"Dog Days Are Over" lyrics

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Dog Days Are Over

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Lyrics submitted by x-orange-x , edited by Losin , jankopanko , jaybles22

Dog Days Are Over Lyrics as written by Isabella Janet Florentina Summers Florence Leontine Mary Welch

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing

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run for tour mother

I think it could possibly be the opposite. I think it's about someone who's so afraid of love that they run all the time and hide from it. To have feeling's for someone has hit them "like a train on a track". They kiss it and flee again because that's how close they're willing to get. Like when there's a room you're afraid to go in or don't know what's in it, you might push the door open and jump back before you look in. Or a kiss is all they're willing to give of themselves as they see loving someone as a weakness and leaves it all behind because they think that's how they'll survive in life. Just a thought.

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I absolutely agree with your thought. :)

Very nice..

The humdrum drudgery's done and the good times are here at last! But be quick! Grab it while you can and leave everything else behind.

So lets all dress up, go in to the woods and dance.

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none of these answers are right. On the radio she explained what the song actually meant. She said, "Before I became a singer me and my friend had to make a living by walking dogs. Until one day I was discovered and I finally made my dream job came true!"<br /> so yea that's what she said her self and i can see how that comes in the song like,<br /> <br /> stuck on a train track stuck still no turning back means now that she is famous she just can't quit because she would still have poparazzi with her or when she said<br /> <br /> leave your loved ones behind if you want to survive means that you have to leave your love ones at home if you want to become sucsessful<br /> <br /> dog days are over dog days are done means that she is glad that she is not doing that job any more<br /> <br /> it all makes scence when you think about it<br /> <br /> oh i am now learning how to play this song on my guitar cuz now i am chasing my dreams <br /> for when i am a grown-up

Actually 7thgradejd2468, Lucy_In_The_Sky is pretty spot on with the meaning. On the Florence + the Machine website, Florence said:<br /> "For me 'Dog Days' symbolizes apocalyptic euphoria, Chaotic freedom and running really really fast with your eyes closed."<br /> <br /> You can read it here:<br /> florenceandthemachine.net/news/0-6/florence-to-perform-at-the-mtv-vmas/0-6/

I think it has sense the fact that she used to work with the dogs before she became a singer. When I didn't know that reading the lyrics I imagined that the person the happiness came finally to her like the force of the train and once is into her is not turning back. Befooore, she tried to find it, or when she though was closed she scared run away from it, she drunk a lot to avoid the emptiness of her lack of happiness "she sank with her drink".<br /> <br /> I think the dogs is the representation of the dependence, and the horse the representation of freedom and courage. So for any reason those days of dependence are over and gone and the horses are coming, one can imagine the impression of the horses running towards oneself soo fast, as the happiness that is coming, the freedom, the change.<br /> <br /> Run fast (as the horses related to freedom and courage) for your mother, father, for your children, sisters and brothers (I imagine is the fact that one have to think finally for all the people that one love one have to love his life the same way, because of all that love that we have for those we love (are you following me? hahaha) A big risk and change, and decision on ones life needs to kill the dependence with family, home, nostalgic, friends, lovers.. if one decides something, we have to get involved on the decision we took in a very encourage way to be successful, feeling it from the very strong and independence attitude. The happiness has come so she just have to go straight to it without hesitating for all in her appreciated life.<br /> <br /> That's my opinion...

The phrase 'dog days' means a period of madness (originally because when it got too hot in summer all wine and milk would go bad, dogs and people would go nuts, you get the jist) from my understanding of the lyrics, its about running from something bad, it sounds to me like a girl with a violent or aggressive partner she loved to bits, 'she hid around corners and she hid under beds, she killed it wth kisses and from it she fled' i presume the happiness hitting her is the moment she realises she can escape the horrible life she has with this person who she may have been too frightened to leave before becuase she loved them.... 'Happiness hit her like a bullet in the head... Struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that' running for all the other members of your family is a way of remembering other people love you, being that florence has sang other songs about violent relationships i think this might be right. let me know what you think people iots been bothering me for weeks... btw.. beautiful song!!

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makes sense to me!

So you finally told them about me, eh? And I'll keep bothering you motherfucker because I'm motherfucking iots, and it's what I do, wooooo! (good song, I think it's about depression everybody is too hung up on relationships, except for shoobeedoowop because they can't get laid.)

spot on.. brilliant... perfect

This is interpretation is exactly how I have understood the song.

Dog days also implies EXTREME TEMPERATURES. In fact that's the only context I've ever heard it be used in.... After all, <br /> You don't hear about <br /> The "dog days" of WINTER. <br /> DO YA?

Lol<br />

@moople I think you're right on. I just got out of an abusive relationship and can completely relate to this song and the psychology behind it. <br /> <br /> To me, this song is about a woman who finally gets the courage to leave an abusive relationship, but then her abusive partner finds her and kills her. That's why the video's setting is in a heavenly place and happiness is "hitting her like a train on a track" and a "bullet in her back." She finally escaped, she knows he's going to come after her, and if he finds her, he's going to kill her, but she's willing to risk death to escape the abuse.<br /> <br /> She left, finally on her way to "happiness," but he found her and was "coming towards her." She knew it was too late to go back to him because of the consequences she would suffer. That's why she was "stuck and there was no turning back."<br /> <br /> When she was with him and he'd rage, she'd "hide around corners and under beds." She tried to pacify him with "kisses". She drank to numb the pain (physical and emotional) and cope "with every bubble she sank with a drink." She washed away the blood down the kitchen sink.<br /> <br /> The dog days (craziness) was over. He's the "horse" coming after her. I'm not sure what the meaning of the horse is. She "better run" because if he catches her, she knows she's dead.<br /> <br /> She left him because she knew her family loved her. She's running to a safe place "run fast for your mother". She ran for her children's sake; so she'd be alive for them. She still loves her abuser due to traumatic bonding, and she's lonely and misses him. She knows she must "leave her love and longing behind if she wants to survive." She knows if she stayed, he'd eventually kill her anyway.<br /> <br /> "And I never wanted anything from you except everything you had and what was left after that too." Abusers think that they aren't asking for much, and if the victim would just do what they wanted, they would have a perfect relationship. I heard this statement in my own personal life constantly. No matter what she does, he's never happy; he always expects more. They're never satisfied.<br /> <br /> When he finally catches up to her, he shoots her in the back. That's why happiness "hit her like a bullet in the back from a great height (he's taller than her) by someone who should have known better than that." <br /> <br />

I think it's a song about the apocalypse, but in a happy light.

Like, reaching the epiphany that all your problems, struggles, and fears were insignificant and useless. It's not a sad thing, though. It's a relief. None of the problems that you had could ever compare to this, and with everything coming to an end anyway, they don't matter.

With nothing left to lose, your dog days are over. Things can't get worse than this. You're free. And as soon as you realize that, your happiness hits you like a train on the tracks, like a bullet in the back. While other people in the world around you scream, panic, and run to wait for the end in the company of those they care for, you can stand apart to watch them. It's kind of funny, but not in a mocking way. More of an endearing one.

Something like that.

...I don't know where people got being in love out of this, though.

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i think it's alot like 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It'

Although I'm positive that most artists have something specific in mind when they write a song, the beauty of the art is that, when done right, the story is phrased in a way to make it accessible to many people. So, I think I have a general idea of the intent of the song, but to me specifically it tells the story of a woman who's in a relationship that she desperately wants to keep but that deep down she knows is doomed for one reason or another, and she willfully ignores that reality. She hides from the truth, she "killed it with kisses" meaning she used affection to overcome her doubts, and doesn't realize that happiness will only come when she's free of the relationship. I think the happiness is her getting dumped. It's unexpected, unpleasant, and unwanted (thus the bullet and train analogies), but in the end it's what's best for her. It's her chance at happiness. As such she needs to run and "leave all [her] love and [her] loving behind]. She'll never stop loving that person, but she needs to leave it in the past or she won't be happy. She won't "survive" the train/bullet (read: breakup) to discover that it was happiness in disguise.

The interesting part is when it switches form third person to first person for that brief verse:

"And I never wanted anything form you Except everything you had And what was left after that, too."

Which I think is the guy who dumped her speaking. Haven't we all been in a relationship where the other person seemed to take everything we had and gave nothing back, then acted like we were the one who came up short at the end? This person has been sucking the life out of her and she doesn't know it until she's free of it.

And the bullet striking her "from a great height/by someone who should know better than that" suggests this partner who's breaking her heart was a person who had the same thing done to them. Maybe a warning that if she doesn't do as the narrator advises and run for freedom and leave this hurtful love behind she may visit it upon the next person.

Anyway, that's my specific interpretation after a painful breakup that turned out to be the best thing for me. In a more general sense, the "dog days" of summer is a reference to the hottest days of summer. We generally think of summer as a good thing, but during unusually hot seasons it can be miserable. It can also be devastating to the land. So while we might mourn the end of any summer, the end of a "dogged" summer is a blessing. Wild horses are a common metaphor for freedom. Even domesticated horses, as their domestication gave mankind greater freedom to travel.

From all the comments on interpretations of this song, yours sums it all. I absolutely agree with you, thanks for posting this.

Very perceptive

THIS SONG IS SO FUCKING GOOD.

@missme - Too right... I don't want to analyze this song, I just want to dance...

Here comes the story from my point of view : in some languages ,for example spanish a dog day (=día de perros) means a bad day, it may refer to the weather or the events in that day, so it might be about a girl who is through a bad period of her life. She might have been unhappy or even depressive during that period. But then , suddenly the truth hits her.(eg. Happiness, hit her like a train on a track) Saw saw that she had to leave everything she knew / loved behind to start over and be happy . she had to turn into a different person . (The horses are coming so you better run Run fast for your mother run fast for your father Run for your children for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind you Can't carry it with you if you want to survive) I believe the lyrics are actually a bit sad , but they give you the power to go on and they encourage you to make a change in your life. Ps. I think Florence and the Machine is an great band , they´re pure art. Soetmelodie

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This song is brillant. I love dancing to it.

I love it because it has so much meaning. Happiness really does hit you like a train after hard times.

"The dogs days" are the horrible things in life that happen and tramatise us, and at some point you have to let go to move on and change your own future. Ie: allow a person to love you and be happy, (life doesn't have to be loveless)

"Run back" run back repair the damage. The future is bright with the horses comming.

This song sums up my whole life and tells me to let go and move on to better and bigger things

As far as interpretation goes, I can't help but agree with kokostar.

"Leave all your longing and loving behind, You can't carry it with you if you want to survive."

It almost sounds to me like the speaker in the song is telling us how much ov an inconvenience love is in general, and how (rationally speaking) we'd be better off without it considering the pain that it can bring. Furthermore, happiness isn't usually compared to a "bullet in the head" which leads me to believe that the song is about running away from happiness that can so easily be taken away.

I also think that things seem too good to be true (to the speaker in the song), and so the solution is to run away. In running away while "the dog days are over" and happiness has struck, that happiness will be preserved; the speaker isn't there to witness things go bad. So the speaker "run[s] fast" for all her loved ones.

So yes. There you have it. My own two cents. =)

I agree with you, JuSTAMPlified , well said.

Ok, I'm late but I agree with you.

for me this song is about how real relationships should be and how everyone of us is searching for the so called true love, while happiness isn't like that at all. When she sings: she killed it with kisses and from it shes fled. she means that we kill our happiness with getting into abusive relationships that we think are right for us blinded by the so called love while ignoring the fact that if u really want to survive this life u can't carry any love or longing with u and that u have to run fast for ur father, mother, children and brothers. towards ur family and the things that matter in life not shallow meaningless drama that we create.

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Dog Days Are Over

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About Dog Days Are Over

"Dog Days Are Over" is a song by English indie rock band Florence and the Machine from their debut album Lungs (2009). It was originally scheduled for release on 24 November 2008 through Moshi Moshi Records in the UK as the album's second single, but was later pushed back for release on 1 December 2008. A day later on 2 December 2008 the single was released in download and seven-inch vinyl format through IAMSOUND Records in the US. The B-side to the single is a cover of "You Got the Love" by The Source featuring Candi Staton which later was confirmed as a track on their debut album and the band's fifth single. The single reached the top 30 in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A demo version of "Dog Days Are Over" is featured on disc two of the deluxe edition of Lungs. A six-minute, forty-second-long Optimo remix of "Dog Days Are Over" has also been made available. An acoustic version of the song was performed live on BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend. The track has been performed at a great number of high-profile festivals through 2008 and 2009, including the Reading and Leeds festivals. The band also performed the song on the Mercury Prize 2009 awards show and BBC Introducing. The song appeared in the finale of the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and re-entered some charts almost 15 years after its release.   more »

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Florence and the Machine are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, and a collaboration of other artists. more »

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Written by: Florence Leontine Mary Welch, Isabella Janet Florentina Summers

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Florence + The Machine – Dog Days Are Over lyrics

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Dog Days Are Over meanings Post my meaning

