36. Nostalgia | Memories of Russia

(photo above not taken by me)

Anyone wanna take a spontaneous trip to Moscow with me? Skating in Red Square followed by a shopping spree in GUM is so much more appealing than skating in Nathan Phillips Square followed by shopping at Eaton Centre, for example. I love GUM - The first shop I went in at the mall was Dior, and I didn't even like designer brands back then! I'm pretty sure that's when the obsession was born. Two things I remember from visiting Red Square is that GUM is pronounced "GOOOOM" & according to my tour guide, it's the "most expensive mall" in the world.


On any vacation, I found the most memorable moments are always the smallest and seems the most insignificant at first. My trip to Russia was a few years ago, and now..here's what I remember the most:

Eating at Tchaikovsky restaurant and having a pear and whipped cream for dessert. (Pic above)

That little boy with his grandmother sitting across from us at the circus. I probably looked at them almost as much as I looked at the performers.

The blond boy who looked like Draco Malfoy in the chocolate store who actually turned out to be a girl. I'm going to shamefully admit, I have a crush on Draco Malfoy so I thought this girl/boy was kinda cute at first.

A tour guide asking me for Juicy Fruit gum in front of the viking boat museum (I brought an abundance of gum with me on this trip and always kept a pack in my back pocket.)

The very cute hotel bellboys of Hotel Ukraina (I still remember exactly what they look like)

Seeing a guy with a (Thierry) Henry #12 shirt on the cruise to Helsinki..which was when my dad told me about the France football/soccer team. That was also when my love for Swedish boys started, as the group of boys were all from Sweden. :)

This girl with the pet bear in front of the Hermitage asking everyone for money. I remember I couldn't get my eyes off her slippers.

Risking my life/running across the street from our hotel to take these pictures of the war memorial

My dad seeing Vladimir Putin driving his own car (a black Porsche if I recall correctly) on the street

The very creepy woman with horrible teeth whom I bought postcards from in the basement of one of the hotels. She looked like death.

Our tour guide wearing a lot of purple and having the same name as my sister (a popular Russian name apparently)

One Canadian dollar was approximately 20 Russian Rubles (it probably changed since then) and an ice cream was less than $1 which we thought was very cheap. And I remember having to stand outside the tour bus finishing mine since the driver wouldn't let me on before I finished it lol. The ice cream was cheaper than: using a public washroom as well as taking pictures in a cathedral.

Flight layover in Paris @ Charles de Gaulle airport..which had the nicest people on earth! Not being sarcastic here - I do love the French people. I remember seeing a group of security guys - one of which was looking at me and smiling. He was pretty cute so I just stared and didn't even realize when I accidentally ran over another security guy's foot with my luggage. He started hopping on one foot while the other security guys laughed hahha. My dad also told them I listen to Britney Spears music on my iPod.

I can go on and on and on. I didn't even intend to write all of this at first - I was planning on blogging about the horribleness of my first day back to school. This is better..but it kind of makes me sad because when I look at past vacation pictures I always want to go back in time and make the trip more fun I guess? Especially during these stressful times..I just want to escape it all. I'll probably make more of these posts in the future.