Russian Trip

     As Russia is such a large country, my trip to the country was filled with different activities all across the country, starting in the west, and moving eastwards.  I started by visiting the Hermitage Museum, a six building complex of houses that used to belong to Tsars.  Five of the buildings are open to the public, displaying some of their over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world!  While I was in Saint Petersburg, I made sure to visit the Bronze Horseman, a statue of Peter the Great riding a horse atop a large rock formation.  This rock was called the Thunder Stone, and was reportedly carved from 1500 pounds down to 1250 for transport.  It was amazing the work put into a sculpture now seen as symbolic of Saint Petersburg.  I traveled South to Moscow to explore some more iconic structures.  I walked through the beautiful Red Square, a plaza

separating the Kremlin, a historic citadel and current house to the Russian president, from a merchant quarter called Kitai-gorod.  It was incredible to see the city that largely revolved around the square, as many of the streets originate at the square.  I discovered that the name Red Square actually comes from a word in Russian that means both beautiful and red.  Adjacent to the square was the magnificent Saint Basik's Cathedral, a vibrant mass of churches in one building.  It was a museum when I visited, but historically it was actually used for worship, with eight churches built around one central church.  Later on, a tenth was added over the grave of Saint Basil.  It was a beautiful location to visit.  To end my day in the capital, I visited the Moscow Zoo, an ever expanding exhibition with over 8,000 animals currently.  I walked through the arch formed by a rock castle and entered the zoo, crossing the footbridge spanning the gap between older and newer sections of  the zoo.  I loved the waterfalls and streams placed around the park!  I turned in for the night to prepare for traveling eastward.
     To end my trip, I embarked halfway across the country on the longest railroad in the road, spanning the distance from Moscow to Vladivostok, the Trans-Siberian Railway.  I stopped at Lake

Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world.  It actually contains about twenty percent of the world's fresh water!  I stayed the night in a resort on the lake to conclude my trip.