It never fails to amaze us that in Moscow, there's always something for everyone, contrary to what many Westerners say on the blogosphere that this interesting city is one, if not, the most expensive city to live in. We beg to disagree. While it is true that there are commodities here that are ridiculously pricy, like nuts, mangoes, and rice, there are still a considerable number of consumer items that one can buy at the grocery stores that are fair enough for lower-middle income expats to afford. The prices of goods also depend on one's proximity to kilometer-zero of the entire Russian-dom which is found at Red Square City Center. The closer you are to the City Center, the pricier the commodities may seem including hotel prices and apartment rentals.
A Tangent
May I go off on a tangent and devulge a little secret? A cup of gourmet cafe Americano costs 100 Russian rubles ( PhP 73 / USD 1. 56 ) anywhere in Moscow. And if you're coffee lovers like us, you would quickly agree that this is a competitive price compared to what you'd pay for at Starbucks, say in the Philippines that would cost PhP115 / Russian Rub 155 / USD 2. 40. I once overheard one Russian guy said that in Russia, it's really all up to you. If you want it cheap, they have a plethora of stores for shoppers to choose from where everyone goes home happy. And if you like it expensive, just look around because malls are not hard to find. They are scattered like mushrooms all over the city waiting to cater to the Oligarch in you. After all, some stats read that the highest number of Oligarchs reside in Moscow, particularly concentrated in the City Center area. Hush.
Now For The Blog Post
On this blog post, it's all about persuasion through photos galore. And as I said, there's always something for everyone in Moscow. And that includes the Son, our birthday boy, who turned 10 years old last week. This special occasion proved that, in Europe, it is possible to see real dinosaurs and enjoy a birthday without ripping off your wallet. But first, see photos below. The Son is a true-blue dinosaur aficionado. It seemed he will never outgrow this phase in his life, the dinosaur age.
The Son "flesh-ifying" his dinosaur with clay that he painstakingly molded around the skeleton structure. Year 2014.
Zoom-in to see that the eyes looked real.
Here, he was knocked down for working hard till bedtime.
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Two Things We Did to Prepare for the Big Day at the Museum
First, we googled for a dinosaur museum in Moscow and we found the Orlov Paleolontological Museum, the oldest natural-science museum in Russia that contains most types of fossils. The main attractions to this public exhibits are the presence of dinosaurs from Mongolia, mammoths from Russia, and fossils from Siberia. It was opened to public in 1987 at the south-west of Moscow in Profsoyuznaya Street.
We had our doubts that every information written at the museum would be in Russian, including their signages, so, we decided to equip ourselves by pouring over their website the night before. Thankfully, there's an English version to their website, thus, we were able to discuss matters to our kids to be able to manage our expectations ahead of time. Their website holds detailed information about over 5,500 paleolontological objects that were collected dating back to the founding of the very first public museum during the time of Peter the Great in the late 1600's. The museum is divided into five main halls and each part is dedicated to a certain era of the geologic history of the earth which were entirely based on the evolution theory. This brings us to our second step in preparing for our trip to the museum. We opened the conversation about what to expect when we get there particularly the dating system that they applied in identifying the paleolontological displays.
We thought that it was note-worthy to talk about evolutionism, thus, raising awareness to the contradiction that this great nation has a strong and traditional religion which is Christian / Russian Orthodox. As parents to our homeschooled kids, this was one opportunity for us to galvanize our family value system to them which is based on creationism since we're bible-believing-practicing Christians. Based on the book of Genesis 1:1a it says, "In the beginning GOD..." That behind all of creation, there is a God Who is The Great Engineer and The Great Architect Who designed everything according to His divine plan and for His glory. Nothing occured on earth by chance but everything has a purpose under God's loving care. What a sovereign God we serve! So, if you can engage a 10 and a 15 year-old kid in this kind of conversation, that is something worth all of your time. It had been a deep and meaningful conversation.
"If you were to look at this building, you wouldn't think it's a museum. But it actually is a museum." ~Bethany
"The lighting made our faces look like we're wearing a full-face make-up." ~Bethany
"Here is a picture of a dinosaur. Not the one on the left but the one hanging in the air to your right. It usually lives in the sea, but it stays on land when oxygen or rest is needed." - Noah
"The artwork of the dinosaurs below literally describes my brother and I's relationship. 😜 I'm the T.Rex and he's... Well... Whatever that dinosaur is called." ~Bethany
"The dinosaur on the left is called a Parasaurolophus." - Noah
"I don't know what this is, but I have a feeling that this creature is a carnivore ( meat-eater) because it has sharp teeth and claws." -Noah
"This is a Mammoth that lived thousands of years ago! And its tusks are about 5 feet long!" - Noah
 "These hanging displays look like they're made from porcelain." ~Bethany |
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"It feels more like a castle than a museum." ~Bethany
"These are the bones of a Parasaurolophus. It's an herbivore ( plant-eater). It's about 20 to 30 feet long." - Noah
"Now this is what I like to see. A giant long-necked herbivore that is called a Diplodocus. It's about 40 feet long and is named by the bones on its long whip-like tail." - Noah
"This is a 4-foot long reptile. I don't know the name of this one but it's like a round-snouted crocodile." - Noah
"Nice to meet you! Hee hee!" -Noah
"Above and below are the heads of 2 T. Rexes" - Noah
"May I touch your tooth?" -Noah
"This is an armored dinosaur. It protects itself from predators like T. Rex. It has a spiky tail that it can use for a weapon."-Noah
"If you zoom in close enough to the picture, you can see a small dinosaur biting onto the foot of the T.Rex." ~Bethany
Mini amphitheatre...
"I had chills down my spine when I saw this scary-looking row of molars. Like, those are actual teeth! I wonder if it's a carnivore or an herbivore." ~Bethany
"It's an herbivore. Herbivores are plant-eaters. It is based on the shape of their teeth which they use to grind plants in their mouths. If it looks like human teeth or something, it's an herbivore. If it's sharp and longer, it's a carnivore." - Noah
"We weren't surprised when we saw these big sea shells. We've seen way more bigger sea shells in Puerto Galera, Philippines." ~Bethany
"It's fun to imagine how big these dinosaurs are if they're still alive up to this day. Just look at those skulls!" ~Bethany
"Most dinosaur eggshells are half a centimeter thick!" - Noah
"Another T. Rex. Here is a fact that will surprise you. The teeth of a T. Rex can crush bones!" - Noah |
Can you count all the red bricks that you see behind us? And the rustic stump that they knocked down to be placed at the entrance of the museum to greet their visitors. Perfect seating area after almost two hours of walking the Jurassic world. Picture perfect almost. But it has its rough edges, too. Can you spot it?
Value for Your Cha-ching
Our entrance fee to the museum costs 300 Russian rubles ( PhP 221.00 / USD 4. 70 ) per person and 150 Russian rubles ( PhP 110.00 / USD 2. 30 ) for kids; that's a total of 1, 050.00 Rub ( PhP 776.00 / USD 16. 44) for all four of us.
Picture below is the birthday boy's take home souvenir, the egg of an Amargasaurus worth 250 rubles (PhP 185/USD 4). Talk about value for your cha-ching there! And wonderful precious memories were made once more, on a budget. As for the value of memories that are permanently etched on our children's memory bank, priceless.
