Travel The World

From Novgorod, we arrived in Moscow late afternoon already, so after checking-in the hotel and dinner, we went straight to the famous Moscow Metro .  Our tour director picked a number of stations that we stopped at and they all have different architectural designs and all are amazing!  It's like walking along an underground palace in one station, then to a museum the next, etc.  The metro is bustling with people so we can't spend too much time admiring the designs and taking pictures, but it's really worth the visit. =) The last station we got out from leads to the Red Square .  The Red Square is really beautiful at night, with St. Basil's Cathedral and the Spasskaya Tower lighted, and the GUM Department Store so bright with all the light bulbs.  We've also seen the Red Square by day when we went back the following day, the place showed a different charm by day than seeing it at night. On our 2nd day in Moscow, we traveled to the town of Sergiyev Posad...

On our 3rd day in St. Petersburg, we enjoyed walking along the canal where they offer a cruise for those who wants to tour the city through the canal.  Then we're off to The State Hermitage Museum , one of the largest and oldest museums in the world.  The museum has a huge collection of paintings and other art and culture pieces.  The whole museum is so enormous that it's easy to get lost inside.  We saw the Peacock Clock, then entered via the council staircase, and the rooms like the Large Italian Skylight Room, Gallery of the History of Ancient Paintings, The Great Imperial Throne, St. George Hall, The War Gallery of 1812, etc.  The place is huge and there's just so much to see but we don't have much time so we had a quick lunch and we're on the road again to our next destination, Novgorod. Novgorod is in the middle of St. Petersburg and Moscow, so before going to Moscow, we stayed one night in Novgorod to appreciate the city.  We stopped at the ...

We left our hotel earlier than usual because we'll be crossing the border to Russia.  Our first stop in St. Petersburg is the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Peter and Paul Cathedral is located.  We were able to go inside the cathedral where the remains of Russian Emperors and Empresses were buried. On our way to our next destination, we passed by St. Isaac's Cathedral and the statue of Peter the Great called the Bronze Horseman .  We arrived at the Moika Palace , also called the Yusupov Palace because it belonged to the House of Yusupov, a wealthy Russian noble family.  The building is also the site of Grigori Rasputin's (a.k.a. the "mad monk") murder, and they also have a wax figure exhibit of the murder scene in the exact rooms where it happened.  The whole palace is amazing!  Starting from the marble grand staircase with intricate ceiling designs, and each room has it's own theme, there's a music room, Blue Bedroom, Ballroom, Red Drawing Roo...