When I Was Lost In Moscow

Every summer my family spent our vacation in Moscow, Russia. Moscow was a huge city, and also famous for being the capital of the former USSR, now Russia. It was a business city, and had a lot of historical places you could see. Moscow was famous for the Red Square, the Kremlin, Lenin’s Mausoleum, and the metro station.
Red Square was the most visited place by tourists. The Red Square was made from red bricks, and the name translated to “beautiful” in old Russian. It was the center of the Soviet government, and the main entrance to the Kremlin. Another interesting place that attracted tourists was Lenin Mausoleum. Lenin was mummified in 1924. If you wanted to see him, you would need to stand in the long line, but luckily, it moved swiftly.
I was ten years old. .I was shy person and close to my parents. It was my first time visiting Moscow. My family and I liked spending our time in historical places to learn about the history. We went to see the State Tretyakov Gallery, the morning that the event happened. It was a beautiful morning, and everything was going well. I was amazed by Tretyakov Gallery. The Tretyakov Gallery was famous for its awesome art of landscapes, portraits and other painting , and also icons. It was interesting to see the artwork.

We entered into different halls, and spent six or seven hours looking at amazing art. Believe me, we could not see everything in one day, so we needed to go again. It was at lunchtime when we exited from the gallery. Our tour guide said, “We can get lunch now”. One man from our group suggested, we take the extra time to go see the Lenin’s Mausoleum and the Kremlin. If we did not go, it would have been like visiting New York, and not having seen the Statue of Liberty.
Everyone started pushing and shoving to get in line to see Lenin. You could never imagine how many people were in the Red Square at that time. You could easily get lost in the chaos. People split me from my parents, and pushed me to another side. My parents believed I was behind them. But in all this chaos, I was lost and alone. I could not find my parents. I was a little girl lost without my parents, without any money, in an unknown place. I did not know what I could do. I felt too shy at that moment, and did not ask anybody for help. The time approached evening hours. I waited hoping my parents would return to find me.
All at once, I heard whispering, “Where are they? Why are they not here?”
I turned around, and saw a tall, middle-aged man, dressed with a white shirt and jeans, walking back and forth. I shyly asked the man,
“Did you lose somebody?” He looked at me and surprised said,
“Yes, my children. They were going to see Lenin in Mausoleum, and I lost them in this chaos.” I plucked up courage, and I said to the man, “You know, I lost my family too. I am in the same situation.” One second later, I asked him, “Do you have five pennies for metro station? I want to go to my hotel.” He said, “Yes, of course.” He put five pennies in my hand. I was so happy; I could go back to my hotel. These five pennies for me were like five million dollars!
Thank God, the metro station was behind me. I ran to the metro, put five pennies in the ticket gate, sat on my train, and after forty minutes, I was at the hotel.
I walked into the hotel lobby, and waited. Half an hour passed. Through the big hotel window, I saw my parents coming into the hotel. I saw my mother crying. When she saw me, she said, “Thank God, you are found and fine!” They had reported me “lost” to the police station. That event changed me from a shy person, gave me courage, and helped me in my life to know, if you have difficult situations, you can find solutions with some courage.