  • k + 21 Kelly0812 2011-07-06 17:55:57 Here's a more personal interpretation:. I think this song is, as many have said, about the hard times ("dog days") being over, but I think the bits where she says "she hid under beds" and "run fast for..." and especially "you can't carry it with you if you want to survive," all kind of indicate, for me, a sense that the happiness was resisted at first, ("from it she fled") Obviously it came on very suddenly (with all the images of horses and bullets and trains), but have you ever been in a situation where happiness is beckoning to you, but because of everything in your past, and bad experiences and memories, and fear of the situation going south, you resist going forward into it? I definitely have, and that's why I love this song so much. Florence nailed it. I think she has fallen in love very quickly, and is afraid to get too far into it because of her past negative experiences, but, "you can't carry [those] with you if you want to survive." In fact, she's sort of accepted it already, as she says "from someone who should have known better" and "can you hear the horses? Because here they come." This song is like the moment the dawn breaks. Add your reply
  • U + 19 Unregistered 2011-12-16 22:33:36 The speaker finally realizes that life has so much more meaning to pointless and fruitless unrequited love. She finds that she is able to move on - as painful as it is - and she finds true happiness. She still experiences moments of pain, but she realizes escaping from her failed love before it further hurt her was the best thing she could do. And now she's running through the sunlight and leaving it all behind because it's a burden she can live without. And she's looking to the horizon with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Add your reply
  • U + 10 Unregistered 2012-06-11 18:08:22 The end is coming, so let go of everything. The four horse men of the apocalypse. But only the end of the world as we know it, the only way to survive is to find out what love really is, let go of pain, and the things you long for, let go of the ones you love and the things you love, and do it for them, because you love them. Run. And don't be held back by anything. It's for you. Add your reply
  • m + 7 MissN 2011-05-06 10:50:33 This song is biblical, but in a non-religious creative sense. Someone earlier mentioned dystopia, and yes, to a point you're correct. This song is about the obliteration of "sin" in Sodom and Gomorrah. First, Dog Days in ancient Egypt, were considered cursed, and also periods of ritualistic sacrifice to the "gods" to appease natural disaster. With this, Sodom and Gomorrah were noted in the Bible for significant sexual deviance and more notably, Idol worship. God tells Lot, before the destruction of the city, "I'm going to allow you and your family safe passage, because this place is going down. DO NOT look back, and don't doubt that you'll be punished if you do." The "Her" is Lot's wife, who very much loved her city. As they flee, she looks back with longing on a place she didn't want to leave, because she loved it too much. God kept his promise and transformed her in to a pillar of salt. The horses represent the Bible, and it's promise that God would send horses as a sign of warning to the end of days-Riders would lead these horses in and Hell would follow them over earth. Songwriters use Biblical reference, obscure or otherwise, to create great music. The Killers also did this with one of their most famous songs, U2 as well. It makes for some good writing, ironically. Add your reply
  • U + 6 Unregistered 2012-05-31 08:15:35 This song is about the collective spiritual renewal happening on the planet. The old corrupt patriarch system is dead. We're learning to be happy and free again. It is being lead through women and the reigniting of the goddess. The goddess is learning to get back up off her knees, stop hiding under the bed. But she warns its a bumpy road and you must cast aside living a life controlled by your desires and need for control if you and run with the flow of change sweeping the planet. This woman is a reincarnation of an ancient celtic priestess. She is very wise and speaks symbolic language like a genius. Add your reply
  • l + 4 Libby Peasley 2015-10-10 15:00:39 I think a lot of her music is to do with mental health struggles, even if she doesn't realize it, she seems to say a lot don't have meaning from what I've read so far. But she writes some of the most meaningful songs I've ever known! I think she perhaps suffers from codependency, it really explains a lot about her and her music, she's such a gorgeous soul! For me dog days is about coming out of a depressive state or breakdown, after leaving toxic people or a toxic partner behind, and embracing the overwhelming happiness, seems almost manic in its finest form :). Add your reply
  • U + 3 Unregistered 2012-07-18 18:25:55 "dog days" (latin: diē s caniculā rē s) are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, the dog days of summer are most commonly experienced in the months of july and august, which typically observe the warmest summer temperatures. In the southern hemisphere, they typically occur in january and february, in the midst of the austral summer. The name comes from the ancient belief that sirius, also called the dog star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather. - wiki. Add your reply
  • U + 3 Unregistered 2011-12-21 11:25:25 I think it is about a girl and her and her family didn't have the best life and she decides to escape that way of life. This is basically saying the bad days are behind you, you've made a good decision to leave now don't look back, don't sink back into that life style. Keep going for all of those who love you and let them escape that life style that they are stuck with through you. Add your reply
  • r + 3 russianpointe233 2011-04-25 04:22:55 I don't know. When I hear the song and see the video, I see escaping from a society that is collapsing in on itself. I have a strange, macabre fascination with dystopian worlds, so maybe I'm predisposed to thinking that way, but the lyrics fit. Happiness hit her like a train on a track--for people who like that genre of literature (think Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury or Anthem by Ayn Rand), these societies always have a false illusion of happiness, so the happiness could be the realization of how false it is. And when the protagonist in these novels run away from the society, they have to leave behind everything they have, which usually isn't very much, but it means a lot. There are a few mistakes in the lyrics. One verse says "leave all your love and your longing behind" but another says "leave all your love and your loving behind." I believe it's longing. Add your reply
  • m + 3 musicloverdd 2011-04-23 12:25:30 I'm facinated at the various interpretations of the lyrics. I do want to point out that feildmaster is right that it should be "Happiness hit her like a train on a track". Now relisten to the song and you will notice that the music is definately mimicing a train and her Wohoohoo is even mimicing the whistle. The music builds as the train would go faster. Its a facinating piece of music. I'd like to think its more about someone resisting falling in love and is mearly run down by it. But I think the interpretations about it being about an abusive love are worth considering. Add your reply
  • b + 3 BlueDiogenes 2011-04-07 07:54:48 I think Chillypepper is on to it. It's about an abusive relationship. "She's" running from "Happiness" because whoever it is that she's loving (ie happiness) is hurting her ("happiness hit her like a bullet in the back, struck from a great height, by someone who should know better than that"). The Dog Days were the good times, the horses coming is the impending doom of this abusive relationship. Because the drums, tone, and rhythm of the song seems to invoke that Native American theme I'd say the sounds of horses representing the whites coming to take everything from the Natives, thus ending the Dog Days is an apt observation. The chorus reveals the message of the song "Run for your mother, etc" is telling her that you can't hold on to an abusive love or it will kill you, go back to those who support and love you in a positive way (mother, father, etc). Not really a Christian song but as an outsider the basic message of Christianity has always seemed to me as being "Provide and seek positive and healing love to all your fellow man so that we may all overcome the pains of life and in that find and provide salvation to the world". I believe that message can be found in this song. Maybe I've got it, maybe not but I think we can all agree that this is one great song. 2 replies
  • j + 3 jomomma 2011-04-06 01:24:24 "She" is Babylon the Great or false religion hiding from "Happiness" or God on judgment day while he hunts her down with the 4 horsemen. She is drunk on the wine made of the blood of the nations that she's blessed the killing of through war by the governments she's in bed with. We are warned to take our family's and run for the hills leaving behind the "things" we love because we can't escape while burdened with material items. Revelation 18: 4 warns us to "get out of her (babylon the great) if we don't want to share in the plagues that will befall her". Add your reply
  • a + 3 autumnwank 2011-02-27 20:24:42 I agree with trueblonderocker. I just recently started reading the bible and am fascinated by Revelations and this song is very clearly biblical. According to Revalations, horses will wage war on those who are not "saved" on judgement day. The reference to family means stay close to and value family love because nothing else will go with you to the next level. Even if you've got the love is a cover, these two songs fit togther very well. Another song that I just realized references same scenario is War Pigs by Black Sabbath, always loved the song, but just now understand the reference to judgement day. Crazy to think Ozzy got that message before a saner person like myself did, hahaha. Add your reply
  • c + 2 cat3406 2015-01-20 01:24:18 I've read many of the interpretation on line and I have to say that I think many people are living in the dog days ie:a state of naivete and innocence. Many other fans I have asked agree that the song is about an abusive relationship; heroin addiction. I don't believe "Flo" when she says its random lines strung together to create poetry. Every word and image were very thoughtfully chosen. When realize "horse" is one street term for heroine the chorus makes perfect sense. Run for help fast! The horses will destroy you. To use some of the imagery from the video you will ultimately be into hell. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2013-10-05 00:49:17 Somehow this song reminds me of a serial killer, that standard horror movie sketch: a young girl is being chased all over. People want her dead. She tries to avoid them in many different ways, but in the end she kisses her friends and family good bye because she knows that they'll come for them next but she still needs to leave. It is also an example of how your world can turn upside down just like that. One minute she's happy, then the next she's on the run. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-07-14 18:15:00 It is about getting over a relationship. The dog days are over stands for the mourning period of a relationship coming to an end. That's why it is essential to leave all the love and longing behind. Because if you want to survive the aftermath of a relationship, you need to let go of past hurt, past good and bad, tell yourself that the dog days are over and run with the horses instead! Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-07-07 20:42:35 God has something far better than human happiness and love, and it will sweep over you if you allow yourself to believe he is real and loves you so much he died in your place to pay for your sins. Be warned, he will carry you away far beyond where you might have intended, but it is to prepare you for his marriage to you as his believing bride. When you repent of your sins, your own vein efforts to give life meaning, and accept him, the dog days will be over, for ever! Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-07-06 10:49:12 It's about facing an unexpectedly "real" love - an adult, more healthy relationship than previous ones (she 'killed with kisses' and 'fled' from them). But realizing finally what she has, she has an amazing moment of understanding that the 'dog days' (hard times in love) are over - she's found what she always wanted but hadn't yet achieved. "can't carry with you" the former doubts, mistakes in relationship, etc, that didn't work. She must be her authentic self, not needy, clingy but as a whole person meeting another in a new kind of relationship. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-06-17 04:21:16 I heard this song a long time ago but only recently actually thought about the lyrics, and it happened to be during a very difficult time, so to me it will always keen one thing- to me, it's about a daughter with an abusive father. She's just turned sixteen and is leaving and starting her own life, and that makes her incredibly happy, but she's at the same time leaving her mother and brother whom she loves. The little girl inside her wants to simply run and hide and disappear before her chance at happiness forces her to leave them behind. She doesn't want to forget what her life had been because the pain/sadness helps her know that it is real, but she has to leave all that she wished for and all that she loved behind her in order to survive. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-06-14 21:56:33 For me, it's like falling in love, and not being sure of yourself, or the relationship, but by saying the dog days are over, for it meaning that you no longer want to hide your love, and when the bullet hit her in the back, she realized the facade, and decided to see the truth and be happy, and allow herself to be consumed by love, and not the heartbreak that she had been putting herself through. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-29 04:57:02 She stuck in a relationship that she can't really get out of because she has no reason to leave other then she's not as happy as she could be. She's been with him for too long and hasn't had the happiness from her family and friends because she's stuck with this boy. Hearing the horses coming means your chance of freedom is coming and if you don't take that chance your stuck even longer. Leaving all or love and longing behind you means if you keep dwelling on the relationship she will never get passed her love for him, and won't live the life of happiness. Because she's been in a relationship for too long and she just isn't happy missing out on her family and friends. She's still a young girl with so much more happiness I front of her then in a relationship she's doubting and dwelling on. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-18 18:07:48 I think florence is writing about a person who works hard to achieve something, but never believes the work is done. This person "runs" from happiness because she believes that she doesn't deserve it or because she doesn't realize that her work is done. She is telling herself that the dog days are gone, but it's not something she wants to see. I don't think that happiness as a bullet is meant as a violent force, but as an awakening one. It's saying, "look, you are here, you have made it. Stop trying and look around you, the work is done. " That's my interpretation. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-18 16:07:24 No time left for sleeping. No more dog days. Too much resting leaves you wide open for any kind of happiness, good or hurtful, but it always hits and appears good at first. Happiness from the dog days hit her like a bullet by someone who should know better than to take advantage of her restfulness. The sleepy days are over. The platonic (white/dark) horses of runaway emotions are coming and she is in the way. Run away from the chaotic runaways to save yourself. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-17 09:20:34 I think that this song is about a girl who realizes that her love interest is no good for her, and how she gets out of her "dog days". In the first verse, I think the florence is referring to a love interest, which causes her to feel a roller coaster of emotion, from "happiness hit her like a train on a track" to "with every bubble she sank with her drink (alcohol which depicts depression)". "run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers". Is like saying "you're family knows what is good for you, and they agree with you staying away from this person" "the horses are coming, so you better run" is saying that the love interest is going to try and drag you back into the chaos of the relationship, but don't falter. "leave all your love and your loving behind you, can't carry it with you if you want to survive" is basically saying that if you want to do well in the world, you can't rely on this person; you need to do what is best for you. "and I never wanted anything from you. Except everything you had. And what was left after that too, oh. Happiness it hurt like a bullet in the mind. Struck from a great height. By someone who should know better than that". The first two lines are from the point of view of the love interest, the first line being his words and the second being his unsaid intentions. And the last two lines depict the love interest shooting the girl in the head, and the florence is saying he/she should know better than to act the way they are. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-15 13:43:10 I don't know the meaning of the song, for all I know florence may be writing about getting over a hangover. For me the, at this moment, my marriage has ended, my wife left me for someone else, and yes I was crushed. But now I see how much stronger I am without her, I am no longer everything she blamed me for inside. I see I did nothing wrong. I left what love I had for her at the door and I am starting to live. She expected me to fail and I am not, I am building a better life because I left her behind. That is what this means to me. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-14 20:37:59 "dog days" (latin: diē s caniculā rē s) are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In ancient rome, the dog days extended from july 24 through august 24, or, alternatively, july 23 through august 23. In many european cultures (german, french, italian) this period is still said to be the time of the dog days. The old farmer's almanac lists the traditional timing of the dog days as the 40 days beginning july 3 and ending august 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the dog star, sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its lowest levels. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-11 14:57:19 I think all of these examples are great (except when new posts pick on previous ones. Not necessary, really, let's enjoy the open forum and sharing and not be judgmental and condescending. I personally don't see christ in this song but someone else obviously does! And so be it! Why does the mention of christ and god freak people out or provoke a negative reaction? Those two words/names simply signify 'love', that's all.) anyhow. I say it's about a female or male who may have been in a bad way, has realized/tasted happiness and can not deny it any longer. She/he tried but now has to run with it. If the love and longings are not rewarded, leave them behind and find true love and longing won't exist. Then I read the 'bullet in the back. From someone who should know better than that' and I think 'well, now I don't know what to think? ' contradicts the previous thoughts. So, may be song writers sometimes go off on a tangent and write 'what ever! ' because it rhymes. That's it from me! The meanings of flo's songs fall in the 'too hard basket' for me but I do still love them. She's wicked. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-05 10:19:45 I think someone was in love but to scared to face it for fear of getting hurt. It could be she was in love with a dangerous person who could hurt the people she loves. Maybe she was at a point where she either had to run away with this person and save her family or stay with her family [maybe even endangering them]. It could also mean that she landed in some trouble and had to run away to save her family from harms way. "leave all your love and your longings behind you, can't carry it with you if you want to survive. ". Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-02 12:40:03 If you've been hurt by love and you run to avoid it, but aren't careful it will smack you upside the head. I hurt my wife and she is divorcing me, but she still loves me (and I her!). I am changing completely, for her, waiting for her, learning to love her. "dog days" are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. She still wants to be with me sexually. And when we are together it is an amazing, emotional connection. She tries to kill the pain with kisses. And for a moment, she is happy without a relationship. But then. Happiness hits her like a train on a track. Happiness hits her like a bullet in the back. S* with emotion. One can try to drown the pain, the memories, the emotions in alcohol. She should know better, falling in love is risky, scary, complicated. Love demands giving all, taking all. If you want to merely survive then you can't love with abandon, love brings joy as well as pain. If you don't want the pain, you have to avoid love. Run fast. But I am confident, it is coming for her and when it does. We will die to ourselves and live for the other person completely. My love is coming for you. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-05-01 23:47:51 She could be saying you carry love when you have to fight through hard times, once those days are over you need to run away from the past, don't carry it with you. You could interpret the bullet in the back after love hitting in the first line as someone taking advantage 'someone who should have known better' could well be the one who was supposed to lover her dragging her down, fighting through then that bullet represents the fact that this persons love is tainted and ferls negative. She fell in love, was taken advantage of, fought through the dog days, they're over so now run from the past. Whether that's run from the person or the resentment. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-25 22:49:43 Are you people kidding me. This woman is being used. "dog" backwards meaning "god". "days are over". "the horses are coming". I should not have to explain that one. Listen carefully to the music being put out. Shes another who made certain oath in return for fame. On the show "the voice" yesterday. She performed a song standing on a giant pyramid. People in black robes on each stepat one point. Pyramids all in the background. This is only just a scratch on the surface to this womans musical influence and symbolism in her music videos. