Itinerary for the day:
– Bread and coffee
– AirBnB Experience: A Walk with Locals
– Back to hotel to rest + lunch
– Pushkin Square
– First Mcdonald’s in Soviet Union
– Walk around the area
– Café Pushkin for dinner
We had to wake up a little earlier on day 2 because we joined an AirBnb Experience. Because we were early, we didn’t exactly have time for breakfast so we decided to just buy some bread and a cuppa Starbucks coffee and eat on the go.
Met a very friendly baker! And you know what, I found Pirozhki!
If you watch Yuri on Ice, you would know that Yurio’s grandfather always brings him a Pirozhki. However, the one we see in the anime has got pork cutlet, eggs, and white rice in them, but according to the locals, the traditional Pirozhki usually has got mashed potatoes inside. Not complaining about my mashed potato Pirozhki because I love potatoes to death.
Very focused on eating my carbs. I had a good breakfast!
The mashed potatoes inside. Yumz yumz yumz.
AirBnb Experience: Walk like Locals
We waited at Starbucks and met up with Anton and Julia, who were our guides for the day. They are a very well-travelled couple and you can trust them to bring you on a mission to explore the heart of Moscow, peppered with anecdotes and interesting local insights that you will not be able to get from any travel books. And did I tell you I bonded with Julia with animes since we are both anime lovers!
We explored some hidden gems off the touristy tracks like a Georgian Church, a Moscow Community Centre (in Singaporean words. I can’t remember what it was called) from the Soviet times, Patriarch Ponds, Stalin Skyscrapers, and had local pastries and lemonade while taking a break, and knowing that I love beauty products, Julia also brought me to a Russian brand beauty store to explore.
The community centre I was talking about. We managed to learn a little of its history too.
A centre for the youth.
Street graffiti!
A beautiful but old residential building. A pity that we can’t wander inside.
Taking a break at the cafe with Russia pastries and a cuppa lemonade. But I opted for a Flat White instead.
Explored a Georgian Church. The way Mother Mary and Jesus were drawn were very different from what we usually see.
Do you recognize the both of them?
It was about two and a half hours of walking so if you are looking to join an AirBnb experience like this, do make sure that you are comfortably dressed. We had lots of fun so it is highly recommended! Ask them questions and find out more about the history and culture of the place!
We were searching for the metro station and saw some big swings lined out outside the building.
You see parents with kids having some fun on the swing, and even working adults were taking a break on it.
I also wanted to play. Please pardon the black face though lol.
Outside the metro station. Every spot in Moscow in a photo spot!
Le hubby.
Follow me to the subway.
That symmetry on the platform though~ <3
Back to hotel to rest/ Room service for lunch
I’m ain’t exactly the fit type who can walk for hours. The early day and that few hours of walking tire me out so much that I fell asleep after lunch. We were so tired that we didn’t even head out for lunch, but went back to the hotel and ordered room service. As mentioned in my Petroff Palace Hotel review post, their room service was cheap and extremely delicious anyway!
I drink Borsch soup everyday because I totally fell in love with it.
Refreshed ourselves and headed out. See? Every spot in the hotel is instaworthy.
I wanted to pick an attraction that is nearer to Pushkin Cafe since I made a dinner reservation there. So I told Jon that we head will go to Pushkin Square to take a look before dinner. Wrong choice.
Unless you are a Pushkin fan, or you love parks, don’t make a trip there, unless you happened to pass by. Because, it is just a square, like a park, with a statue of Pushkin. That’s about it.
But since we were there, I took some photos of the place.
That’s it! And we still have got quite a bit of time before our dinner so we just walked around the area.
I’m sitting right in front of the Pushkin statue in this photo above. Try to spot the Mcdonald’s yellow “M” in between the two Tiffany blue triangle (that’s a swing by the way, you can see it later down the post). Apparently, that’s the first Mcdonald’s in the Soviet Union back in 1990s. Apparently, the 600 job openings attracted 35,000 applications and while they expected a 100 crowd on the day of opening, a 30,000 crowd turned up. Read the story of this Mcdonald’s here if you are interested in this little piece of history. It’s quite spectacular!We headed over to take a look at the Mcdonald’s too and got ourselves a drink.
That’s the Mcdonald’s behind!
And we continued our little walk around the area.
And…. It was finally dinner time. We ate at Pushkin Cafe and we strongly recommend anyone who visit Moscow to come here at least once. Read my review here.
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 1) – Moscow Travel Tips
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 2) – Moscow 6-Day Itinerary
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 3) – Cafes and Restaurants We Visited in Moscow
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 4) – Petroff Palace Hotel Review
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 5) – Day 1 Red Square, Kremlin, St Basil Cathedral, GUM department store, The State Historical Museum, Okhotny Ryad shopping centre
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 6) – Day 2 Airbnb Experience, Pushkin Square
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 7) – Day 3 Moscow Zoo, Museum of Soviet Arcade Games, Aviapark
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 8) – Day 4
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 9) – Day 5
- Moscow, Russia Travel Blog (Part 10) – Day 6
No Comment