The month of May has much significances in my life. It is the birthday month of my both deceased parents with their birth dates, exactly two weeks apart. It’s also a month when some of my closest friends celebrate their birthday. It also marks the beginning of summer where, people in this part of the world may not appreciate much but means a great deal elsewhere. I can only think of it as how fast time flies before we hit the second half of the year.
Last month, I have had the privilege of visiting a new city, Moscow. I am not a fan of Russia but I must admire their fight to remain as a major world power.
Before my trip to Moscow, I did not have any expectations but only to visit the Red Square and St Basil. I thought, it is really a good enough reason for me. When I watched “Human Trafficking” and the Russian mobsters in the movie, I told myself, I will never be safe going out in this country. Hence, I would feel happy if I could just stay in my room and read the books that I had brought. The hotel is well-equipped with restaurants where I can have all my meals in-door. Well, that was my plan, at least.
When I checked in to the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of my great friends. We have not been meeting for quite sometime now and it would be a great reunion, catching up on our stories and lives. After a little waiting and resting, we finally met and had dinner at a crowded German Pub restaurant downstairs. It was nice fun soaking with sisterhood camaraderie.
The next morning, a group of us made our way to the Red Square. We took the underground train and the journey was proved to be a chaotic one. The signs are in Russian and even with map in hand and a guidebook, we failed to find out exactly which direction of the train we should be boarding. It was frustrating and people around were obviously not-too-linguistically-gifted in English. Somehow, with a bit of instinct and good sense of direction, we finally found our way. The escalators in the station are so long and made me wonder how deeply-underground it is, the train system here.
Walking towards Red Square enabled me to give an opportunity to Moscow to reveal herself to me. As I walked through the streets of Moscow, I saw a lot of frowning people, old Volgas (Russian car) and I could hardly sense a European city here. Perhaps lacking something I would call, class sophistication. The only good memory of Moscow as a great city for me is, when I watched “War and Peace” a breakthrough Hollywood war movie starred Audrey Hepburn and her then husband, Mel Ferrer. I think I prefer to remember Russia in “War and Peace” than by my very own encounters.