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-24 01:38:50 I'm not a religious person (like seriously, I'm an atheist) but this reminds me of a passage of a holy book(can't remember what it's called) I vaguely remember learning about from a bartmitzvah. It had to do with running away from eygpt, but they couldn't carry anything with them unless they wanted to die, but if they ran they would be happy. The lyrics kind of remind me of this is the sense of "can't carry your love" I'm not sure if that's the meaning, but most likely a reference. Sorry if I got the info all wrong, like I said, I barley remember the story in depth ^_^" Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-22 23:39:18 It seems like she had a bad life before since happiness, hit her like a train on a track. But then she doesn't want happiness, she kind of wants to be miserable so she causes her own misery and runs away so she doesn't need to feel but she already knows what it's like. It's almost like she resents this new, wonderful life and just wants to live on the edge. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-18 22:06:10 Clearly, she was heartbroken at some point, and developed, perhaps a drinking problem, and we all know that when a guy is a disrespectful pig, we call them dogs, so now that someone has made her a little happy, she is being stubborn and doesn't want to give it a chance because she doesn't want to risk being hurt again, so she will run from it as long as she can, but my advice to her or anyone would be, you can't stop fate, you'll get tired of running after a while. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-16 21:12:44 She is coming from a bad break with a person that she loved very much. It left her depressed and sad. These where the "dog days. " but now, she has found happiness and it scares her, hence the drinking reference. The song is about getting over that past event and learning to let yourself be happy again. And if you had a bad day and belt this out in your car, it's very therapeutic! Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-14 11:57:42 Song starts by explaining that love crept up on her when she didn't want it to, from the sounds of it because she was already in a relationship, trying to escape her feelings towards the new person she showers love on her family and relationship she is in and distracts herself with drinking etc but she can't help but feel elated by the new person and is making a decision to leave the boredom of her current situation which is strangling her 'the dog days' and run with the 'wild horses' becoming free to love. Also could be alcoholism too as agree this works too and would make the song moe hopeful than this affair interpretation. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-14 11:50:31 I think it is about someone who has been in an unhappy relationship but doesn't want to admit it until someone comes along and makes her fall in love with them for real, about moving from drudgery and responsibility to more wild but dangerous days leaving her family behind her but she knows this may be wrong and it can't work if she allows herself to carry the guilt but moving forward even though it would mean leaving her family behind. So she either has to refuse romantic love or love she had before but which drags her down. 'leave all your love and longing behind you' sounds like she has decided to run on the wild side. - just my interpretation. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-07 04:40:07 The dog days refer to summer, especially the summers during childhood, which are childhood's strongest symbol. The happiness of her youth hit her hard and left her fast, and now she has to face the adult world. The horses are coming means that you have to adjust for the world, it won't change it's course for you and you'll only get trampled if you aren't ready. Her happiness in childhood has betrayed her by not getting her ready for this, so it "hit her like a bullet in the back". And now she has to leave the things and people she enjoyed (leave all your love and longing behind you) to be able to move on to her future. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-04-03 03:52:18 To me, it means something or someone happened in her life and it means so much that the dog days, or care free times, are forced to leave and she has to do what she must to take advantage of it for the better or she'll lose it. It means so much to her that she has to do what she must or it'll be lost. Anything valuable in life must be taken care of, so I take it as when that something comes along, you're gonna have to give up a lot to just even see if it'll work out in the end, at best. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-31 01:21:06 Given that florence usually has undertones of religion, it's not too difficult to place this under the same category of religion. She speaks of the horses coming. The four horse men of the apocalypse. And there is one of the more sensible meanings. To leave all love and longing is not a positive message except in the case of the rapture. The dog days are over could easily be a reference to salvation. The bullet that struck from a great height is regarding the heavens. We can try to escape our end, but it will come one way or another. That's just one take. It does take into account religion, which doesn't necessarily make this right, but it's a strong possibility. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-30 00:25:12 I happened to listen to this a lot when I was pregnant. It was so symbolic because my dog days were coming to a halt with the new baby and all. And happiness did seem to hit me like a train on a track when I had him. Oh ya. And I ran like hell to my mother to survive. I know this can't possibly be the true meaning of the song, but every time I hear it, all I think of is my son and how much harder and happier my life is since my dog days ended. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-18 14:01:56 For me, this song has a lot to do with finding happiness for the long run. I feel that the girl in this song is really caught up in living for the moment, not thinking about all of the lost time she'll have to make up for. Kind of like she is just realizing all of damage that she has done, not only to herself, but the people that love her. Its scary to find out that you have to pick up the peices from your past, and a lot of the time people choose to ignore the consequences of addiction, and decide to hide from the results of their actions. In a sense you have to "run fast" because you can't waste anymore time thinking about making yourself happy, and actually make it happen. "happiness hit her like a bullet in the back struck from a great height. By someone who should know better than that" this is my favorite line in the song, because i think its the girl telling herself that she knew better then whatever it was that she left behind for herself, and that the "great height" is the better her coming out, reminding her that things can get better, and that she'd wished she known the whole time. My apologies for rambling, the feelings I get from the lyrics are easier to think/feel about then actually sharing them when it comes down to it. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-18 03:41:24 I think the meaning of this song is the character found happiness herself I get this from (happiness hit her like a train on a track) and I think she tried to commit to somthing but didn't always keep her commitment because it said (she hid around corners and hid under beds) so she was practicly cheating on her promis to herself. And once she realized what she was doing her happiness fled. And I'm assuming it was about alcohol so she poorer it all out down the kitchen sink. And the dog days are over part means she done with being in the dog house with herself. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-05 01:04:02 Dog days" (latin: diē s caniculā rē s) are the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, the dog days of summer are most commonly experienced in the months of july and august, which typically observe the warmest summer temperatures. In the southern hemisphere, they typically occur in january and february, in the midst of the austral summer. The name comes from the ancient belief that sirius, also called the dog star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-03-04 17:12:21 "the dog days" is probably referring to the dog constellation; which is the hottest (and worst) days of summer. The horses are coming is probably referring to the 4 horsemen in revelations/apocalypse. I think the song is about her wasting her life trying to fight happiness and love; not understanding it, and not understanding how to love. When she finally figures it all out; its too late. "run fast" to escape the fact that its too late. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-24 19:44:58 Yeah, the plight of the american indian seems to be all throughout this song. Reservation life being nothing short of deplorable. The train or the "iron horse" as the indians called it. The dog days when they relied on dogs as beasts of burden, helping with hunting and even for food during harsh times. The introduction of the horse by the spanish changed everything. The "only" thing the white man wanted was their land, which was everything to the indians. Harsh tactics from people who apparently had both the technological and moral high-ground. Perhaps a girl who left the reservation looking for a better life and having to leave everything/everyone she knew behind and finding no happiness in adapting? Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-22 06:10:16 Ordinarily dogs are indicative of death and destruction while horses perhaps might represent hope in that they can carry you away from death. But I can't ignore that we're not talking about dogs in and of themselves, we're talking about "dog days" (dies caniculares) which is a phrase used first by the greeks and then later by the romans in relation to the star sirius (canis major meaning "large dog"). The term refers to the hottest days of summer. These were revered as dark times full of death and disease. As I said horses are commonly indicative of freedom, rescue, but also of war. There seemed to me to be a lot of war imagery in the music video. Also it seems to me that happiness is portrayed as the aggressor and the thing we ought to hide from. Much like "the gift outright" by robert frost I think the message of the song has something to do with war and with shedding of blood to be possessed by what we long to have our identity in. If not for ourselves then for our posterity. Fight for freedom because the time of evil is approaching dusk and with the dawn rides our rescuer to carry us to war. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-18 21:31:05 The 'dog days' is an expression that comes from the 'jours caniculaires' in french. It refers to days of extreme heat such as those in a drought, or possibly a great summer, depending on your interpretation. I take the song to mean that the days of happiness are over and are to be replaced with days of extreme darkness and that the horses are coming, I. E. The horsemen of the apocalypse. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-17 18:03:28 The relationship (another person, god, whatever) that entered her life was asking that she give up on the survivalist world of the family and society for something greater. She is running from the love and longing inside her in order to save the image of herself that she has always known. I see it as a song about our unwillingness to fight the fear inside and what we'll give up to that fight. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-15 13:08:01 The song obviously has a different meaning for each of us. My interpretation (relevant to my life) is that "happiness" hit me fast at one stage of my life, and whilst I thought it was the best relationship I could ever have, it actually turned out to be my most destructive one ever. So whilst I thought it was hapiness, it actually transpired to be dog days in hindsight, and now that the relationship is over. The dog days are over. "leave all your love and longing behind, you cant carry it with you if you want to survive" ties in with my meaning, as leaving all of that behind is what I need to do to be ok. That's my 2 cents :) love the song! Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-12 22:44:46 Well, I will assume a different view by saying that the "dog days" actually signify happiness. Seeing as how dogs are carefree and consumed with mirth. The abandonment of these happy days is the result of the crippling world which surrounds a person. The coming of the horses could be a biblical allusion to the "four horsemen" that brought about the plagues, sickness, war, and pain in the world. This would tie into my theory. In summary, the song/poem is about the fleeting nature of happiness in this human-diseased world we all live in :) Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-12 00:11:09 To me, these lyrics mean:. Hey, my relationship is over, but I still live for love that's everlasting, mothers, fathers, and brothers and sisters. Yeah, we broke up, but my family is here for me always. The days are over where I need to worry about someone else, i'll run toward new love. I'll leave my heartbreak, so I can open up to someone new, I can't expect to if I carry around bitterness. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-02-07 15:59:01 I think this song means that there was another woman who was scared of someone. The "i never wanted anything from you" part was the singer sort of apologizing for something she did that only made things worse. But now she is trying to help this woman again by telling her "run away, and leave everything behind because you have to start a new life. " the start is saying that the woman at first thought that she had found happiness, but "the dog days are over" means that the good times where she was happy are over. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-31 21:41:05 To me it means that we have nothing to lose, that every day it's a new beginning a new opportunity to do better. It's about realizing that we don't have to sit and wait for things to happen or to fall from the sky. That we have to deside what we want and go for it. If we are in a good place it can get better, and if we are in a bad situation, we should fight to get out of it. It's about life. And how we want to live it. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-26 03:29:06 I think this song represents someone freeing herself from a unreciprocated love so the horses mean she can run free like wild horses without a care in the world and happiness hitting her like a bullet in the back means it struck her that quickly without thinkin hard bout it, it just happened and run for your mother father children mean run fast like the horses without anything holding her back. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-24 23:48:04 Its about loving someone conditionally. She loved someone wanting him to give her everything and more. The song is a message about love and how it truley requires letting go of your desire to be fufilled by someone by anyhting outside of yourself. Once you know that no one can make you happy and that you find it from within, you liberate yourself and the dof days are over. No more searching for somthing when you already have it. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-19 20:10:58 I think the lyrics are talking about an old relationship in which her man was acting like a dog. He was a drunk and abusive, either physically or emotionally. After hiding for so long, she killed him after they had s** and ran. Before she left, she drank some of his alcohol and poured the rest down the drain. She then ran away from her family. But she has to leave her family behind in order to survive. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-19 05:30:12 I think that its about an abusive relationship and the girl runs away within an inch of her life and evem though she loved him and there were some great times she has to movd on in order to survive. She is constantly remimnded that the worst (dog days) are through with but is reminded that hes only going to come back stronger. And she feels foolish for wanting him to love her and care for her (all I ever wanted.) that's qhat I thimk anyway :) Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-16 22:32:44 I think she was madly inlove with someone who abused her but should haves known better so now she needs to move closer to her family cause they the ones who can help her recover if she doesn't shel die there in that place shes allready realy sic and alcohol is what shes turning to but she just needs to go and forget bout all the nostalgia shes leaving in that place it means start your life over I think this song can mean alot of different things to people mmm' I would like to know what it meant to the person who wrote it. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-13 20:07:45 To me, "happiness" is alcohol. She is hiding it everywhere, around corners, under beds, trying to flee from it and wash it down the kitchen sink. The dog days make peopel crazy. They are hot and endless, she is trying to run from her love of alcohol if she wants to survive, but she is hot and it is calling sweetly to her by the time we come to the bridge. "i never wanted anything from you except everything you had and what was left after that too. " Then "happiness" hits her like a bullet in the back. She is an alcoholic. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-13 18:02:08 It is quite profetic, seeing the current condition of our world and the prophecies of the word of god. The horses that are coming are the ones carrying the seven seals, the dog days would be the world of present since the horseman have already been released, and why we should run fast for our families it is because she is right they are the only thing we are going to be able to take with us. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-12 21:13:45 I think this girl once thought love was easy and she was just lazy about it, didn't think things through enough. It wasn't until it ended that she realized how much of her relationship she'd taken for granted and how lazy she'd been. I think the song was written about the point when she's in the middle of another relationship and she realizes, I'm done. Love is way too tough for me. She's running away from this tough love and she's warning everyone around her "run fast for your mother and fast for your father. " get away from this idea of a perfect relationship as fast as you can. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-11 07:53:45 Dogs in the song refer to those things we cling to, things we're used to be doing, or maybe people whom we used to love but no longer makes us happy and that we thought we could not let go but now these days are over. Time to let go, be free coz bigger things will come (the horses), better move fast because it will strike you fast coz you deserve to be happy. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-10 23:34:27 It means that the carefree & happy years of our lives are over, that from now on the only thing we should do if we want to survive is to run for our lives and work to death to make ends meet. It also reffers to the government and how they try to steal everything from you, your feelings, your dreams & aspirations. Only to transform you in a working maschine. As the says: leave all your love and your longing behind you can't carry it with you if you want to survive. You've got to be frozen and ruthless if you want t survive. This isn't a song about adolescents entering adulthood, it's about every single person of every age or nation. That's how I see it. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2012-01-10 20:04:24 I felt like it was about someone who enjoyed being alone and longing. She's avoiding happiness at the beginning with different methods: drinking, flirting, partying. And then the whole run fast for your mother parts could be her trying to avoid marriage. Then she says to leave all your longing behind you can't carry them with you if you want to survive because she can't have both her loneliness and companionship. Something better was out there and she might not have thought she could be happy, but that happiness found her. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-31 22:29:18 For me personally it represents freedom from a relationship that I didn't know was toxic until after I started to get away from him. Being happy again was a surprise after all that I had been thru with this person. It not only made me stronger but gave me vision as to what a relationship should be not what the one I had. The dog days are over. Whether I wanted them to be or not. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-23 18:28:07 She always had everything she wanted or needed, just didn't realize it. One day she realizes happiness comes from within, plain and simple. Too many people equate happiness with external things. You can even suffer abuse yet be happy, not about the abuse but about yourself. Happiness is not about the physical or even what you think about it, happiness is your being. Once you realize that, the physical world around you changes. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-22 16:42:40 "happiness hit her like a bullet in the back, struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that" someone triggered a revelation in her that set her free. The happiness is violent and sudden which suggests that she has been unhappy for so long that facing happiness so suddenly is shocking. The person who "shot" her probably didn't know the impact he/she did, but should have known that it would change her. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-15 03:23:51 I want to think it means the end of the eurozone uncertainty, stock market plunges, pakistan unrest, chinese manufacturing, you. S. Green initiatives, chinese pollution, iranian nuclear progress, israeli discrimination, atheist court victories, manger-scene removals, you. S. Economic downturn, obama, and finally cowardliness to stand up for everything that is good, bright and loving. Then again. I doubt that is what it means or if much of anyone is left to see things in the same light. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-14 19:00:18 I just was re-united with my deceased fathers family through his sister. I thought it would make me feel like I belonged to something after years of confussion and constant mystery surrounding my unknown history. I have longed for love and wholeness and a family although I never wanted to be in a relationship or have kids, when I tried to do what was right I have been left alone with a house to build into a home I never had. I have been overwhelmed with the knowledge that all the bitterness I felt was based on lies and deciet and have become everything I hate and loathed and ran from time and time again. Now I am left alone only with my thoughts and regret. I have recently after having been divorced for seven years found love and honest devotion in a long held friend and my youngest son was illegially taken from me by his absent father upon my disclosure that I was to wed and I have had a hurt that I never knew and can now understand what my father must have felt when my mother ran with us and told us he was dead only for him to be killed three years later. 