Manezhnaya Square

I prided myself on not getting sick this entire winter. Then, I jinxed it. I got sick this past week. I'm not really sure what caused it. At first I thought it was bronchitis. Then I thought it was the flu. Every day I woke up with some different symptom, but I never had a fever. A few days I had body aches, but I was never sick enough to be confined to my bed. Thank goodness. I did take it easy this weekend because it's my birthday week, and I don't want to be sick for my birthday! :)

Since I didn't do much it meant I didn't have anything to blog about today. So, here are pictures from our trip to Moscow this past August. Besides the Metro I think Manezhnaya Square is one of my favorite places in Moscow. I'd like it better, though, if there weren't so many tourists and people around. Can you believe I've been to Moscow twice and I still haven't been inside the Kremlin. I'm thinking about visiting Moscow again in June, so I'll make sure I spend time there!

Have you been to Moscow? What's your favorite place?

Moscow Street Art

This is a short, but sweet, post on some of the street art I saw in Moscow. Unfortunately, we didn't come across much street art in Moscow, and the stuff I did see was on the train going into the city. The metro alone is enough to get your fix of city art, but there were a few other gems hidden around the city. By the way, you should take the suburban train from Vnukovo to the center if you want to see some fantastic graffiti.

I'm a big pop art fan, so the one below reminded me of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans art piece. Who doesn't like some art of sweetened condensed milk? If you'd like to see more street art from Moscow and other places just click this link.

Where are other great places to see street art in Moscow?

Where We Ate: Moscow

I was searching through old photos on my external hard drive and realized that I have so many pictures from our second trip to Moscow that I haven't edited. Since, I'm not doing this trip chronologically, like my first trip, I kind of forgot about them.

I am not a foodie. When I travel I just do what everyone else wants to do, and it's normally the cheapest or closest thing we can find. With A, it's usually McDonalds. I also don't like those "Best Places to Eat in..." posts because I doubt you've eaten at every single restaurant in (insert city) to make that judgement. I usually take recommendations from people because I trust other people's opinions, and I'm not super picky. So, here is a post of the places A and I ate at on our second trip to Moscow.

GULAG History Museum

In college I dual majored in history and social studies education. I have a terrible memory, so I will not brag about how many dates I can remember because, let's be honest, the only date I can remember is December 7, 1941. I was a little obsessed with Pearl Harbor when I was a middle schooler. I was so disappointed when my eighth grade history teacher told me we wouldn't learn about it that year. Anyways, what I liked about my history classes in college was learning how events impacted one another. I had an amazing professor who used three quarters of our intro to American history class to have us look at historical evidence and decide whether or not the USA is following the ideals set about in the Declaration of Independence. During this time I also took a million other history classes and learned more about Soviet history, which is where I learned about the GULAGs. When I saw that a GULAG History Museum existed I knew I had to go.

Offbeat Moscow: 3 Unusual Places to Visit

If I were to give you travel advice it would be to figure out what you like to see and do before you go on your trip. If you like art go to art museums, if you like history go to that really historical spot. I wish I would have thought of this before I went to Southeast Asia, heck, even when I'd visit new cities in the USA. Alas, traveling is a growing experience as much as an experience to learn about a new culture. Okay, that's about as inspirational as I'll get on this blog because I'm not an inspirational person, nor do I want to be. What I'm trying to say is that if you figure out what you like it'll make you feel like your trip was worthwhile.

Right before I moved to Russia I realized I really liked unusual things and abandoned places. This blog is like my own personal Atlas Obscura. I was a history major so I like going to historic places, especially related to World War I and World War II, but I also like those unknown places. I know I say this a lot, but I really like the challenge of finding something unusual online and then going out and trying to find that place in real life. On our first trip to Moscow we saw all those touristy spots, which I totally recommend in Moscow because they are worth it. Our second trip was an opportunity to go see those weird places. Plus, I didn't procrastinate to make a list on our second trip which meant I already had an idea of what we should see. Below I have a list of 3 unusual places you should see.

Children are the Victims of Adults' Vices Monument

This monument is within walking distance of the Kremlin. It may be frightening, but I was surprised when A told me it was "really cool" because we usually don't agree on what we find "cool." The monument was created by Mihail Chemiakin in 2001 and gifted to the city of Moscow. It depicts statues of 13 evils with two children playing in the foreground unaware of what surrounds them. The center statue depicts indifference which, not to get too political, I think is the most dangerous of all the evils. My favorite statue was "war" which contains a man wearing a gas mask holding a bomb with Mickey Mouses' head. I don't know why that one is my favorite, but maybe because I find the social aspect of war and it's impact fascinating. I'll clarify that I do not condone war, but I think studying it is fascinating, which again is why I like learning about World War I and II. This blog has a great description of each figure if you'd like to know more or read a more elegant recollection of the piece.

Fallen Monuments Park

This is one strange park, and, to be honest, I'm not at all surprised one of these exists in Russia. Right within the MUZEON grounds and next to Krymsky Val you can't miss this unusual park. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many of the statues of former communist leaders were taken down and brought to the park. In the 1990s the park began adding more modern sculptures eventually arranging them into the display you see today. As someone who is obsessed with Vladimir Lenin statues I was having a field day here! There were so many statues of him, and I really had to pace myself and not go overboard with too many Lenin selfies. It was also pretty eerie seeing statues of Josef Stalin. I know it wasn't really him but it's still an unsettling feeling seeing so many statues of him. 

Giant Chess Board

I don't play chess but if I did I would have definitely come to play on this chess board. Not to be confused with the Chessboard Killer, this large size chessboard is right outside Trubnaya Station in Цветной бульвар (Tsvetnoy bul'var). It's also really close to BB & Burgers if you are looking for somewhere delicious to eat! I tried to find information on this place, but unfortunately my search left me dry. I'd also like to know how this exists without people stealing it or maybe it's only in America where you have to worry about people stealing public property. If you have any information, let me know!

What do you think? Would you visit any of these places?