How do you follow that up? Still on cloud 9!
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
1
127
171
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Moscow,
Russian Federation
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sweet horse statue fountain
I meet up with Sam Green, the grandson of one of my grandma's best friends. We go on a walk through an old soviet neighborhood before stopping for dinner at a local hot spot where I have some caviar with my meal... amazing! The whole day I feel like I'm still in shock from the night before, but I turn it off to share a great conversation with Sam, who has been living in Russia for 9 years now. Working for a political/economic think tank, he has a very thoughtful insider insight to offer and I enjoy the dinner before heading back to Sveta's place. Sveta and a few of her friends take me on a driving tour of the city at night.
Christ the Savior Church at night
She isn't the best driver, by any stretch of the imagination, but at least she was safe as her top speed was about 20mph. We managed to get lost as her friend was less than helpful with a map and I wound up getting a nice 2 hour tour that should have taken 20 minutes.
St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin at nigh
Then I decided to take over the navigational duties, came close to taking the wheel, but we found the lookout that we had been searching for and the beautiful views of the city were augmented by fireworks as soon as we showed up. They knew we had finally made it! On the way back we went through downtown and all the soviet-era buildings, especially the Kremlin, are amazing lit up at night! 
Sveta (right) and friends on the night tour