24 years ago today my father died at the age of 24 and my aunt rose found me dec. 5th on my missing sons 6 birthday. The dog days are over~w. S. C. Ellashotzy@aol. Com. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-12 22:33:58 Its meaning is esoteric (for those in the know). It signifies the coming turmoil/tribulation period the world is entering. Leaving the dog days (time of freedom and play/happy days) behind. They're over and reference to the horses deals with the pale horse of the apocalypse, (book of revelation) which brings death and suffering. A time when you can only fend for yourself, no mum, no dad, nobody but you. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-03 01:39:03 Its about transitioning 'leave all your love and longing behind you"; the first words "happiness hit her"; she was fearful "hid around corners and under beds"; she "fled from it" meaning happiness with drinking champagne-"with every bubble she sank". And the dog days are over confirm she has control of her life and f the man who messed with her-. "never wanted anything except everything you had". The horses are the wild horses running free. Her energy on stage is amazing-micklog. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-02 07:02:58 I noticed in her other songs, a horse symbolizes, ones past mistakes and misfortunes. And "dog days" has a negative meaning. So I wonder if the song is about a pessimistic person who gave up on being happy or believing she would. And because being so negative hosts self destructive behavior she is unable to accept anything good. And although she tried to stay away from being happy, it suddenly found her but she is scared to take a risk because she is still use to failure and disappointments. The song is encouraging her to go for it in honor of whoever, her brother. Sister, mother etc. And to start fresh leaving all those feelings and thoughts behind, so by doing this,  there is no link to her past and that past (the horses) can't catch up to her. That's why it's asking her to run, meaning take the opportunity and enjoy it, don't let the past experiences/ thoughts poison her current happiness. It's like when you have a bad experience in a relationship and in your next one you are judging everything based on your previous experience, your setting yourself up for failure if you don't go into the new situation without previous baggage or horse.  just a thought. Love the song!   Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-12-01 22:33:25 Well I listen to the song before and never really listen to the lyric til now, base on how I am atm. Just letting my ex go. It talks about her falling in love and trying to leave it behind. For example "run faster for your mother for your father, run for your children for your sisters and brothers". I feel like she's telling you to leave, like don't waste time on it and just run. For your families, those who loves you and wouldn't want you to stay stuck and move on for the sake of them. In the line "leave all your love and your longing behind you, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive". Basically if you want to move on, let it go. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-11-28 20:23:06 It's music and beautiful lyrics. Whatever florence welsh means by it, it is for her alone. Only she knows what she means. Interpretations can be infinite. I just want to say to florence. You are an amazing and talented woman (beautiful as well!) I love your voice and the way you portray your thoughts. Just a music lover who wishes she was as talented as you. God bless you and please keep the music coming. I can pedal for 20 miles each day just listening to you. :) Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-11-28 07:18:06 Just so you guys know, the "dog days" refer to the star sirius (also known as the dog star) which is highest in the sky during the darkest longest days of winter, which are often worst for their bad weather and lack of crops and trade and general bad fortune. The greeks and romans used to call these days "dog days" in ancient greece and rome. . Just so you know. It's a pretty well known expression. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-11-19 20:41:59 Are you people blind? Do your research all songs and videos have different meanings and hidden symbolism. "the horses are coming" look into the four horsemen. Yes she has a beautiful voice but they're all pawns. Beautiful talented people to have a face behind the music. Start analyzing songs if you don't believe me. Lady gagas judas song and government hooker. This is songs young girls listen to! I don't know about you guys but when I hear " run fast for your sisters run fast for your brothers ... Leave all your love and longings behind you can't take it with u if u want to survive... The horses are coming" I hear of an apocalypse. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but horses have nothing to do wit love. Wake up people before its too late keep ur eyes open and become more aware. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-11-10 17:41:55 The more and more and more I read this. There are infinite interpretations. I'd love to hear what she has to say about it. Love can be scary. You're only gonna get hurt so when you feel that happy: run! Not the most positive upbeat message but people, like myself, get caught up in love and forget about themselves and it can be a scary thing. It talks about her trying to hide from it, the person "hitting her in the back" should've known better. Because she's not strong enough to endure something that isn't real love when she believes it is. So run, girl! Get s*t done for yourself. No more time to be lazy and depend on your love. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-11-10 17:36:00 I guess how I took this, and is true. Dog days are considered "the hottest days of summer" or periods of sluggishness or laziness. So I feel as though it means that, okay lady, you gotta get your life on track. Dog days are over. Forget about the bullshit and get yourself on track. Family will help ya out. I know obviously that the happiness bit will play into it somehow. But I think that sort of means that yeah, you might feel happy, but be f*****g careful! It can be over soon. So don't carry your love and longing with you if you are going to be a strong person and get through the shiiizzz! Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-10-19 11:01:32 My guess is since it has a lot of lines about drinking references like dumping it down the sink etc. Possibely she is singing about someone with an alcohol addiction or any addiction for that matter. And in order to get better and be happy you have to leave the people behind who bring you down and prevent you from getting better and being sober! Just a thought :). And possibely happiness hit her like a train on a track meant she is finally happy with out using alcohol or drugs and it shocked her she can be happy with out that :) Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-10-10 19:49:27 (continuing the fox hunting explanation because my computer messed up and sent the entry before I was done). I think it's very clever, because the she the song is about obviously doesn't think they deserve it yet had happiness find them anyway-. "happiness hit her like a bullet in the back. Struck from a great height. By someone who should know better than that". -so, essentially, she had run from it, but it hunted her down anyway, whether she thought she deserved it or not. Add your reply
  • U + 2 Unregistered 2011-09-23 17:41:13 Wooow. Pretty loopy analyses I'm seeing here. Shot in the back by someone who should know better? Killed it with kisses and fled. "Leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive" says it all to me. It's just one more song about love and betrayal. Pretty simple if you've ever been through a rough breakup. This song and others helped me escape that kind of despair. Don't brood over things that are only dragging you down. The dog days are the hottest days of the summer, to some the most miserable days of the year. Getting past that period is a relief. The song's supposed to portray that. Maybe everyone sees it differently, but that's what I got out of it. Hell, it's a good song, awesome vocals, catchy beat. Doesn't have to mean anything for you to like it. 5 stars all the way from me. Add your reply
  • a + 2 auradiamond 2011-06-22 04:38:57 Quite simply, we've reached the end of days. Madness surrounds us so how could we possibly find happiness? We debate if we even deserve happines then explode when we bgin to feel the effervescent glow it creates. Our parents have seared into our souls that if we just try hard enough and play nice we'll have happiness. But it doesn't matter how hard we try (run) we can't survive the end unless we embrace it. Then we become one. Add your reply
  • t + 2 TruBlondeRocker 2010-11-30 03:16:53 Although florence hasn't expressed chritian beliefs in past songs (you've got the love is a cover) there are clear biblical images in this song. Revelations speaks of horses at the end of times which are also seen to be the begining of a better time. The return of christ and the opening of the "kingdom" which jesus oftgen states can only be reached when you let go of all your belongings "you can't carry it with you. If you want tosurvive"at the very least means a symbolic letting go of material happiness in favor of simple joy that comes from love of family and friends and maybe even A. Reunion with god. Add your reply
  • c + 2 Chillypepper 2010-11-28 21:41:35 For the Native American Indians, "dog days" refer to the time before the whites came to this country, before they had horses. The Plains Indians used dogs to pull their travois and their teepees when they moved following the buffalo. So when the horses came (stolen or escaped from their white owners) the Indians had a better way of life. The horses were better for hunting and warfare, etc. So from the native point of view, "the horses are coming" means change is coming, good days are coming. The "dog days" are over meaning your old way of life is over. Which is good in a way, but hard as well, because with the horses came the white man. Add your reply
  • m + 2 missbecky07 2010-10-04 22:30:58 Perhaps I'm farther off with my interpretation of this song. I feel as if she's talking about getting rid of an addiction such as drinking. She talks about washing it down the sink and running for you mother, father, sisters, and brothers which, to me, means to not turn back and to hold onto those important things in your life because the "dog days are over". The only way to overcome an addiction is to have love and support. That is her driving force and what's keeping her running and leaving all the negative (addiction) behind her. Add your reply
  • m + 2 melsiemonroe 2010-09-30 04:46:52 And also, I don't think this is a song about God. The lyrics are expressing hope of being free from a tough situation of loving someone and realizing that her happiness came when she left the situation she was in. If she wants to experience a happy life she will have to leave the one she love behind and spend time with those who make her the most happy. Dog days means the times she has with this love is over. Add your reply
  • m + 2 melsiemonroe 2010-09-30 04:39:26 The song is brilliant; none of what I never even heard of before! :) Her signing style is amazing! It sounds like a mixture of rock, classical (opera) and yoldeling, which is not done today, but makes this song very unique in our time of the usual pop, rock, and country thet you listen to on the radio today. Trust me, we need something different. I am tired of listening to the same topics in everyone's music: love, money, fame, stuff (materials), and the ghetto. Add your reply
  • m + 2 MysteryGirl1 2010-09-28 15:11:47 Gotta say, this song is a relief. Has lyurics that evoke thought and discussion, unlike most of what you hear on the radio anymore. I always heard the phrase "dog days of summer" meaning long hot days, and symbolizing hard times somehow. I wasn't far off the mark on that one; ljmack, thanks for thwe history of the phrase's meaning. I agree with met10. Funny thing is, I just went through a rough time in my life these past 2 months (and in summer, lol) but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter, and so I can say that my "dog days are over." But, the rest of the lyrics confused me. Run from love? Run from your mother, father, sister and brother? During my rough time, it was the love and help of those people who got me through it! Oh well. I'm just talking about what the song means to me. That's the thing about music. It's a universal language and songs can have different meanings to different people. Add your reply
  • m + 2 met10 2010-09-21 20:06:26 I love this song. I think its a celebration to the ending of a sad and unproductive time in one' life. The woman hid from tried to find happiness in men, alcohol, and avoiding risks. She found true happiness when she stopped hiding and it "hit her like a bullet to the head" or "a train on a track". I like the contrast between "dog days" and the "horses". Horses are faster and stronger than dogs which illustrates the unproductuve time and the progressing happy time approaching. When she says "Run fast", I think that means "Live your life to the fullest". Live it to for your mother, father, sister, and brother. I also like the video as strange as it may be. It is a celebration of a fulfulling point in life. Add your reply
  • k + 2 KD410 2010-09-18 02:55:07 @Filth90 - Wow. I never even thought about that until you mentioned it. I went back, read all of the lyrics, and it makes complete sense. The entire song makes sense and goes along with what you are saying. You can look at it either way. She could be trying to put a message out there showing what Satan will do to you. Making you think God is not real. Run for your mother, father, sisters, and brothers. Leave all your love and your loving behind you. The dog days are over, can you hear the horses? Cause here they come. So creepy, but whether she is Satanic, or she is sending a message. I think you are right. Add your reply
  • f + 2 Filth90 2010-09-17 00:06:08 I do believe we are all one race it's human race no stupid feminism but beyond this have any of you ever picked up a bible this song sounds really satanic it's sayin the 4horsemen are coming and you can't have your loved ones and this may sound stupid to you but god backwards is dog I know I might seem crazy but I know this is satanic be careful and pay attention in life were headed for truble. Add your reply
  • l + 2 LiamNighthawk 2010-07-24 08:02:12 @Jasondfb; Why choose either Feminism or Male Supremacy? I'm a Peoplist, neither gender should have an advantage over the other. I treat everyone the same way no matter who they are. You're right that in the grand scheme what you and I say don't matter at all, but still the grand scheme has to start somewhere. It starts from the opinions of people who can see the big picture of the future, and feminism is not the future. It is just the same s*t we already have from a female viewpoint instead of a male viewpoint. Anyways, as a male I can really identify with the lyrics of this song, even though it is about a female I'd like to think that music & arts are left to ones own mind and inspire them to think for themselves, find their own meanings. To me the lyrics sing out about my current situation of being trapped without my consent and the only way I can get out of boring routines, I hate routines, is to leave everything behind. Add your reply
  • U + 1 Unregistered 2012-06-23 05:04:59 Let the dog days be over. Reach out for your happiness. Do it for your sister and your brother, your father and your mother. And most of all for your children. Do it for everyone who never could. Do it for all those who never had the courage to leave a life of misery and complacency to find their true happiness. Life is too short. I love this song because it inspires me to just run away from this life and go after what makes me happy! What my mother and my father, and my sister and my brother. Could never do. I wanna do this for all of you. But above all for me and my precious son! Please. Let these dog days be over! Despite the fact that my mother and my father, and my sister and my brother don't support me leaving behind these dog days and my life of privileged servitude. My dog days will soon be over! Add your reply
  • U + 1 Unregistered 2012-05-03 07:14:25 To me, it sounds like the dog days are referring to the suffering of our human lives on earth. I can't exactly speak for the "happiness hit her" lines, they have so many meanings that I can't even choose one. However, I remember a legend about the four horses of the apocalypse; war, famine, pestilence(sickness), and death. The line "can you hear the horses cause here they come" sounds like the four horses are coming, bringing with them the end to our days of suffering on earth. If you believe in heaven, her happiness could be referring to our paradise in heaven, but the other lines don't support this theory as much. I just thought it was an interesting connection. Add your reply
  • U + 1 Unregistered 2012-05-01 16:51:06 I have to agree that no one can be sure that they are deciphering the meaning to this correctly. Sea seems to me that you would have to ask the writer. Referring to happiness as a bullet in your back isn't normal. There must be personal meaning. That being said the term dog days comes from greek history known as a time on the year when the weather was so hot that there was a lot of misery. The term is still used today. I think to say that " dog" is a reference to "god" because theyre spelled the same backwards is totally ridiculous and laughable. Anyone who looks that much into the meaning of things must be depressed. Add your reply
  • U + 1 Unregistered 2012-02-03 21:04:12 I think my favourite interpretation is about a woman finally deciding to escape from her abusive relationship. In the past, she's tried ignoring her situation, hiding physically and emotionally from the trauma, and smothering it with her affection. But her relationship, the thing that was supposed to make her happy, continued to harm her ("like a train on a track"; "like a bullet to the back"). She realizes now that she can leave it behind her, and she is able to run to and for the people that truly care for her (her family). The dog days are over, and she needs to "leave all her love and her longing behind" to survive. Add your reply
  • U + 1 Unregistered 2012-01-28 12:02:29 The song is about not being able to take responsibility for your own life and the way you live it. The things that are happening to her are things she cannot deal with, because they are too overwhelming. She is used to running away from unknown situations, in stead of turning around and seeing what is truly there. It's a song about fear and the easiest way to deal with that fear is to run away. The line where it says: "by someone who should know better then that. " it's refers to losing control and not being able to let that be. It's hard to lose control and go with it. Add your reply
  • m + 1 maryana_85 2010-10-19 06:18:43 What I think about this song is totally opposite to what the mayority of the people have posted. For me the lyrics are about a crossroad in live, when something critical has just happened to you, like a death, a breakup or something, that you have to leave from a happy state (dog days) to pass to another, critical one coming foward in your live (the horses evoking sorrow and despair). Then is when she tries to reach back those happy days, but when she does that, the memories hurt her (Happiness, it hurts like a bullet in your mind) cause she no longer can have that in her life. Finally, the action of running is more like getting into a inner struggle to overcome the problems in which she is now, and she does it in order to not to hurt the people she loves more. Add your reply
  • r + 1 raven111379 2010-10-13 14:52:37 I think the song is about the end of the world. The Dog days were like the life of freedom and happiness that we have been living, and soon we will have to run for our lives. You can't take anything with you when you die, so leave all emotions behind if you want to survive. Can't you hear the horsemen cause they are coming is in reference to the four horsemen of the apocolypse, famine, death, etc. Add your reply
  • l + 1 ljmack 2010-09-20 17:36:38 Dog in this song does not mean God. The phrase, Dog Days, is an actual phrase. Florence and the Machine did not make it up. It is in the summer and dates back to Roman times when the Dog Star, Sirius, was visible. Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, Quinto raged in anger, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" I don't think she is sneakily trying to say that the God Days are Over. Add your reply
  • j + 1 Jasondfb 2010-05-09 10:20:33 I mean the 'typo' or misinterpretation of the lyrics is maybe a result of a still male-dominated society. (how could we publish lyrics with a woman singing in the first person about her own experiences?!) Before any 'haters' or 'rationalists' get involved I'm being tongue in cheek, even if what I said is the case even slightly it's still a tiny point in the great scheme of things, even in terms of feminism. Still, viva la revolution femanina! :) (And like I said yes I am male myself). Add your reply
  • U 0 Unregistered 2012-01-21 02:09:41 Finding joy in life, in particular through romantic love, can be a nuisance and troublesome. Many people, but in the case of this song, a young girl, spend their entire avoiding love & the happiness it brings, in order to conform, particularly to the wishes of family and culture, and to get ahead in a world both brutal and demanding. Never the less, happiness, especially in the form of romantic love for another, will come and, no doubt, upend your world, usually from someone who could be considered the most unlikely of sources, who has just the same amount of business being in romantic love as you are. Someone, who is, no doubt, as much caught up in the same web of romantic love that you are (with that someone). Add your reply
  • s 0 skyblue169 2010-10-12 19:23:49 This seems stupid now but when I read the lyrics (because until I read the lyrics the only word I knew was 'dog days are over'!) I thought of a woman that's killed her husband (maybe I've just watched 'Chicago' too many times). Obviously the word 'killed' started it and the more I read the more I thought of a victim of domestic violence killing her partner (Happiness, it hurt like a train on a track). 'Washed it away dowwn the kitchen sink' would be washing the weapon. Then shes saying 'The dog days are over' because her abusive partner is dead. The horses is the police. Shes running from her family because she doesn't want to get caught and get them in trouble. She can't take her love because if she wants to survive (basically, not go to prison)then she has to leave her love of her family and her family behind. The rest is pretty much self explanitary. The way the song sounds relates to her confusion. Just a thought like I said maybe I just watched 'Chicago' too many times. Add your reply

