Just got back from downtown Moscow. Wow. Pretty much the only word that describes what we saw. We went to a Russian cafe where you basically point at some food and they put it on a plate. Sometimes they’ll say something in Russian and you hope they make enough gestures that you can figure out what they are trying to say. The food was good.
There are a lot of crosswalks that cross under the streets and there are all sorts of vendors selling things. I noticed that cigarettes are around $1 for a pack, which is way cheaper than the US. We got Metro passes and went down underground and hopped on the Metro. The metro is the subway system which runs all over Moscow. The train cars look really old and are very loud. All of the stations have an architectural theme, and all of it is awesome.
Walking out of the metro, into a place near red square was amazing…so much old architecture. There is a beautiful gate into red square and going into the square you can see St. Basils Cathederal. Words can’t describe how incredible and intimidating Red Square is. It is so massive with the walls of the Kremlin bordering on one side, the Gum mall on the other, a museum on one end, and St. Basils on the far end. We walked around taking pictures for a while and walked into the mall to find a restroom. Of course, we had to pay 6 roubles to use it. We had no money, so we moved on. The inside of the mall was impressive…cows on parade everywhere.
We walked into a church right next to the square, which was Russian Orthodox and there were many candles lit. It was somewhat eerie, like the San Xavier mission I visited in Tucson. Afterwards we went to a crazy busy McDonalds for some ice cream and got back on the metro. Had an interesting encounter with a drunk man which ended with him in Kyles face saying things in Russian. Luckily nothing bad happened.
Thus far I am having a great time, tired, but in a good way, knowing I’m doing God’s work. I’m glad for the people who were at the camp this week so we could see and meet other Christians living in Russia. They were so nice and friendly, I was sad to see them go. It’s been interesting with the diverse group of people that have come on the trip with us. I might like to do one of these again with a group of people all our own age. I’m learning patience and working on humility/service a lot. We have been serving others through our work, and I see many of the native people being servants.
Tomorrow- The Kremlin and Christ the Saviour Church.
Tags: travel
