Another morning in Russia, another jog. After experiencing the awesomeness of our last jog, Aaron, Gina & I decided to go for a jog early in the morning. It did not disappoint. Jogging through Red Square at 6 AM with no tourists around was truly incredible – an experience I doubt I’ll forget for the rest of my life. I even challenged Aaron to a sprint, with St Basil’s Cathedral as the finish line! It amazed me how they had permanent paint lines put down on the cobblestone of Red Square – that’s for the tank processions they apparently regularly have here. And in case you’re wondering, Red is associated with beauty in Russia, so Red Square literally means Beautiful Square. Not commie square.

Getting back, we showered, packed & headed down for breakfast. We checked out of the hotel & loaded the van with our suitcases – we’ll be going directly to Domodedovo airport(that has to be the most D’s & o’s in any word), after finishing our morning tour. Our tour guide was a different lady today – I think our guide from yesterday didn’t want anything to do with us!

After driving to a museum that was closed, we finally ended up in the Tretyakov State Gallery, which did not disappoint. A gallery of Russian art started by the donations of a benefactor, it contained some really amazing art. Our poor tour guide tried to rush to show us everything, but there was far too much to see in a few hours – I’d definitely like to come back here and spend a day.

We then visited the Kremlin, and this time got to go inside the walls of the castle. Kremlin means castle, and was initially the stronghold of Moscow. Now it serves as a government headquarters, and Putin has an office in one of the buildings there.

After the tour, what was left of our group(Danijela and Kristin had taken off earlier) made our way to the airport, where we said goodbye to Jo, who was on a different flight back to Peoria.

The flight from Moscow to Frankfurt wasn’t long, but we had an overnight in Frankfurt at a hotel near the airport. I had big plans to go tour Frankfurt before my flight to SFO the next afternoon, but was so tired that I just slept in. The flight back was nice and comfy, and I managed to finish two SF books!

This marks the end of this trip – I hope you enjoyed the blog & photos. If you have any suggestions on how I can make it better, please get in touch!

Huge huge thanks to the International Mountain Guides, for a flawlessly executed trip, and to Pirjo and Berit from CTT Destinations for making the Visa process so easy. My next climb is Aconcagua – the tallest mountain in South America at 22,841 ft in Feb of 2017. Until next time, keep rocking this epic Adventure we call Life!