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  • k + 21 Kelly0812 Here's a more personal interpretation:. I think this song is, as many have said, about the hard... Read more →
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Full lyrics and meanings of Dog Days Are Over performed by Florence + The Machine

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Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine

run for tour mother

Songfacts®:

  • This was the second single to be released by Florence + the Machine, the recording name of London-based alternative pop artist Florence Welch and her back up band.
  • This paean to the inevitability of happiness was inspired by a giant text installation (of the same name) by the artist Ugo Rondinone, which Welch used to see every day riding her bike over Waterloo Bridge. Florence told Mojo magazine April 2012 about the rainbow-hued text: "It was plastered over the south Bank in London for six months and I rode past it on my bike every day. It's a reference to the dog star, Sirius: when it was closest to the Earth, all the animals would get languid and sleepy; when it moved away, they'd wake up. I've tried to get in touch with him to say thanks."
  • Welch told CultureDeluxe that most of the sounds on this song, "came from a tiny Yamaha keyboard." Also the percussion sound was "hands on the wall while hitting a drum underneath it at the same time and the beat was really accidental." She added to BBC Newsbeat : "It was just a song that I did at my friend's studio in Crystal Palace [south London]. We didn't have any instruments and we were in a studio the size of a loo."
  • The song was used in an episode of the Channel 4 teen drama Skins .
  • The song failed to reach the UK Top 75 after its initial release in December 2008. However, following a performance on the New Years Eve edition of the Jools Holland show and its use in an advertisement for the TV debut of Slumdog Millionaire , this charted for the first time in January 2010.
  • Welch told the NME January 10, 2010 that the song's music video is her favorite one to date. She explained this was not only "because it was our first, but also because of the people involved. I just made it on a whim. We went down to the woods and we only had one camera. I got my dad to put a clown costume on and my friend's nephew to dress up as the baby clown while we decorated the woods. Dog walkers gave us the weirdest looks. It was really fun."
  • Before she'd ever recorded any music Welch met Isabella Summer, an aspiring hip hop DJ from the Suffolk seaside town of Aldeburgh. Summer had access to a studio in Crystal Palace, south London and the duo began working together, challenging each other to write a song in ten minutes, or make music that didn't involve guitar, bass or programmed beats. The first songs they co-wrote were this one and " Between Two Lungs ."
  • Welch told MTV News about the song's music video: "I wanted it to be as artistic as possible. It wasn't about being pretty. I wanted something that was striking and made me look a bit scary."
  • The song featured during the trailer for Julia Roberts's Eat Pray Love movie and also in commercials for USA Network's spy drama Covert Affairs .
  • The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 25, 2010 after Florence + the Machine played the tune on the telecast of the VMA awards.
  • Welch recalled to Mojo how this became the breakthrough song she was looking for on her first album: "I was working with a lot of guitarists, and trying to record the beginnings of the first record. And nothing sounded right. It wasn't until I went, just for fun, to Isabella's (Summer's) studio, and we recorded 'Dog Days Are Over…' I did it without any guitar, and it was the first thing that I'd composed myself. There was no motive, or ego. And when I heard it without any guitar, and it was the right sound. It became this big kind of layered opus . And it sounded exciting. The label who were trying to sign me were very confused when they heard it. They said, 'what is this?'"
  • "Dog Days Are Over" takes center stage in the climactic finale of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 . In this pivotal scene, Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) takes hold of Quill's (Chris Pratt) Zune, and with a swift scroll, he lands on Florence + the Machine's iconic track. As the music starts playing, the Guardians unite in a joyous dance, savoring what appears to be their well-deserved happily ever after. The song returned to the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart in the week following the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 .
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Comments: 4

  • Bay Valley Dance & Gymnastics from Bay City Michigan We use Dog Days for our dance class warm-ups! Love the energy! 3 and 4 year olds up to adults. We move around 4 cones placed at the outer corners of the studio- March, skip, Chasse,... and everyone anticipates “Run for your mother...“ because we take off in a full run! Perfect song for heart rate staging! Blessings to you and your life! Thank you!
  • Markantney from Biloxe Jan 2017, I liked/loved the song the first time I heard it. I'm shocked it didn't chart in 2008.
  • Megan from Stevenson, Al This song is sooo cool! Love it!
  • Zeech from West Palm Beach, Fl This song is awesome. It makes you want to just step out and do it.

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What does Dog Days Are Over mean?

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Florence + the Machine : Dog Days Are Over Meaning

Album cover for Dog Days Are Over album cover

Song Released: 2008

Covered by: glee cast, dog days are over lyrics, 1 top rated.

I do not view this as a happy song at all. It annoyed me for a long time hearing this at weddings. I think the overall sound is deceptive (F+M is good at that) and the energy can be interpreted as urgent. Paired with some of the nicer lyrics it seems “happy”. However what it feels to me is urgent. Urgency is conveyed in the chorus when she talks about running. Musically it gives an urgent feel as well. The pacing is very quick and alert. She is running from something she doesn’t want. She is running for her life and possibly the lives of others. To me it describes a toxic or even abusive relationship. The relationship was quick (bullet in the back) and surprising. But also violent, so she runs (again chorus) for her life. Near the end where she talks about all she wanted was everything is referring to how many victims do have real and complicated feelings toward abusers. So it conveys that is what she did want, but also she has realized to have that is impossible because it will likely destroy her. Regardless it is beautifully performed and I have been fortunate to see it performed live twice now (saw her in Dallas recently for the second time). Just not a wedding song in my eyes.

2 TOP RATED

I first heard Dog Days in Glee (yeah, I know...) but thanks to the show I discovered the beautiful wonderful world of Florence and the machine. Anyway, when I first heard Dog Days, I thought it was this happy giddy freedom song. You see in the Visayas Region of the Philippines (we are a 3rd World country), we have a saying "ting bitay og iro" which means "[it's the time of the year] to hang dogs"... Because a long time ago, when families literally had nothing left to eat, they'd kill stray dogs and have them as a meal. That's a long time ago, but the expression stuck with everyone. Business people here use it to refer to the slower and harder days (or months) of the year when small enterprises (and even large ones) barely earn any income. So when I first heard of the song, I thought it was about the bad days being over. I thought about how happiness was here and the horses brought with them something new. I thought that the first line "Happiness hit her like a train on a track" was about how strong happiness is coming for her. That was before I dissected the lyrics (I'm a beat and sound kind of girl). Now that I've read and reread the lyrics to the song. My interpretation has changed. Considering most of the band's songs are about abuse, violence and empowerment, I now think this song is about domestic violence (or battering). My new perspective about Dog Days changed when I read that universally, 'dog days' are referred to as happy days. So if you put that to the context of the song its easy to see how its about abuse. The first stanza: "Happiness, hit her like a train on a track Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back She hid around corners and she hid under beds She killed it with kisses and from it she fled With every bubble she sank with a drink And washed it away down the kitchen sink" Technically, one looks for a lover to find happiness. When you're in a relationship with someone, he or she stands as your happiness. In the song, Her happiness hurts her- he hits her. But she can't leave him (stuck still no turning back). She's afraid of him so she hides and she repays his aggression with kisses... To forget the pain, she starts drinking... The next line which is the chorus just means that her happy days are over, it's gone now and you should run away and leave him (horses are coming) or else... This line: "Run fast for your mother run fast for your father Run for your children for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind you Can't carry it with you if you want to survive" For me this line means that if you can't leave him because you love him, then do it for your parents who raised you will.. do it for your children, do it for your family... That part about "leave all your love and longing behind you, can't carry it with you if you want to survive" - is why I realized this song is about domestic violence. The victims of domestic violence, most of them women, can't leave their husbands or partners because of this belief that if she stays he will get better or that she loves him too much etc. or she has this irrational fear that she'll be nothing or nobody without him. This song tells us to leave those thoughts behind, leave this guy you 'love', whatever 'longing' you have, leave it too. Leave it all if you want to survive. And the last line that cements my new interpretation: "Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back Struck from a great height By someone who should know better than that" The writers want to clearly tell us that this girl never expected to be hurt or beaten (bullet in the back). This guy (the batterer) is probably someone you wouldn't expect to do any harm (someone who should know better than that). So there, my new perspective! Now that I see this song this way, I love it even more and I appreciate Florence & The Machine so much more.

