Russia day 1

People....it's HERE!!! 

I wanted to blog each day about our trip so I could add all the wonderful details I could and share-on-the-go! Lets get this party started. 

Day one! 

Well...it felt like several days cause quite frankly...
it technically was with that big ol' flight!
We flew out of DC at about 3:00 dc time straight over to Moscow with a 9 1/2 hour flight. 

Right as we sat down, we buckled ourselves up for how long it was gonna be but we were quickly calmed when 1- we saw the tv screens with a little remote/game controller! (kody "isn't a gamer" but was pretty stoked about giving that a whirl) 2- who isn't secretly excited when you have the little airplane blanket and pillows? 3- we told ourselves it's even a little shorter than driving to Canada but this time we can both sleep and safely watch movies :) 

 Ohhh and they gave us these bad boys... Also included were flimsy and awesome little slippers and stickers that you'd stick on your seat to say "wake me up for food" or "don't wake me up for anything" Hilarious and brilliant. Also- did I mention that this is a Russian airline so right from the get-go Russian was everywhere. Booya. 

The flight to Moscow was just great! Movie after movie for me. We got some meals out of it too- you know you're hungry when airplane food was actually not that bad. Mmmm and Russian juice already! Anyway- we had a few hours in Moscow for our layover, then it was off to St. Petersburg!
We landed a little after noon St. Petersburg time, so in our heads it was 5 am. woof, people. woof.
My parents were flying in just over an hour after us, so we just hung out at the airport to wait for them and pray they made it AND that we'd find them!
It all worked out and next thing you know we see adorable mom running to us with the cutest biggest smile on her face! Then dad comes up saying "I don't know if mom's more excited about the trip, or just seeing you" Gosh ain't she the cutest? 

We got in a (veeerrryyy expensive. oops.) taxi straight to our hotel, unpacked a bit and decided to hit the ground running! Sleep is for wussies

 We are staying near the center of the city, where I never served, so we are getting more oriented with the streets and decided to walk towards the center/what I know. On our way, we walked past the famous Mariinsky Theatre! 

We are makin good use of my parents' selfie stick! They are just too hilarious and handy, I tell ya what.

Here we are on the Blue Bridge right by St. Isaacs square. That big beautiful building is St. Isaacs, and on the right you can see a statue of a dude on a horse. That is Sir Nicholas and yes...it IS the statue they dance around in Anastasia (Don't believe me? look it up..."Have You Heard")

 We decided to do one of the little boat tours that goes on the Neva River and in the canals through the city. Super awesome. It was in Russian, so I tried to translate a little, but it was mostly about which architects built what when..aaand we were all pretty tired and I found myself just staring at my favorite city and thinking of tons of memories instead.. I'd occasionally translate the major points, but I just wanted to soak. in. this. CITY! 

 

How bout those clouds though!?! And every single amazing and colorful building you see?! Sheesh.

The tour dropped us back off behind St. Isaacs near the Bronze Horseman statue. That is Peter - my main man who made St. Petes what it is. He is my hero.

 This guy is always a good time. 

 We finished the night off at a restaurant called "The Idiot" hahah what the devil? It was a spunky little quirky place.

 It was Russian food and it did our hearts good. We all ordered borsch and I got some Pelmeni (noodles filled with potatoes dipped in sour cream) and the others got beef stroganoff. 

Holy cow we were so tired when we got home! But we forced ourselves to stay up till later so we would hopefully beat this jet lag!

I can't believe we are here :) 

I LOVE sharing this awesome city with Kody and my parents!