Moscow. The main capital of present day Russia and the foreground of Soviet Union control. This place reeks of communistic ideology just by the rows of old homeless people in the streets. These old timer's don't understand the idea of making your own money and supporting yourself. They were use to head figures like Stalin or Khrushchev to take care of everything they needed. That's why they lay out in the street. A representation of Communism in the country of Russia. Washed out and done with. There was so much to do in this city I didn't believe 3 days was enough. Especially with a metro system the size of Manhattan. Colored subway lines taking you north south, east, and west. I just had to see as much as possible.
Fallen Monument Park was the first stop in our sight seeing in Moscow. This place was incredible! Iv'e never seen so many statues in one place. Like I said earlier after this trip I could start up a career as being a statue photographer. All the communist leaders like Lenin, Stalin, and even the statue that was placed in front of the KGB building are scattered around this big park. While stopping at many important statues we learned vital information in the communist time about all these figures. After we were aloud to walk around and explore on our own. I took a bunch of funny pictures with most of the statues. Like kissing Stalin on the cheek. I'm not sure a lot of people come to Statue Park to do something like that but it was pretty hilarious. After about 30 minutes of voyaging thru these works of art it was time to get back on the bus and head out to our next landmark.
One place Iv'e heard of when it came to relation with Moscow was a place called Ismaylovsky Park. I originally heard about this place on the show "Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations". He came here and bought cool old school Soviet Union propaganda posters and other Communist things for very cheap. At this point in the trip I was tired of packing my suitcase with little souvenirs that have the name of the place I went to. I wanted something unique for the place I was in. Going thru the different markets there I got a hold of a great propaganda poster and even an old passport from the early 1900's that belonged to some woman. The best part was everything there was dirt cheap. Not like by the Red Square where everything would cost you times 30. While walking around we found this military layout of flags and different guns. I picked a gun up and took a picture with it. They were pretty chill about it. After spending a few minutes there I decided to buy a Russian flag. Shopping there was probably the most cost effective idea being in a city like Moscow. You could spend hours looking at the things they have. It was tremendous. 
One interesting museum to definitely check out in Moscow is the Central Museum of Armed Forces. Here you can get loads of information on the Red Army. This place even has rows of airplanes, helicopters, tanks, and missiles in the back ranging from different years. On the inside you can see artifacts from Communist hide out spots and vehicles. Your suppose to pay 10 dollars to take pictures but you don't have to actually do it. They give you a wrist band but no one is actually in the museum looking. Save that 10 dollars for a little souvenir or a quick bite to eat. The tanks were pretty impressive but the thing that really caught my eye was the dedication to Sputnik. The Craft that was launched out to space before the U.S.
The most important building in all of Russia. You can obviously guess that I'm talking about the one and only Kremlin. This is the powerhouse to the control of all of the Russia Federation. It even served as a center to the Soviet Union back in the day. Something about this place has the word Russia written all over it. It was a very hot day out and I remember that I had my backpack with me. Little did I know the Kremlin is like the White House to America. I needed to check the bag in somewhere because it wasn't aloud inside. I had to run across the whole Kremlin to get to my group in time. Did I mention that it was 90 degrees out and humid? I thought I was going to die of a heat stroke but I told myself that it is a once in a life time experience to check out the Kremlin. We went inside and started in on a tour. We got an amazing look at the Armoury Museum. This place was overflowing with Tsar's treasures, dresses, weapons, and carriages. Everything was in glass cases and you were not aloud to take pictures. Me being me of course I snapped a few good pictures. We got upstairs and to our surprise the famous actress Mila Kunis. She was sitting on a bench next to one of her body guards. We saw her posters all around Russia. Since she is of Russian heritage and the movie was being released in Russia the most logical explanation was that she was in town to promote her new film.
After the Armoury Museum we walked further down and in front of us lied a big white church. Of course, The minute I touched ground in Europe/Russia all I've seen is statues and churches. This particular church had a very interesting named. It is called the Church of Deposition of the Robe. From the outside it looked like something from a fairy tale. Or just the movie Shrek. It stood right in the middle of the square, representing the importance of religion. We decided to take a look inside the place hearing that its something you've never seen before. Walking in you almost bump into the person in front of you because your head is just looking completely up, looking at the artwork on the ceilings and the chandeliers. Even here they do not let you take pictures inside but that devil inside me decided to snap a few quick ones. Who's it hurting?
