My 10-day trip to Russia resulted in over 500 images – events, people, architecture. I am delighted to share the creme of the crop with you.


The magic of Red Square (Moscow)

I happened to visit Moscow at the time of my great interest in architecture. Russian architecture deserves a separate article – so grandiose and extravagant it is. It’s a sharp contrast to the modernistic New York – tall, dark and  handsome in its geometry. All of a sudden, I was yanked out of the future and transported into the streets of a 500 year old ancient fairy tale.


Novodevichiy Convent Upon Lake

I’ll be honest, I never cared much for architecture before. You’d never see me snapping a cheesy picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. But Russian architecture is so different from anything I’d seen, the beauty simply makes you cry. Standing amidst it, you feel overwhelmed – almost crushed – by the centuries and centuries of history.

I fell in love with gold. Most people think of it as cheesy and outdated but I’m out to prove it isn’t so!

The best thing about Russia is definitely COLOR. So much of it – not one gray building through the entire trip – that your brain feels like it’s about to explode into a million pastel-colored pieces! Everything is either bright blue, green, pink or yellow. Buildings are quaint and all-timey – like candyfuture in reverse! Um, Candypast?

One of my favorite buildings in Moscow: an entrance to the metro station. Moscow metro is as beautiful inside as it is outside – it feels like you’re walking through a museum with dozens of frescoes and arches looking down at you. Puts NYC subway to shame for sure!


St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square

This pretty toy castle I’m standing in front is St. Basil’s Cathedral. The most famous and definitely my favorite, it’s almost too elaborate and colorful for the eye!

Legend has it, Ivan the Terrible had the architect Postnik Yakovlev blinded so that he could never create something this beautiful again. Looking at it, I can almost understand Ivan…

For an eccentric like me, Moscow was a wonderland. An ocean of many wonderful textures, colors and shapes, all of which I drank in hungrily with my eyes. Roaming through those streets made me wonder if my obsession with color is somehow linked to this place…

Next week: Russian culture!