Tag Archives: Russia

Win A Trip to the Sochi Olympics

Contest, Sweepstakes, ,

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Don’t forget to check out my 2nd blogging anniversary post and enter my giveaway!

Liberty Mutual is running the 30 Days, 30 Ways Sweepstakes with the grand prize being a 7 day, 6 night trip for two to the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia.

Attending the Olympics is something that I’ve always wanted to do so I’d love to win this prize!

Along with the grand prize trip to the Olympics, Liberty Mutual is also giving away 30 daily prizes. The sweepstakes started on October 15 so a couple of these prizes have already been given away.

Continue reading Win A Trip to the Sochi Olympics →

Ridiculous Street Signs # 13- Don’t Drive In Water- Moscow

Ridiculous Street Signs,
a road sign with a picture of a car on the side of the road

While visiting Moscow we headed over to a small island that was the former home of the Red October Chocolate Factory complex. We wanted to check out the transformation it has been going through. The area has gone from making chocolate to an area filled with people involved in the arts. There are galleries, photographers, designers, cafes and many other businesses setting up shop there.

While walking around the area we were coming close to the inner section of the island. Across the street we noticed a very familiar sign. It reminded me of one that was posted on the blog in late January.

Continue reading Ridiculous Street Signs # 13- Don’t Drive In Water- Moscow →

A Shocking Collection Of Oddities: The Kunstkamera- St Petersburg, Russia

Oddities, Trip Reports, ,
st petersburg russia
In the past I’ve written about a couple of odd, medical related museums that I’ve visited- the Mutter Museum and the International Museum of Surgical Sciences.
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While doing some research for things to do during our trip to Russia, I came across a museum that had a collection of oddities similar to the ones mentioned above.
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During our visit to St Petersburg Russia, the Kunstkamera was at the top of my list of places to visit.
st petersburg russia

Continue reading A Shocking Collection Of Oddities: The Kunstkamera- St Petersburg, Russia →

A Visit To The First McDonald’s In Russia

Food, Jumping, Trip Reports, ,
a group of cars parked on a snowy street

During our trip I had to visit the very first McDonald’s to open in Soviet era Russia.The location opened in Moscow in 1990 and I remember it being major news due to the lines of people that went on for blocks, all wanting to get inside for a taste. This was one of the first stops we made during the trip. (Read a recap about our stay in Moscow HERE.)

I rarely eat McDonald’s at home but always try to check them out while traveling. One of my top things to do while abroad is try local food but sometimes it feels good to walk into a place and pretty much know what to expect both price and taste wise (plus McDonald’s pretty much always has free Wifi). One of the main highlights for me is seeing what items are offered that differ from the McD’s at home. I always try to get a menu item that seems  to have a local feel. Continue reading A Visit To The First McDonald’s In Russia →

Recap Of Our Visit To St Petersburg

Travel with kids, Trip Reports,
a man and child holding a cat
Cat Museum

Our trip to Russia started off with an interesting visit to Moscow. We just got home from the trip and it’s time for a recap from our time in Saint Petersburg.

We flew from Moscow to St Petersburg on Oneworld member S7 Airlines. We booked the flight using British Airways Avios points and had a little problem at check in. When we got to the counter, we were told that Lucas was not listed as a lap baby. This was definitely strange since I called BA a bunch of times and was told that he was added. I am not sure what caused the problem but luckily one of the S7 representatives spoke a bit of English and was able to help fix the problem. Otherwise the flight went well and S7 even served a small snack box for our short one hour plus flight.

Our hotel, Park Inn Nevsky was in a great location and an excellent choice for our visit to  Saint Petersburg. There is a train station less than 2 minutes away and buses are easy to catch (within a 5 minute walk) on the Nevsky Prospect, the main street in St Petersburg. Our room was a decent size and well worth it’s price. The rate also included breakfast.