Red Square is the center of where Moscow meets it's economic hub and social outlet. Here the Kremlin's entrance meet with all sorts of buildings and landmarks. The pink coated Kazan Cathedral is fascinating because of its rich detail and light color. The Voskresensky (Resurrection) Gate divides the Kremlin's entrance to the big open space that leads you down to the St. Basil's Cathedral. The Kremlin wall stretches out for miles with its huge brick structure. Going past the major shopping mall called GUM. In here you could get anything from your Hugo Boss to Prada, Calvin Klein, Etc. The St. Basil's Cathedral is very impressive when you look at it from the center of the square. The Cathedral was ordered by Ivan the Terrible to mark the 1552 capture of Kazan from Mongol forces. It was completed in 1560. You can watch the changing of the guard every day at the Kremlin and even see Lenin's body. That's something I did not have a chance to see but honestly I can easily do that at any funeral. There is a market right near the metro station where you can pick up some expensive but cool gifts for your loved ones back home.
Although I am not much of a circus person I couldn't give up the chance to experience the one and only Moscow Circus. This is the place where the word Circus actually means something, and I'm not talking about some of the freaks walking on the streets. This place was very clean and huge. Our seats were decent and we had a good laugh at some of the acts. Including the clown and the different dancing monkeys. Dancing to different styles of music like Mexican, Rock, Pop, Rap, etc. The camel's filled the ring and danced in a synchronized order. We had dinner earlier eating at this Italian/American place where it was nice to have some steak. I was getting tired of the dill and potatoey foods that I was being exposed to for the past week. During the intermission of the circus we decided that we were over it and that we wanted to go back to the hotel and get some rest before a big night out on the town. Being in Moscow you have to enjoy the clubs and the bars. Especially all those 1 dollar shots of vodka at your finger tips. We took a cab back to our hotel and got ready for the night out.
Other people in our group went to Club Pacha. Pacha is mostly for 25-30 year olds and I wanted to party with people around my age. Hitting on a 30 year old woman probably wouldn't get me very far. So we heard about this club called Zona. My friend Ramon and I were on the subway and some kid from Ukraine told us about Zona if we wanted to be with younger people. We listened to his word, since he was the only one around that could speak english. We decided to check the place out. The metro station was a block away from the hotel. We got on the train and we were looking at this big subway map. This thing was ridiculous. There was 30 different lines and on that big map was a small dot of where we needed to be. Asking this drunk guy next to us on the train he was telling us more about his failing acting career than the actual directions. Sitting a few seats down were two guys around our age. They walked over to us and told us that they spoke a little english because they both lived in Britain for one or two years. After getting to know them they told us that they were on their way to a friends house. Their names were Das and Dennis. They understood that it was impossible for us to get the hang of this subway thing and they were nice of us to show us how to get to the club. They literally got off the subway with us and went on the other connecting train. Once we got there they actually got out of the subway and walked us to the front entrance of the nightclub. It was pretty nice of them to do that. We got their numbers and told them that we were going to call them tomorrow night to pick up some girls. That was the last we saw of them.
We got to the club a little late so we had to pay the 15 dollars for the VIP. Which was no problem for me. When you walk into this place your blinded by the rows of christmas styled lights leading you to the front door. Once you get inside the outside lights don't even compare to what's going on inside. A good amount of people are filling the empty spaces on the dance floor. We walked over to the rotating circular bar. I sat on it for about 2 minutes and I was done with it. If you don't pay attention or hold your drink in a matter of 20 seconds it could be on the other end and someone else could be taking a sip out of it. We went upstairs to check out the VIP lounge. I had a cheese platter and a few shots of vodka. of course with that lemon right after. Downstairs next to the bar we saw 2 girls sitting at a table talking. I came up with the idea to go sit down next to them and introduce ourselves. Thinking to myself that they hopefully speak a little bit of english. To our surprise we were sitting down next to 2 engineer majors in the local university. They knew a lot of english and they were really fun to talk to. I remember one girl was very unique because every time she would talk her eyes would go in a million different places. Then finally they got back to the middle. They taught us a bunch of Russian curse words and other daily things we need to know language wise. All of a sudden a song goes on and the girl with the crazy eyes began to go nuts! She grabbed her friend and said that they needed to dance. After their dance we talked with them for a little bit but we were getting tired of sitting around. We went back to the hotel and called it a night.
While exploring this city I learned a lot of new things about the former Soviet Union. Being in the Kremlin I got to see up close and personal the actual things that were apart of the old Tsar's daily life. Taking the subway tour showed me all the propaganda civilians were exposed to during communist times. Even understanding that prostitution is a normal thing in a city that's always looking out for a sign of wealth. There was a prostitute downstairs in our hotel lobby and I actually went up to her and asked her how much as a joke. I even brought my friend's computer over and started translating questions about her services. We were cracking up about the whole thing. Who google translates what they want to do with a prostitute. Besides all of that Moscow is a breath taking city. Just the idea of walking down the Red Square and taking in the same air of generations before you is incredible. The shops and of course the ongoing night life. This city is as close to New York in the sense that it's a place that never sleeps.
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