Where The Light Takes You: JULY IN MOSCOW

Happy New Year to everybody here! I hope 2015 will be brighter and bigger in all personal and professional projects. One of my ny resolutions is to blog more about what life is going to bring to personal-work and work-work and keep you posted on my discoveries, adventures, travels and NYC lifestyle of course. I hope you'll support it all along.

Speaking of travels, I've decided to put in order my photo archives and thoughts on my two trips to Moscow last summer, and I hope you'll consider visiting my home country whenever you have a chance :)

I haven't been in Moscow during summer time since 2011 and have to say, the city has changed a lot since then. It felt like all of a sudden, people wouldn't mind staying in the city all summer (instead of escaping to Europe) and would get more into sports and summer activities. I was glad (or should I say even proud?) to see the development of the city scape: parks, roads, outdoor places, pedestrian streets etc etc. Plus better cafes, restaurants and coffee shops, local markets and farm-raised groceries. Well, all these things that I enjoy in nyc so much.

TRANSLATE

The weird part of being in Moscow was… the space. Gosh they've got all this space and openness! Coming back from NYC tiny streets and giant skyscrapers, I just felt lost and at the same time had some air to breeze. There were even times that we found ourselves alone roaming the streets with no people around. I guess this openness may feel intimidating for tourists, given the fact that there are almost no english signs and it may not be safe to get lost in this big city, but it's worth to walk your feet around..
Oh and speaking of tourists and lack of english signs, I would advise you to take public transportation instead of cabs, juts because cab drivers would probably take you from A to B through C and that would be your longest ride ever. Ha! Subway works pretty good and you'll definitely get to your point faster than by car through endless traffic.

During this few days in the city I attempted to try as many new coffee shops and places with views as possible, and that brought us to Time Our bar located on the 13th floor of Hotel Pekin in the center of Moscow. Nice views and [an average] cappuccino, but I was still pretty happy to chill out there and watch the city moving. Moscow indeed is a city of cars and big roads (as you may notice from the pictures below). [Again, avoid the traffic!!!]

Another nice walk took place when my sister, knowing my passion for coffee, took me to the new nyc-inspired coffee shop called West 4 Coffee (and yes, cappuccino there is very good, nyc-quality) and then we walked through the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and Prechistenskaya embankment to Gorky Park. I have to admit, this is one of must things to do in Moscow to get an idea of the historic center, experience old little streets and eventually end up in one of the popular parks in the city.

And that's exactly where we headed - Gorky Park. It has recently been completely renovated and now offers tons of activities and things to do at any time of the year. I was really impressed of the changes since I was there last time. The park has suddenly became so popular that my ig feed in july-august left me under impression that different groups of friends spent much time at the park without even knowing they are at the same place at the same time. Check on that.

I still haven't decided how I feel every time I go back - either happy&enthusiastic or sad&nostalgic or both, but this city is more than just a capital of my home country. That's where my family and friends are and where I had started my timid steps towards personal independency [which eventually brought me to nyc]…And here we are!