Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Moscow has been a fast-paced blur of site-seeing, eating, drinking coffee, and trying to figure out the endless metro system. This city of 12 million people seems to not sleep, has worse traffic than Los Angeles, and is starting to get rather chilly.

Carson and I have spent two days here now with our friends Boris and Geni, who we met on the over night train from Kiev. They have driven us to all their favorite spots around the city, gave us a tour of the Red Square at night, and much much more.

Boris is a doctor working in the local hospital. He has been extremely generous and paid nearly every bill so far. Just last night, we found out that as a doctor he only makes $500 a month... needless to say, he wants to immigrate to the U.S. to make a fair bit more.

Last night as he got off work, he took us to a restaurant called Sky Lounge 22, situated atop the International Science Laboratory in downtown Moscow. His friend is the owner. As we sit in this beautiful restaurant, the owner comes over, a 30-something year old named Alek, and has dinner with us. Let's just say I ordered one of the cheapest meals at $30, and it was by no means the most expensive thing on the menu. Well of course, Alek was so happy to have young Americans there that he gave us the whole meal for free. Oh, I forgot to mention, it is rated the 5th best restaurant in all of Moscow... I love mother Russia!!

Tonight, after calling my Mother of course, Carson and I will be hopping on a 40-hour overnight train to Omsk, located in the infamous Siberia. As long as my passport doesn't fall apart, and we stay away from the Gulags, we should be okay.

*Some new photos are added too!*