Moscow trip in pictures

M and I spent the weekend in Moscow visiting all our old haunts and taking a major trip down memory lane.

I haven't been back since 1996 and the city has changed enormously since then. Amazing how much friendlier and more global the city has become! People are dressed so nicely now and you even see a lot of them smiling, which was great but also a little bizarre! There are chain stores everywhere and although I did end up grabbing a sub at subway on the way to the airport I found it a bit depressing to see Dunkin' Donuts and Wendy's and TGI Fridays there.

Was amazed at how much Russian I can remember. I've been working on it pretty diligently for about 6 months now, but haven't been able to get anything out of my mouth on the few occasions that I've tried to practice with acquaintances. And then when I got to the border the agent asked me in Russian: "Do you speak Russian?" I answered "Da" and realized that it was true! It was fantastic!

Had a great time, really enjoyed being back, but this trip just made me realize even more that I'm not a big city person and that I'm so happy to have ended up here in this lovely, clean, green small town in Germany!