Moskva River Cruise, Russia!

we had a truly amazing experience last night cruising along the moscow river (the cruise referred to it as the ‘moskva river’ because that is how you pronounce “mockby” or “moscow” in russian)! we went through the radisson royal hotel, which is absolutely jaw dropping. i couldn’t believe this was a radisson hotel when i first set eyes on it. i am still having a hard time.

we are styaing with our family friend, farah, who works and lives in russia so she knows all the amazing things to see and do-such as this. she knew the best time to set sail was on the 9pm tour because the photos beforehand would be spectacular and the city at night all lit up is beyond magical. she obviously knows what she is talking about.

the reason for this special outing and the main reason we are in russia is to celebrate my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary! 40 years is a loooong time and they are truly still in love, care deeply about one another and set an amazing example of what a healthy marriage can look like. happy anniversary mark and kathy- i love “y’all!”

i struggled with asking strangers on the street to use my fancy camera to take a picture of us (i tend to be overly paranoid of someone taking off with it and we all know i can’t run very fast) but it turns out the man we asked happened to be from california-small world! here’s the group of us before the dinner cruise.

from left to right…myself, my husband ravery, father-in-law mark, mother-in-law kathy, iranian mother farah, sister-in-law ashley and farah’s son-sam! someday i will learn not to stand like i’m 8 years old-but today is not that day.

shout out to ashley for taking my new favorite picture of us! good work SIL. i realize that because we both have dark-framed glasses it makes us look similar but please do not say we look like brother and sister-that’s totally gross.

the 2-hour cruise took us all around moscow. we saw moscow state university, luzhniki stadium, gorky park, the kremlin, the cathedral of christ the savior (Храм Христа Спасителя, Khram Khrista Spasitelya-pictured below) and so much more. this is the tallest orthodox christian church in the world, standing at 103 meters or 338 feet!

it was 49 degrees out but the cruise line gave us super cozy and fashionable blankets so the temperature really wasn’t bad. it also helps when the waiter has a massive crush on your sister-in-law and gives us all double the blankets.

of course-  no russian anything is complete without the assistance of vodka. it’s much more sippable when it’s in adorable little glasses (although i still always feel the burn down my throat-kind of like reverse heart burn). i can totally see why people drink a lot of vodka here, especially when it drops to negative 30 degrees because that clear liquid warms your bones.

although this photo isn’t the best quality-red square, the kremlin and st. basil’s cathedral was out of this world lit up at night. the architecture in moscow is truly breathtaking.

when we floated back to our original take off point, the radisson royal hotel was lit up incredibly beautiful and that purple boat you see below is how our boat looked too.

we had a fantastic evening on the water celebrating love, family and exploring the world! lots of laughs, lots of learning and seeing this massive city from a unique angle. i highly recommend seeing any city from the water and i feel so blessed to have married into such a quality family that can go on trips together.

the new wifestyle: it’s important to take time to acknowledge the success and hard work of people committed to each other and celebrate love!

questions:
1) have you ever been on a riverboat cruise? where at?
2) what’s your drink of choice?
3) prettiest hotel you’ve ever seen?