in Russia. It was good to have a greasy burger and fries! We then made our way back to the zoo – which was open on Wednesdays! Lots of animals, and the polar bear was my favorite. After a quick trip out to Victory Park to check out the extremely long escalator, we rested for a bit before we met Cameron at the Eastern Room – our standard for Indian food.

Kristin & Trey in front of the Moscow Zoo

Kristin & Trey in front of the Arch near Victory Park

We left for St. Petersburg on the 12:30 AM train on Wednesday night. The 4-bunk compartment was actually not too bad, and after a few episodes of Arrested Development, we all hit the sack. We arrived in St. Petersburg on Thursday morning, and went and relaxed at a little café while we waited for our rooms to be available. We were all completely beat by this time, so we took a nap and then headed out to see some sights before we went to the ballet that evening! Yes – Cameron has now been to 2 ballets! Amazing!

Friday, we took a guided city tour, which was fun, although our guide was not nearly as good as the one we had last October when Gary came to visit. Oh well – luck of the draw I guess! After dinner, we sat outside at a little table and played hearts and spades and enjoyed a few beers al fresco. Then we decided to walk down to the Church of the Spilt Blood to take a picture in the waning “White Nights.” However, genius that I am, I try to trip up my then 11 year old nephew, who so agily avoids me, which means I go flying across the pavement and scrap up my elbow and knee! So – at that point we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, we took a quick boat cruise before we had to get back on the train back to Moscow.

St. Issac's Cathedral

The Fountains in the River Neva in St. Pete

It was great to have Kristin and Trey come visit us - and while I'm certain they will not be back in the next 2 years, I think their view on our life here in Moscow has changed considerably. And now she can feel comfortable that yes, her baby sister is surviving quite well! (and not about to be kidnapped by the Mafia!)