Saint Petersburg was a nice change of pace from Moscow. One positive was that the it wasn’t as cold or snowy. It is a walk-able city with many sites in close proximity to each other. I really loved seeing the canals and impressive architecture all around. If you need to take the train, signs are written in Russian as well as English which makes them much easier for tourists to navigate through and figure out. The city had a very European vibe, more so than the cold feeling of Moscow.

Some Highlights:

  • Visiting The State Hermitage Museum
  • Jumping by the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood
  • Visiting the first museum in Russia- The Kunstkamera
  • Wandering around the neighborhood Kolomna
  • Stopping by the Cats Museum (we think)

Recap Of Our Visit To Moscow

Travel with kids, Trip Reports, ,
a group of people walking in front of a building
St. Basil’s Cathedral

We’re pretty much done with our trip to Russia and currently in Saint Petersburg. I’ve been so busy and tired that I haven’t had a chance to write about our trip so far.

Our flight to from JFK to Moscow with Delta went really well. Delta might just have some of the best infant- friendly travel policies. Due to traveling with a lap baby, we needed to go to a counter to check in and were then allowed to bypass a very long security line. Boarding was even more impressive. Families traveling with infants get to board first. I was beyond surprised that we got to even board before business class! I give Delta a BIG thumbs up for being so understanding to families traveling with babies! (Lucas, thanks you too!)
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We got to our hotel- The Radisson Royal Hotel earlier then regular check in time and got very lucky- our room was available right away. The hotel and room were beautiful. We were upgraded to a better room which had plenty of space for Lucas to crawl around in (and lots of things for Lucas to try to destroy, like an expresso machine.) The one negative would have to be the location. It was a bit of a trek to the nearest metro and we found out the hard way that the taxis that are always available and waiting at the hotel charge 25% more then the standard rate. Our second hotel, Park Inn Sadu was not as fancy as the Radisson Royal (but still very nice) however the location made it a much better place to stay for us.
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Moscow is an odd city to say the least. I can’t say that I don’t like it but it is difficult to get a true feel for it. People rarely smile and seem to be extremely pushy- literally. Getting around and communicating is also very difficult. We’ve had an easier time pretty much everywhere else in the world that we’ve visited. It was shocking to us that few locals spoke English.The weather was also much colder than expected. We figured it would be chilly but not so cold and snowy. It basically snowed the whole first three days of the trip. We were told that this was the coldest it’s been in years and the most snow they’ve had in the month of March, in years.
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On a positive note things are not as pricey as people say they are. Cheap food can be found pretty easily and sites with admission fees were reasonably priced.

We also noticed that Russia seems to love American fast food chains. We saw locations of McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and a few others around the city.

Some Highlights:
  • The Red Square
  • The Kremlin
  • The Armoury (at The Kremlin)
  • Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent
  • Jumping All Over Moscow
  • Trying out some local food
  • Walking along Arbat 

Progress in Planning: Our Next Big Trip- Russia

Travel with kids, Trip Planning
a red white and blue flag
image found in google search

People always ask me if I have a list of countries I’d like to visit. While I don’t actually keep a physical list, I frequently make mental notes of places that I really want to visit. Russia has long been among the of top places that I’d like to visit.

Over the years I have mentioned going to Russia to Kim many times. She’s never been too interested. In late November lots of cheap fares to Russia started making their rounds online. I was seeing some great pricing from Airfare Watchdog and The Flight Deal being reported through their e-mails and Twitter.

I decided to first look into availability and then ask Kim if she’d like to head over to Russia for Spring break in late March. To my surprise, Kim said yes! She was curious about the weather and which cities we would visit and was happy with the plan.

For our trip to Russia we will have 8 days (not including getting there/ back) to explore and wander around. We will be spending four nights in Moscow and four in Saint Petersburg.

The weather will be chilly with the average temperature during the day in the mid- high 30’s in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. I really enjoy visiting Europe during the winter and think the weather will be comfortable for sightseeing and beneficial in another way.
There should be little to no tourists around which should make visiting the sites really enjoyable.

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