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<\/a><\/p>\nSecond stop, Moscow. \u00a0A lesson in Soviet History and present day Russia. \u00a0Below is the tomb of Vladimir Lenin. \u00a0The text is the Russian cyrillic characters. \u00a0Those were fun to learn and read.<\/p>\n
The Russian people I met were very nice. \u00a0Also curious that a young American was actually visiting Russia for something other than business. \u00a0Moscow has a similar feel to New York City. \u00a0The food was familiar and fantastic. \u00a0People complain about how cold it is. \u00a0There are Starbucks, McDonalds, and even a Krispy Kreme! \u00a0In short, it didn’t seem that different than American life. \u00a0At least day-to-day. \u00a0However, their leaders are not as tolerant. \u00a0Our countries are at odds in Syria. \u00a0The U.S. intel community is certain Russia hacked into American politics. \u00a0And we happen to be the two nations in control of virtually all the nuclear warheads in the world. \u00a0Things could be better.<\/p>\n Coincidentally, when I returned to the U.S., I read a National Geographic Article<\/a>\u00a0about why the young generation was pro-Putin. \u00a0I would say the generalized American perception of Putin is that he is evil, oppressive, and the Russian people want him out of power. \u00a0However, the NatGeo article describes how he is generally liked in Russia. \u00a0A brief history of Russia since is Soviet days: the 90s were terrible, Putin assumed power in 2000, and since then people have more money, unemployment is down, and some of Russia’s “prestige” has been restored. \u00a0Whether or not that was solely Putin’s doing is debatable.<\/p>\n What am I getting at? \u00a0It seemed far from the “bad” place that everyone described to me before going. \u00a0I never felt in danger. \u00a0No one followed me (that I know of). \u00a0I took hundreds of pictures of many things with no consequence. \u00a0No bribes. \u00a0No phones hacked (that I know of).<\/p>\n Why go?<\/p>\n To see it for yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why are you going to Russia, they asked? \u00a0Don’t you know you’re going to be followed, captured, or worse? \u00a0Also, don’t take pictures of buildings or you will be arrested. \u00a0You’ll have to pay off the police. \u00a0Your phones will … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n