Россия

"Russia"

I left Claudia and Istanbul to fly to Krasnodar - the city where Daria lives. We traveled through Italy together back in February and March and had gotten along really well so I was glad to be finishing my European tour with her.

We spent our first day touring Krasnodar and then in the afternoon we met with her two friends Julia and Kasusha and the four of us were driven by Daria's father's personal driver three hours to the beach. We stayed in a big and beautiful beach house there and spent our days wake boarding and water skiing. It was incredibly difficult especially because no one working there could speak English. We also swam with dolphins which was incredible; they are so soft, rubbery, and friendly; it is like they have a permanent smile on their faces.

We flew to St. Petersburg and were met by Vitaly, a Russian Ukranian man who was Daria's father's friend. He was so kind, took us to our hotel, and showed us around. Throughout our time in St. Petersburg, he and his son took us to all of the different sites, and had us over for dinner. We also had a personal guided tour of Pushkin and Peterhof were I experienced gorgeous palaces decorated in Russian baroque style.

We took the nicest night train to Moscow! I felt like a millionaire; there were two beds, water, candies, slippers, and tooth paste and a tooth brush. It was really incredible but we were so tired that we slept the whole time and didn't get to fully enjoy the lavish train ride.

Daria left me in Moscow to go to Mongolia so I met up with Anastasia (another friend from exchange). I stayed with her in her cozy apartment; there was me, Anastasia, her sister, and their friend all in a one room apartment. It was a lot of fun but very hot! Especially since it was the hottest summer Moscow has seen in over 100 years. Being outside one day in the Moscow smog felt like being one week in Roskilde Festival - very dirty! But grime and smog aside Moscow really was a beautiful city and was able to see so much there.