3 TOP RATED

I think this song, much like Vienna Teng's "Stray Italian Greyhound", is about falling in love without realizing and being surprised and confused by it, maybe even a bit afraid for not knowing how to deal with it. The songwriter starts by plainly stating the subject was about to be a victim to happiness, something she had no control over, no power to avoid or stop: [Happiness hit her like a train on a track / Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back] Despite it being clearly pointless (being that it was something so powerful and ruthlessly coming for her), she tried her best to avoid this unfamiliar, scary situation by hiding; maybe hooking up with other people or treating it like something of a purely sexual nature, refusing to even think about those emotions; she got drunk trying to forget about it and tried to purge it from her: [She hid around corners and she hid under beds / She killed it with kisses and from it she fled / With every bubble she sank with her drink / And washed it away down the kitchen sink] And then the song goes on to definitely state that it's all over: the dog days, which are heavy days associated with bad luck, lethargy, drought and tiredness, are gone because happiness is upon her; it's coming at her like a band of wild horses running at high speed: [The dog days are over / The dog days are done / The horses are coming / So you better run] At this point, the narrator backs up the subject's feelings and advises her that she's gotta run faster if she's so terrified of it, run for all that she holds dear, run for her life -- because if she doesn't, she'll succumb to that happiness she's so scared of, it's gonna get her. And the way to do that is to not feel, to kill her love and her longing because they'll hold her back, be her downfall; if she clings to those feelings, then she's done for, because then she will be lost in love (something only we, from the outside, know would bring happiness) which we also know she sees as something unknown and scary: [Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father / Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers / Leave all your love and your longing behind / You can't carry it with you if you want to survive] Then there's a part which, for me, is about the subject trying to deny her feelings, but it soon turns into a confession of the ruthless, thirsty love she is supressing underneath: [And I never wanted anything from you / Except everything you had / And what was left after that, too] The narrator then states how it finally got her, how she lost the battle -- caught by surprise by that love and happiness while she had her back turned to them because she was trying so desperately to run from them. And then the narrator says she was finally "defeated" by someone who should be more considerate than to disregard all her reservations and limitations and give her no room to escape, knowing that she was so terrified and that she maybe considered falling in love a bad thing, something she didn't want and resisted with all her might. [Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back / Struck from a great height / By someone who should know better than that] I'm sorry if it my train of thought gets a bit confusing at times, I tried my best!

I definitely believe this song to be a reference to the end of times as we know them now, all that she sings about are in Revelations in the Bible.

I might be mistaken, but in horse riding or something similar, didn't they used to have dogs run first (don't ask me why I don't know enough about horse riding), but it made me think maybe initially it was just running from dogs, and it was difficult, but she managed. But now she's running from horses, and if she doesn't run for her life, she's going to die. I interpret it as running from an abusive relationship that she clung to for too long. "leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive"

Reading these interpretations, I am stuck with the subjectivity that art has. Depending on your mind, your heart and your individual experiences - the song will mean different things. Once reading all the different things taken from this song and trying to listen to it uniquely, I can definitely see the underlying domestic abuse references. On the other hand, part of me feels that this is connected to dreams and hopes of this woman. Specifically, how she discovered them but must run from them, hide them, to survive. That they will be put to the side for all else. But then eventually, the ignorance and pacification of these hopes - these dreams- leads her to depression. I don't know if I'm the only one to recognise this, but I believe that this powerful song revels your heart and your struggles that you may not have been aware of. Thank you.

"The God days are over...." - oh. I'm sorry did I say God? Hmmm. Must be a habit I picked up from Tori....I digress. Dog. The dog days. Happiness, hit her like a train on a track. --- (Like some say when you die, there's a bright light...and to 'go' towards it?) Well, if I had to guess how it would all go down for me, it very well could just be a light from an ONCOMING TRAIN. "Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back" Key word: STUCK. in limbo. Lost soul, possibly fractured. You can't turn around and go back anywhere. Your dead. (She)... and if she's hiding, [all over the place apparently], from death or the fact that she is denying her presence and validity of herchoices in the End Of Days, whether it be men (kisses), alcohol (washíng the pain down the sink) or simply running (fled)from the truth. The 'good' days, the 'God'days or 'Dog'-pick whichever, the point she's trying to make is THEY'RE DONE.GONE. Bueno. They have left the building..... ....and now you better get your shit together,And Pronto!Take all your things-wait--- (except What....was..?? EXCEPT YOUR LOVE! Geniuses. How many soldiers in WAR do you see with a rifle in one hand and a dozen roses in the other? Or Mad Max and the Thunderdome? Remember any Post Apocalyptic animal shelters or Sunday chicken dinners at g-mas in the movie? Fuck NO-THEY WERE TRYING TO SURVIVE. For the other interpretations, of this song, I'm not trying to say that my perception is right or yours is wrong, or that dv isnt horrible, /and/or break-ups for that matter.....but in all my years I can't recall any of those situations referencing HORSES. And the kind of running spoke about, ? Is anyone hearing the desperation and finalization (as in: no other option),in her..... I'd rather say 'warning' than words as ßhe sings,???? Horses are coming people. Horses have arrived, they might have passed that last train leaving ...( Full of dogs and Gods and good 'ol days, I digress.)These aren't your Budweiser Shelton's pulling the Christmas carriage in the old beer commercials.....these are the four freaking horsemen's horses... This is where you might stop and tàké a few minutes and skim over the book of revelations-no pressure-just if you got time and all)back to the topic at hand. just like today's present-time killers/thugs sporten /representing their 'colors' THESE Biblical Gangsters Riding theses beasts are No JOKe. (Ask Katy Perry) Red, black. White , again irrelevant. And referred to/ or addressed by they're {means of death} you know, how they're gonna wipe out strategic parts of the world, with specific instructions. famine...plagues, ect. irrelevant. ###Fast. Key word.and ###Horses, and these mf's have been told to "Get 'Er Done". Toss that heart outta the window,you can't and won't be using it Might wanna write that down, along with ..scratch that.. I'm gonna have to finish this another time. To be continued. I haven't gotten even 3 lines into the song and I'm exhausted. It's time to wake up sheeple. Songs like these are your ALARM CLOCKs...hitten the snooze button days are gone as well, sorry to tell you. Peace out

I think the video is about revelations. The final fight against good and evil. There are people dressed as Neanderthals and they represent mankind's past and the choir its present and the blue hue dancing girls its future. The four horses line represents the final fight to take place against evil.

Finally I Find someone have the same feeling on this song... I agree on everything. I continue to write because my words are too few for posting my comment. Awesome review, and awesome song too

I think it’s about someone, in this case a girl, who has never been happy and is afraid of this new feeling that actually makes her happy for maybe the first time in a very very long time. So she pulls away from it any way she can but it can’t be denied. She’s doing everything she can to sabotage it, using every mechanism of denial and escape that she’s used before but it’s just not going to work this time. The way the inner turmoil of this dichotomy is verbalized by the sung lyrics is one of those perfect instances where words and music both convey they same idea.

I think you either fall into the "it's about beginnings" or "it's about ends" camp, and I think it's about ends. The end of a relationship, the end of addiction, the end of abuse, whatever lense you choose to view your life, and therefore the song, through. The song says as much: the dog days are over. To me, this is written from the perspective of someone having been dumped, or ending a relationship they don't realize is bad or dangerous at the time. Abuse? If you choose to believe that, but this song isn't about any attacker, it's about her own journey. For once, it's about her. Happiness, hit her like a train on a track/Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back Getting hit by a train sucks, it hurts, sometimes making a decision that will eventually result in happiness hurts in the moment you have to make it. Leaving someone you love hurts, but it can also be the best decision of your life. It can make you happy. The second line may imply it wasn't her decision, or maybe that this was inevitable. She hid around corners and she hid under beds/She killed it with kisses and from it she fled/With every bubble she sank with a drink/And washed it away down the kitchen sink Shes hiding from the reality that this is the right thing to do, the right decision to make, trying to repair feeling permanently broken with "kisses", or even clinging too tightly and only making things worse. Drinking is a bad way to cope, but it sure feels right in the moment, and "washing it away" could imply a desire to cover up the disarray. The dog days are over/The dog days are done/The horses are coming so you better run Whatever thing that has ended, whatever thing she's lost, it better that it's gone and it's time to move on. Run fast for your mother run fast for your father/Run for your children for your sisters and brothers The trickiest lines to reconcile. "Run" shouldn't necessarily be interpreted as running from or to something or someone physical as much as forward momentum in life. Some serious forward momentum after a period of stagnation caused by whatever bad situation "she" was in previously. When you're in a bad place, you're constantly searching for things to keep you going. Often times the thing that has kept you going is that thing you have to give up, drinking, a drug, a bad relationship, they just hold you in place. Family, or the idealized roles of mother, father, child and sibling (being ones of love, kindness, support and stability) represent reasons to move forward. F+M are telling you to run "for" these things, as in champion these people or ideals above the ephemeral joys of addiction or unhealthy relationships. I see these lines being about an urgency or need to move forward and reestablish what life is worth living for. Leave all your love and your longing behind you/Can't carry it with you if you want to survive Just good advice. Love isn't always the right emotion to trust. Love can guide you to amazing places but it can also destroy you. Longing is what happens when your separated for that which you love. I believe there lines to convey the idea that if you want to move forward ("survive") you have to shed these emotions when they are born from unhealthy desires. The dog days are over/The dog days are done/Can't you hear the horses/'Cause here they come There are varying opinions of weather "dog days" are good times or bad times, but in order for this interpretation to work, the phrase refers to the later. And according to the lyrics, unrefutably they are over. Horses are often used as a symbol of freedom. Wild horses and the like: purist freedom. If the horses are coming for you, it may be a way to say that freedom they represent is coming for you. And I never wanted anything from you/Except everything you had/And what was left after that too, oh. I think this is a really succinct way convey how quickly things can spiral out of control when it comes to addiction. How something that feels like an innocent love affair can suddenly become a situation where you get all your joy from one person or one thing: you're addicted. Honestly, a bad relationship can sometimes feel like an addiction, which is why so many artists have written about one as a metaphor for the other. That is what could be happening in this line. Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back/Struck from a great height/By someone who should know better than that These are the last lines of the song before it starts repeating. And while the first line is a reprise of the first line of the song, the last two are where things fall apart. The lines imply a sentience to whatever ales our main character. Drugs can't "know better than that", someone breaking up with her for their own health and happiness isn't something to "know better than", and her doing the breaking-up isn't really an external figure striking her down. Personally I dislike the line as it is the only line explicitly not about "her" and removes all her agency and ownership over her own story and her own experience. The best interpretation of the last line and therefore the whole song is that of an abusive relationship. Sure, that's all fine and dandy, but my own interpretation has helped me through a very hard time in my life. And isn't that the point? The true interpretation is vague, as most songs of this nature are. They're stories with just enough details that you can project your own world view on to them and cry silently at your desk at work, or maybe in the milk cooler while you pat yourself on the back for being strong in the face of addiction or heartbreak or abuse and moving forward. I had heard this song years ago and liked it, but it didn't mean anything to me until just recently. Happiness hit me like a train on a track. Yes, I think you either fall into the "it's about beginnings" or "it's about ends" camp, but in reality, as Semisonic once said "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." And hopefully it brings something better.

This song could be about a toxic relationship like a lot of songs mention. She's going through relationship abuse, but doesn't want to leave him. A lot of people in love often make stupid decisions. Love is blind, I tell you

Okay so I'm young and dyslexic so if there is bad grammar that's why lol. Anyway on to my interpretation on this song! So I think this song is about sexual abuse or just abuse.... Reason 1: it talk about killing someone with kisses that could mean it's about having to kiss someone even though you may not want too. Reason 2: it also talks about hiding under beds and other places, I think that they could be running from someone. Reason 3: it says that you can't carry it with you if you want to survive, and I think this could be talking about the people who have to leave there homes during the night so they can't take things with them. That's it lol. I couldn't find anyone who felt the same way so maybe I'm wrong. Anyway have a awesome day!!

i think its friggin fascinating how people interpret the meaning of this song. It just proves we are all such unique thinkers and music can provoke many varied emotions based on what we hear the meaning to be... obviously a big part of that is based on what we are going though at the time. Which brings me to my interpretation... the only thing the song could possibly mean. The beginning keyboard and the pained voice literally makes me cry in sadness...but then as the build comes, i feel empowered and celebratory, and the tears become more of happiness... because its behind me now.... I believe she is the voice in my head (with that angelic voice) reminding me of my days of addiction. As someone that had never drank or did drugs in my life, at the age of 47 i decided to try something, and it hit me like a freight train i instantly fell in love. I hid it and kept my new love a secret from everyone... i lived in the dark for many years... things got dark and heavy. when i stopped (all on my own cuz it just wasnt fun anymore)... "clouds" lifted and my family and friends were there. So i consider Florance telling me Those Dog Days Are Over, shes reminding me they are behind you... but the horses are coming meaning the partying is always gonna be chasing me wanting me to get caught up in it again...but her screaming, "the dog days are over" in a celebratory tone keeps me on track and reminds me to run to my family .... they are always there... to keep you strong. i truely believe this song keeps me out of those dark dog days, so thank you Florance... even if its only my interpretation.... thats all that really matters.

There are so many interpretations on here. It has been said that in order to be art it must have different meanings to different people. That the song has inspired so many different meanings is a testament to the artistic quality of the song. I personally have never really "gotten" this song but after reading the myriad interpretations I'd have to go with the abusive relationship. And the Christian references I'd also agree with though I think they are more of a reflection of the writer's upbringing than overt references. However, this is only how I experience it and whatever this song means to you, you are right.

To me this song is about political changes happening in the UK. It is about the change from a relatively rough, but Equalitarian, social order into one ruled by upper class capital (symbolised by the horses). I think Florence is saying that in order to survive you're going to have to shut off your emotions for a while and run, cos it's not going to be a good thing.

Dog days is an idiom that means the hot days between July and August. It also means stagnation. She is surprised by the end of the hard period in her life. That's why she hides. She doesn't know how to deal with happiness and the new energy.

I think it’s about the holocaust. I think it’s about a girl running from a camp after breaking free. She is happy to finally get away. She can turn back cause she’s running for her life. She’s hiding around corners and under beds from the nazis She has to leave all her family behind if she wants to live. And the horses are nazis chasing after her so she has to run. And she realizes that the dog says are done as she runs. All thought the song sounds happy I think it’s about something dark and urgent

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Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over (Lyrics)

Florence Dog Days Are Over

Florence says the “Dog Days Are Over” on this record featuring The Machine.

