Red Square and the Kremlin

Statue of Marshal Zhukov

The stage set up for the national holiday

The Communist Party coming to visit Lenin's Mausoleum on the day before the National Holiday

Lenin's Mausoleum

the tomb of the unknown soldier

Russian is written in a different alphabet than English. Here are a few examples of how Russian cities are written in Russian.

Kiev

Stalingrad

Murmansk

a Russian dog that lives outside the Kremlin

St. Basil's Cathedral

Entrance to the Kremlin

Where the president of Russia works

the Tsar's Cannon

Cathedral of the Annunciation

Ivan the Great Bell Tower

Moscow

Mocквa, pronounced Moscva, is the name for Moscow in Russia. We arrived at the Moscow train station at 7:30 and went to the hotel to get ready for a day of sight seeing.

View from our hotel

View from Moscow University

Smokestacks

Business District being built

Moscow University

Novodevichy Convent where famous Russians are buried

Yelsin's Grave

Khrushchev's Grave

Great Patriotic War (WWII) Memorial

Cathedral of Christ Our Savior, the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Horses in front of the National Museum

On our first night in Moscow we are given 'Russian Friends' who take us home and we make dinner. My friend Tom and I were paired with Dmitriy and Grigoriy. They are both computer science major and go to Moscow University. We went to the grocery store and bought food for dinner. We then went back to the dorms to cook dinner. Tom and I had to show our passports and get various papers to prove that we were only visiting the dorms before we could get past security. There were two more check points where they checked our passports and papers again. After dinner we went up onto the roof to see an amzing view of Moscow.

Climbing up to the top of the roof

picture courtesy of Tom

Hammer and Sickle on the side of the University building

picture courtesy of Tom

Another shot of vodka once we made it to the roof
picture courtesy of Tom

the view of Moscow
picture courtesy of Tom

Group picture

picture courtesy of Tom

Novgorod

On Wednesday we took a bus through the country side to what is considered one of the oldest cities in Russia, Novgorod. There we visited their Kremlin and various churches. Then we went to visit a monk and talk to him about the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in present-day Russia. After that we went back to St. Petersburg to take the night train to Moscow.
Rural Russia

the landscape

Russian Authorities

the Kremlin Wall

the bell tower inside the kremlin

Memorial to Russia's Millennium Anniversary

St. Sophia Cathedral built in 1050

My second Russian friend

the KGB is always watching . . . just kidding

The Church of the Paraskeva Piatnitsa

Snow!!!

Baskin Robbins . . . i saw pints of Jamocha Almond Fudge in the grocery store in Moscow

they think our teacher doesn't like us so he gets a table to himself at restaurants

the monk that talked to us about the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Cross

St. George Monastery

St. George Cathedral

Candles in the Church

The monastery in the snow

All of our luggage while waiting to board the overnight train to Moscow

Map of train stations across Russia
picture courtesy of Tom

The Sleeper Car
picture courtesy of Tom

Cabin for four
picture courtesy of Tom