Surfers, Prisons, Pictures, Sunny spring days

Last week Vas and I became apart of the Moscow Couch Surfing group. We signed up with the Couch Surfing website last month and just began taking part in the activities.

If you don't know of Couch Surfing, it's an international network of travelers. It's like a grassroots, DIY movement to traveling. It's for the more adventerous travelers, not those who stay in chain hotels and sight-see with guided tours.

No, this is the "roughing-it" side of traveling. But for those who appreciate the adventure in it. So the name is pretty self-explanatory. It's a network on-line for couch surfing. Unless you have friends in every place you want to visit, you can use this website for surfing couches of complete strangers. Yes, it sounds strange and I'm sure it would worry any mom and dad. But there is a great verification system and references are used- it seems pretty reliable. I have not surfed anyone's couch nor have I hosted any surfer yet, but I have friends and have met plenty of people who have used the network to it's full potential and have loved it. My first encounter with the website was back in October when I visited NYC and stayed on my cousin's couch in Brooklyn. His roommate is a user of the network and was hosting a young couple from Vienna. This was their first trip to the U.S. and while staying in one of the most expensive cities in the world they were able to save $$ by staying on someone's couch. They were also able to make a new friend and learn about the city from a local- this always beats a travel brochure.

Ok, so enough background. The Moscow Couch Surfing group meets weekly and last Tuesday Vas and I went.

Most of the people were Russian but we made company with a guy from Kazakhastan, the group organizer from South Korea, a guy who works for a Czech beer company in Russia (from Czech Republic), a couple of guys from Turkey, and so on. We had a great time. It was fun to go out and be social with people other than each other and family.


Last weekend we took a day trip with the couch surfing group to Vladimir, Russia.

Vladimir was a midieval capital of Russia, about 120 miles outside of Moscow. Our purpose of the trip was to visit the famous prison there, described as the "harshest prison in Russia"

They don't do tours anymore but they made an exception for the CS'ers. Stalin's son was imprisoned here, Nazis, famous artists/authors, and many political prisoners. It is still in use and holds only Russians, and some of the most dangerous in the country. Although, as the guard told us, no political prisoners are held there anymore. This video describes the prisoners as the "murderers, rapists, thieves, etc"
According to the guard, lol, the government has no political prisoners anymore.

I can't seem to get a video about the prison to work, so go here to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrqaWiicr-8



Pictures from Vladimir:

Assumption Cathedral, 1160



St. Demetrius' Cathedral is famous for its masterfully carved exterior, representing the Biblical story of king David, 1194







Golden Gate, once the cities main gate, 1160



A remarkable view, and walking around the city/edge of the city

I love the faces on old European buildings:

Prison Entrance (we couldn't take pictures inside and this picture is incredibly deceiving and does not come anywhere near capturing the feeling of a prison or what it actually looked like)

I took this picture because I seriously thought that this guy was selling rodent brains. Turned out they were just funky looking mushrooms.

and I love the colors of buildings here

The train on the way home (my worst train experiences to date. On the way to Vladimir it felt like we were on a bus- the seats were horrible, it was crowded and uncomfortable. For the first 1 1/2 hour we had no seat. Inbetween cars we saw either pee, human feces or vomit. On the second train we had these horrible beds instead of seats and the all too common aroma of body odor to add to our discomfort)

(I don't know this person.... sorry dude)

Pictures of the west side of Moscow, driving to work on Sunday afternoon:

Every city has an "Arc de Triomphe"

"Moscow City" a new area in the city being built by the present Mayor.



New apartment/condo buildings

yes, the weather is absolutely GORGEOUS.

Spring is magnificent. I am in love with this city right now. It is so green and lush!! The spring colors are complimenting the new and old of this city so perfectly. Every day is sunny- the sky is SO blue and the green is SO green. And it isn't dark until 10 PM so there is more time to enjoy it all.

On another note- I am visiting the States in a week and a half!!! I can't wait to see my friends, family, speak english to everyone and eat my weight in vegan ice cream. Ellwood's, I hope you are all stocked up for me, because I am coming with a craving you have never seen before!

"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within."
--Lillian Smith, The Journey (1954)