DOG DAYS ARE OVER LYRICS (written by Florence)

Verse 1 Happiness hit her like a train on a track Coming towards her, stuck still, no turning back She hid around corners and she hid under beds She killed it with kisses and from it she fled With every bubble, she sank with a drink And washed it away down the kitchen sink

The dog days are over The dog days are done The horses are coming So you better run

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? ‘Cause here they come

And I never wanted anything from you Except everything you had And what was left after that too, oh

Verse 2 Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back Struck from a great height By someone who should know better than that

Pre-Chorus The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? ‘Cause here they come

Chorus Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive The dog days are over The dog days are done Can you hear the horses? ‘Cause here they come

The dog days are over The dog days are done (Here they come) The horses are coming So you better run (Here they come) The dog days are over The dog days are done (Here they come) The horses are coming So you better run

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Florence and the Machine

run for tour mother

Shake it out, shake it out. Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa. ~ Shake It Out

Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine ) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of vocalist Florence Welch , keyboardist Isabella Summers , and a collaboration of other musicians.

  • 1.1 Lungs (2009)
  • 1.2 Ceremonials (2011)
  • 1.3 How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015)
  • 1.4 High as Hope (2018)
  • 2 External links

Song lyrics [ edit ]

Lungs (2009) [ edit ].

The dog days are over, The dog days are done. The horses are coming, So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father; Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind, You can't carry it with you if you want to survive.

  • Dog Days Are Over , written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers
  • Rabbit Heart , written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth
  • Cosmic Love , written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers

Ceremonials (2011) [ edit ]

Shake it out, shake it out. Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa. Shake it out, shake it out. Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa. And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back. So shake him off, oh whoa.

  • Shake It Out , written by Florence Welch and Paul Epworth
  • What the Water Gave Me , written by Florence Welch and Eg White

And it's peaceful in the deep Cathedral where you cannot breathe. No need to pray, no need to speak, Now I am under all.

  • Never Let Me Go , written by Florence Welch, Paul Epworth, and Kid Harpoon
  • No Light, No Light , written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015) [ edit ]

And, ah, my love remind me, what was it that I said? I can't help but pull the earth around me to make my bed. And, ah, my love remind me, what was it that I did? Did I drink too much? Am I losing touch? Did I build a ship to wreck?

  • Ship to Wreck , written by Florence Welch and Kid Harpoon
  • What Kind of Man , written by Florence Welch, Kid Harpoon and John Hill
  • How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful , written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers

His only son Cut down, but the battle won. Oh, what is it worth, When all that's left is hurt?

  • Queen of Peace , written by Florence Welch and Markus Dravs
  • Delilah , written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers

High as Hope (2018) [ edit ]

run for tour mother

We all have a hunger.

  • Hunger , written by Florence Welch, Emile Haynie , Doveman , and Tobias Jesso Jr.

Grab me by my ankles, I've been flying for too long. I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song. And I want you so badly, but you could be anyone. I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song.

  • Sky Full of Song , written by Florence Welch, Emile Haynie, and Doveman

External links [ edit ]

  • Official website

run for tour mother

  • English bands

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About the 5K Run/Walk

Image gallery, race results, 2021 run/walk cancelled.

We trust everyone will be back next year and we look forward to seeing you all then!

5k run through beautiful Summerville, SC to honor Mothers.  This family event encourages everyone to run or walk to prevent strokes.  This event is in memory of Hazel Williams Gammons who died at the young age of 64 from a stroke.  Her children have organized this event to encourage exercise and healthy eating to prevent strokes. 

Latest Blog Posts

Race news and updates, exercise and nutritional advice for active mums-to-be, 7 ways to keep the winter blues at bay, fashion secrets designer labels don’t want you to know, are you eating too much fruit the hidden sugars explained, a lack of sleep making you put on weight, 10 tips to improve your home on a tight budget.

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run for tour mother

"Run for your Mother" Quarter Marathon & 5k

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Quarter Marathon

1 mile run/walk, virtual run for your mother 5k or quarter marathon, description.

“Run for your Mother” Quarter Marathon & 5k

Sunday May 9th 2021

Location: 1100 S Lincoln Ave Lebanon, PA US 17042

Quarter Marathon will start at 8AM and the 5k will kick off 8:10AM with a mile fun run and walk starting at 8:15

Course: Races will start at South Hills Park and follow the rail trail for an easy, fast out & back.

 Bib Pick-up & Registration:  we will have bib pick-up on Race Day.  You will be able to register day of as well......

Parking: On Site Parking 

Aid Stations: There will be two aid stations w/first aid,

FEES: Quarter Marathon: $40 until 3/1/2021, $45 until 5/9/2021, $55 race day if applicable,  5k $29 until 3/1/2021, $35 till 5/8/2021, $40 race day if applicable, 1 Mile Fun/Run $10

Awards:  Top  Male & Female to go with the following age group awards for both male and female runners....

Age Groups:  (Both 1/4 & 5K) top 3 M & F in 14 & Under, 15-19, 20 -29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59,60-69, 70 and Over

T-Shirts & Amenities (1/4M&5k): Pretty Pink/Red Mother’s day Themed Short sleeve tech shirt to go with a Finisher’s Medal Symbolic w/Mother’s day and some special chocolate! The deadline for a guaranteed shirt is April 26, 2021. 

Check us out @ www.SchuylkillRiverRunners.com

Email:   schuylkillriverrunners@gmail.com

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Princess Kate Is Seen Out for the First Time Since Her Surgery

She went incognito in dark sunglasses

preview for 10 Times Kate Middleton Dressed Like Princess Diana

For the first time since she underwent abdominal surgery in January, the Princess of Wales was seen out in public.

The first photos of her were taken and released this morning. In them, she is seen riding passenger in a vehicle being driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, near Windsor Castle.

carole middleton and kate middleton

Kate wears a dark coat and dark round sunglasses. She also wears a serious expression, as does her mother, who is in a dark coat as well.

kate middleton

Princess Kate last made a public appearance on Christmas, and was hospitalized at the London Clinic in mid-January for a “planned abdominal surgery.” The palace refrained from specifying the reason for the operation, but Harper’s Bazaar learned it was not cancerous.

The palace said at the time that Kate’s engagements had been postponed and that she would not return to work until after Easter, which falls on March 31 this year. They added that Kate “hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private. Kensington Palace will, therefore, only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’s progress when there is significant new information to share.”

For several weeks afterward, there was radio silence from the palace and the rest of the royals on Kate’s condition. But after speculation rose online about the princess’s whereabouts, the palace said in a statement shared to Bazaar last week: “We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.”

Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets. 

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run for tour mother

  • Politics & Security
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Uproar in Turkey as mother, son flee to US after fatal hit-and-run

Mother and son boarding to the plane before their Egypt flight.

ANKARA — Turkey is seeking the extradition of a mother and son from the United States over a deadly hit-and-run that sparked outrage in the country as grisly details, including the alleged seizure of the victims’ phones to prevent them from calling emergency services, emerge. 

The 16-year-old, identified only by his initials T.C., is accused of crashing his Porsche into five people — killing Oguz Murat Aci, 29, and injuring four others, one severely — at high speed before being whisked away by his mother, who arrived at the scene soon after the accident in Istanbul earlier this month. The crash took place in a forested area. Turkish authorities last week established that the mother, Eylem Tok, and son escaped to the United States via Egypt, where only the minor holds dual citizenship.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc on Tuesday said they submitted an extradition request for the minor and his mother to the Department of Justice and that Turkey is also seeking the provisional arrest of the pair. 

A State Department official told Al-Monitor that they were “aware of” the reports related to the accident but refrained from commenting on whether the extradition request had been made. The Justice Department also declined to comment.

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72 Fun & Unusual Things to Do in Moscow

fun things to do in Moscow

Sure, Moscow is the Russian political capital and the nation’s most populous city, but describing it as such couldn’t be any further from the truth. More accurately, Moscow is a city of contrasts.

It exudes history — its Kremlin dates back centuries, nodding to royalty and leadership old and now, while the famed Red Square, the poster child of the city, blends striking color with ancient tradition and religion.

On the other hand, it’s a city of modern pop culture and towering skyscrapers; a place where you’ll come across new-age museums, arts centers, manmade parks, and an efficient transportation system that’s one of the most beautiful in Europe.

It’s a city of longstanding culture — the Bolshoi Theater is an international symbol for excellence in classical dance, while Russia’s National Ballet Company remains renowned worldwide — as well as upbeat nightlife, with some of the world’s most celebrated rooftop bars and nightclubs.

While it’s a city filled with opposites, there remains no shortage of things to do in Moscow for all types of travelers — from those who want cultural immersion to those looking for an epic night out, you’ll be spoiled for choice. And if you’re not sure where to start, here’s a list of suggestions!

The Moscow Kremlin

If there’s any particular district begging to be the first place you visit on your trip, it’s the Kremlin.

Built in the 16th century by Ivan the Terrible, the UNESCO-listed area has since become the heart of Russia’s capital city, where you’ll find several churches, palaces, and other noteworthy buildings.

We’ll dive into each of its main attractions in a second, but regardless of what you visit, try to make it to the Kremlin in time for sunset — because seeing its golden domes glinting in the late-afternoon light makes for one spectacular tourist photo!

Click here to learn about Kremlin tickets prices .

1 – Admire the abundance of Kremlin towers | the Kremlin

Kremlin towers, Moscow

As your eyes dart down the towering red-brick Kremlin wall, the first thing you’ll notice is its large towers of all different styles and sizes.

With a whopping 20 separate minarets towering above the historic area, each with its own name, colors, features and history, a guided tour to learn each of their fascinating stories is a must.

To give you a little taste, the Konstantin-Yeleninskaya Tower once housed a torture chamber. Saviour’s Tower at the main entrance boasts a famous chiming clock, the Secret Tower houses a secret escape tunnel, and the Trinity Tower is the tallest of them all.

  • Moscow Kremlin tours

2 – Visit the enormous Grand Kremlin Palace | the Kremlin

Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow

A remarkable attraction in terms of both beauty and history, the Grand Kremlin Palace is an ornate rococo-style building that was commissioned during the reign of Nicholas I, and today acts as the official residence of none other than the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Perched atop Borovitsky Hill, its 125-meter-long facade is unmissable, making for impressive photos.

Take note: guided tours are few and far between, so you’ll have to book a few weeks in advance if you want to check out the decorated inner sanctum.

Directions in Google Maps

3 – People-watch in Cathedral Square | the Kremlin

Cathedral Square, Moscow

One of the most popular areas in all of Moscow (sometimes called Sobornaya Square), with multiple massive churches at its heart, Cathedral Square is flanked by several historic buildings and is never shy of a tourist crowd.

The three main churches — each spectacular works of architecture in their own right — are the Cathedral of the Assumption (the oldest and the biggest of all Kremlin churches), the 16th-century Cathedral of the Archangel Michael (known for its beautiful Corinthian gables and turrets), and the golden-domed Cathedral of the Annunciation (which connects to the Grand Kremlin Palace’s main building).

Throw in the 60-meter-high Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the lesser-known Church of the Twelve Apostles , the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe (underrated yet famous for its marvelous stained-glass windows), and the medieval residence-turned-museum that is The Patriarch’s Palace, and you can see why this square is regularly number one on any visitor’s list of things to do in Moscow.

4 – See a show at the State Kremlin Palace | the Kremlin

State Kremlin Palace, Moscow

Just like the Grand Kremlin Palace , this theater and prestigious concert hall — with its grandiose facade and multiple sculptures — is another ornate building that’s worth admiring.

A popular place to hold conferences, the State Kremlin Palace was originally built as part of a larger complex for Communist Party meetings, but today hosts some of the biggest events in Moscow — we’re talkin’ sold-old ballet performances, world-famous concerts, opera shows, and festivals.

Check the website to see what’s on the calendar for your visit!

5 – See centuries worth of national treasures at the Armoury Chamber | the Kremlin

Armoury Chamber, Moscow

For anyone with an interest in historical weaponry and armor, this museum — which dates back to the early 1500s when it was created as the royal armory — is a must-see.

The Armoury Chamber (as well as the Diamond Fund Exhibition) is home to some of the most valuable objects that were originally owned by Russian monarchs — from jeweled heirlooms and intricate boxes to ornately decorated pistols and swords — many of which are centuries old.

Within the armoury chamber, you’ll also find the Russian historical regalia, a collection of artifacts that belonged to Russian tsars and emperors between the 13th and 20th centuries, highlighted by the Ivory Throne and the Monomakh’s Cap.

  • Armoury Chamber tours

6 – Step inside the Palace of the Facets | the Kremlin

Palace of the Facets, Moscow

The Palace of the Facets is one of the most underrated buildings in all of Moscow, largely because it’s not as widely promoted or photographed even though its exterior adorns some postcards.

From the outside, it blends in with the crowd. But step inside and you’ll discover a world of beauty and wonder — its frescoes, golden columns and enormous rooms are a sight to behold

The Palace of the Facets is not only a piece of art (literally, with painted walls), dating back over 500 years, but also acted as the dining hall for the Tsars.

7 – Feel small next to the Tsar Bell | the Kremlin

Tsar Bell, Moscow

Making Philadelphia’s famous Liberty Bell look diminutive in size, this monument , which never actually functioned as a bell due to its immense size (at 205 tons and standing 20.1 feet high!), has found fame in recent years for being the heaviest attraction inside The Kremlin.

With the bronze landmark’s claim to fame of being the biggest bell in the world, it presents as a great, quick photo op when roaming through the Kremlin.

8 – Check out the Senate Palace | the Kremlin

Senate Palace, Moscow

Another architectural masterpiece that’s tucked away within the Kremlin, this palace is famous for being one of Moscow’s most beautiful buildings — its yellow façade curves around to face inward and truly engulf anyone who stands near it.

Built back in the late 1700s, today it houses the Russian presidential administration and, unfortunately for us, is off limits to the general public.

Still, admiring it from outside, with the nearby Tsar Cannon, is certainly good enough.

9 – Grab a photo in front of the Tsar Cannon | the Kremlin

Tsar Cannon, Moscow

One of Moscow’s most iconic symbols, Tsar Cannon (or Royal Cannon) is a cannon that was manufactured in 1586 and resides — yep, you guessed it — within The Kremlin.

Following the theme of the enormous Tsar Bell, it weighs a whopping 39 tons — making it one of the world’s largest cannons even though it has never been shot.

And while its size may be impressive on its own, what makes this cannon so special is that it’s adorned with intricate carvings, ornaments, inscriptions, and a figure of a horse-riding Tsar Feodor the Bellringer.

  • walking tours in Moscow

10 – Join a tour of the Terem Palace | the Kremlin

Terem Palace, Moscow

A stunning, fairytale-like palace that’s steeped in history and detail, the five-story Terem Palace is one of the most underrated attractions within The Kremlin. However, as part of the official residence of the Russian President, much of it is off-limits to snap-happy tourists.

That said, there’s still plenty to be seen in the accessible areas by joining a group tour: a beautiful white-stone carved staircase; curved, decorated, and painted ceilings; and an enchanting low-vaulted Antechamber with lancet windows.

The Red Square

As we move away from the Kremlin, our next stop is the most photographed, picturesque public area in the country.

Flanked by gorgeous, colorful towers and buildings, the Red Square is the most famous square in all of Russia — and one that’s steeped in history, patriotism, and communist symbolism.

Home to some of Moscow’s greatest landmarks including St Basil’s Cathedral (featuring its iconic onion domes), Lenin Mausoleum, GUM department store (an architectural masterpiece that is the most famous shopping mall in Russia), The State History Museum, and more, it’s not just a sight to see in Moscow but also one that has been seen by hundreds of millions from around the world.

11 – Make your way inside St. Basil’s Cathedral | Red Square

St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

Built back in the early 1500s, this quirky-looking, 65-meter-tall Orthodox church is so unique and detailed that it’s earned its place as one of 16 UNESCO cultural sites in Russia — and, thanks to many Hollywood productions like Bond: Skyfall (2012), has only continued to increase in fame.

Its exterior boasts multi-colored domes crowned with golden onion top spires. Meanwhile, inside, you’ll find nine small, separate chapels, and plenty of decorated walls and windows — all best viewed as part of a walking tour of Red Square.

  • Red Square tours in Moscow

12 – Visit the State Historical Museum | Red Square

State Historical Museum, Moscow

One of seven museums that can be found around the expansive Red Square, the State Historical Museum is one of Moscow’s most revered.

Housed in a neoclassical building (the same as GUM), it features more than 4 million items relating to Russian history — making it so vast and incredible that you’ll need at least two hours inside to see just a fraction.

While you’re in the area, be sure to check out the Marshal Georgy Zhukov Monument, a towering horse-riding statue of arguably the most famous and heroic Soviet military commander of WWII, which can be found in front of the museum.

13 – Shop till you drop at GUM | Red Square

GUM department store, Moscow

The official state department store of Russia, having opened in 1893 and become one of Moscow’s most iconic attractions for shopaholics over the years, is known for its gorgeous architecture that looks more like a palace than anything else.

Entering through its massive golden doors, you’ll be surprised to find an extensive shopping center with more than 100 luxury and world-renowned brands of clothing and accessories for men, women, and youngsters.

Even if you don’t plan on buying anything, stop into the Gastronom №1 for a bite to eat or take a stroll through its corridors to appreciate the building’s history and beauty.

14 – Visit Lenin’s Mausoleum | Red Square

Lenin's Mausoleum, Moscow

Another iconic Red Square attraction is Lenin’s Mausoleum, a small yet foreboding building that houses the embalmed corpse of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin (who led Russia through the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917).

Opened in 1930 after his death and standing at more than 12 meters tall, it presents as both a unique and macabre site — and, considering the life-like nature of the body, certainly isn’t for the faint of heart.

Note: Entrance is free of charge, but expect to be searched by security before being allowed in.

15 – Ride the Moscow Metro, enjoying the beautiful stations along the way

Moscow Metro, Russia

As we leave the Red Square, the next cab off the rank is Moscow’s unbelievable artistic Metro network (rivaled only in beauty by that of Stockholm). Constructed between the 1930s and 1950s, its stations were built by hand with a wide range of artistic themes — from socialist realist to Slavic pagan.

Tips: The best way to experience them is as part of a Moscow Metro tour, which can be booked online. However, if you prefer exploring solo, then make sure to visit the Mayakovskaya Metro Station which is known for its seemingly endless archways.

You may also check out Dostoyevskaya, named after a famous writer with murals depicting his stories. The Ploshchad Revolutsii Metro Station is another option where a handful of Socialist statues provide a wonderful contrast to the red marble arches.

  • metro tours in Moscow

16 – Spend the afternoon exploring the State Tretyakov Gallery

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Boasting the reputation of being one of the world’s leading art museums, the State Tretyakov Gallery is home to a stunning collection that features well over 100,000 works from Russia and around the globe.

Featuring everything from ancient Russian icons to Soviet-era artifacts and contemporary pieces, the museum also houses a charming green garden perfect for recharging.

Visitors are advised to allocate at least three hours inside to properly appreciate everything on show — or consider booking a private VIP tour to skip the lines and focus on the best sections.

  • Tretyakov Gallery tickets

Click here to find out the best Moscow tours .

17 – Get out of town to the Tsaritsyno Museum & Nature Reserve

Tsaritsyno Museum & Nature Reserve, Moscow

Located a short drive from the hustle and bustle of the Red Square, this incredible attraction is both a palatial museum and cultural center, with an enchanting open-air garden to boot — spread across 405 hectares altogether.

Boasting beautiful 18th-century baroque architecture, it was originally built as a country retreat for Catherine the Great. However, it has since been transformed into an outdoor museum with several museums inside — including exhibits dedicated to Russian history and culture.

18 – Tick off the main haunts with a hop-on hop-off bus ride

bus tours in Moscow

Short on time or just can’t be bothered walking around anymore? Then make sure to check out the double-decker Hop-on-Hop-off Bus, a convenient and cheap way of seeing all the main attractions in one go.

With unlimited-ride tickets lasting between 24 and 72 hours, there’s plenty of flexibility to soak in must-see areas like Red Square, the Kremlin, Arbatskaya Square, Theatre Square, and the Red October neighborhood — and with a free audio tour (in English) throughout the ride, you’re sure to learn a thing or two as well.

Busses usually run every 15 minutes, with the full city loop taking roughly an hour — of course, you can disembark and reboard to your heart’s content.

  • bus tours in Moscow

19 – Learn about military history on Poklonnaya Hill

Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow

For an up-close and personal experience with the past, make sure to check out Poklonnaya Hill — a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 20 minutes out from the city center that’s home to several relics from Russia’s pre-revolutionary era.

It has everything from Great Patriotic War memorials dedicated to fallen soldiers of the Russian military forces, to the Eternal Flame and the Museum of Great Patriotic War. This is an unmissable opportunity for history buffs.

Hot tip: While you’re in the area, be sure to stop into the Victory Museum (the nation’s biggest military history museum) and check out the gold-tipped Church of St. George the Victorious .

20 – Get artsy at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Home to one of the finest and most significant art collections in Russia, the highly-regarded Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts showcases everything from medieval icons and paintings. With over 500,000 pieces of works by renowned artists like Rembrandt, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Karl Bryullov and Rubens, the museum is undeniably one of the best things to do in Moscow for art lovers.

The museum also houses impressive exhibits dedicated to ancient Greece, archaeological collections, decorative arts and a 200,000-item Numismatic library.

21 – Take a charming stroll down Arbat Street

Arbat Street, Moscow

Boasting everything from galleries and craft stores to souvenir shops, cafes, and some of Russia’s finest restaurants and hotels — as well as top-notch street performers (like jugglers and caricaturists) — Arbat Street is one of Moscow’s most famous pedestrian hubs for good reason.

The entire walkway, flanked by colorful buildings, stretches about a kilometer through the historic district, making it the perfect start to any day of inner-city exploring.

22 – Lounge around at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure

Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure, Moscow

One of Moscow’s biggest and most beloved green spaces, Gorky Central Park is a must-visit for anyone looking to soak in some fresh air.

The park boasts 45 hectares of picturesque grassland, forests, Golitsinsky Ponds (home to squirrels and ducks), walking trails, fountains and the Neskuchny Garden. This place is also home to the wooden Olivkovy beach, a hot spot for photographers looking to appreciate the Moskva river.

Plenty of cafes line the well-manicured park, likewise public art projects and picnic spots and an open-air cinema in the summertime!

While a relaxing day in the gardens is never a bad idea, if you’re looking for something a little more interactive, there’s the 18-meter-tall Observation Platform and a handful of museums on site. The Gorky Park Museum , Muzeon Park of Arts , Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and New Tretyakov Gallery are all noteworthy stops within walking distance.

23 – Stare at the ceiling of the Christ the Savior Cathedral

Christ the Savior Cathedral, Moscow

On an easy stroll from the southwest side of the Kremlin, you’ll find a majestic memorial cathedral doused in history: the 5-golden-domed Christ the Savior Cathedral .

With a beautiful color-contrasting exterior that still falls short of the intricately painted inner walls and ceiling, this underrated (due to not being in Red Square with the other main cathedrals) attraction is a must for the bucket list.

24 – Zoom around town in a Soviet van

Soviet van tours in Moscow

If a hop-on-hop-off bus screams of cliche tourism, why not get a little more cultured by skirting around the city’s main haunts in a real, war-era soviet van?

Undeniably one of Russia’s most emblematic vehicles as both a symbol of a Soviet past and a comical cultural nod to its boring exterior (dubbed the “loaf of bread”), the UAZ-452 vans are iconic.

So whether you opt for a pub crawl, landmark sightseeing tour, or day of adventure with wintertime off-roading, be sure to ride shotgun in one of the loaves of bread at some stage!

  • soviet tours

25 – See sharks up close at the Moskvarium

Moskvarium, Moscow

The mightiest aquarium in Europe (by size), the Moskvarium is an impressive modern space dedicated to the beauty and diversity of aquatic life.

Located right on the outskirts of Moscow’s city center (about 20 minutes drive from Red Square), this huge complex encompasses over 70 interactive exhibits. These include live shows, and the chance to go swimming with dolphins — that are sure to impress the whole family.

26 – Go underground at the Bunker 42 Cold War Museum

Bunker 42 Cold War Museum, Moscow

In the depths of Moscow’s shadow-strewn streets, hidden 65 meters beneath the tourist crowds are a Cold War-era bunker and former secret communications center.

Bunker 42 was built in 1955 as a nuclear-proof hideaway, but today you can book tours that reveal its secrets and stories — a must for the common history buff.

  • Bunker 42 tickets

27 – Immserve yourself in the soviet culture at the VDNKh theme park and exhibition space

VDNKh, Moscow

Sprawling across the Ostankinsky District, VDNKh is a massive open-air museum and theme park paying homage to Russian industry and Soviet values.

The enormous complex is decked out with several gold-clad statues and palatial pavilions, each uniquely designed to represent different Soviet interests and endeavors, such as geology and the space race.

Hot tip: For a wonderful view of the Moscow skyline, be sure to jump on the Ferris wheel after riding the small roller coasters and merry-go-round.

28 – Take a trip to the Kolomenskoye Palace

Kolomenskoye Palace, Moscow

Overlooking the sparkling Moskva River about 20 kiometers south of central Moscow, the postcard-worthy Kolomenskoye Palace is a former royal estate. It’s now open to the public as an extensive park with carefully-kept gardens, including one of Russia’s oldest white stone churches (the tent-looking UNESCO-listed Ascension Church ).

It has walking trails through peaceful wooded areas and gorgeous views out over the region from its high hilltop location. The park has long been considered one of the hidden gems when it comes to things to do in Moscow.

29 – Enjoy the view from the Ostankino TV Tower

Ostankino TV Tower. Moscow

With the coveted claim to fame of being the tallest free-standing structure in Europe (and 11th tallest in the world) — standing above the Empire State Building, for reference — the 540.1-meter-tall Ostankino Tower is picturesquely located next to Park Dubovaya Roshcha, not too far from VDNH, the Moskvarium, and the widespread Park Ostankind.

So long as you’re not left lighthearted by heights, the 337-meter-high observation deck is the go-to spot for panoramic views.

30 – Blast off at the Museum of Cosmonautics

Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow

One for the space nerds and future astronauts, the Museum of Cosmonautics is dedicated to the history, present-day relevance, and future possibilities of space exploration. It provides a spectacular insight into the Soviet perspective of the 1960s space race.

Located on a lovely green site in one corner of VDNKh, the museum features an outdoor planetarium, interactive displays for children, as well as inside exhibits that showcase original spacecraft parts.

For the best experience, consider a pre-arranged tour that includes access to both the Museum and VDNKh.

31 – Complete your Moscow culinary experience with a food tour

food tours in Moscow

Foodies, listen up! Moscow has gained a reputation for being one of the finest cities in Europe for foodies, with an excellent range of restaurants and bars.

For those looking for a complete Moscow culinary experience that includes some of the best hidden gems and experiences, food tours are an ideal way to go.

Depending on your tour of choice, expect to sample a few Pelmeni (dumplings), Blini (wafer-thin pancakes), and world-famous Ponchiki doughnuts. Then wash it all down with some locally-distilled vodka or Nalivka (a sweet berry-infused liquor).

  • food tours in Moscow

32 – Smell the flowers at the Main Botanical Garden — the largest botanical garden in Europe

Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Constructed in 1945, the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences is a 340-hectare space of plant collections and lakeside walkways to explore.

It’s one of those places that gets better as you make your way around it on foot (or even rollerblades). There are many well-kept gardens, beautiful ponds filled with turtles and waterfowl, a charming Japanese Garden and some very rare trees.

33 – Wander around the Novodevichy Monastery

Novodevichy Monastery, Moscow

The Novodevichy Convent and surrounding Kremlin-style walls combine to be one of Moscow’s most picturesque sites — a UNESCO-listed complex that was founded in the 1500s and includes an interweaving of churches, cathedrals, bell towers and a cemetery.

After admiring the buildings, check out the monastery which is surrounded by green spaces perfect for a stroll and a snack.

To learn all about its architecture and history, opt for a guided tour as recommended by most travelers.

34 – Ride the coasters at Family Park SKAZKA

Family Park SKAZKA, Moscow

If you’re traveling with youngsters who seem to never be able to burn off their energy then make a beeline for the Krylatskoye District neighborhood, home to the popular SKAZKA adventure park.

Kids can enjoy everything from bumper cars to the petting zoo, while parents might want to pop into one of the cafes or restaurants.

Even if you don’t have kids in tow, the adrenaline-pumping roller coasters invite thrill-seekers of all ages.

35 – Understand the deeper meanings of “Soviet Jew” at the Jewish Museum & Centre of Tolerance

Jewish Museum & Centre of Tolerance, Moscow

Opened in 2012, the Jewish Museum and Centre of Tolerance is a fascinating institution dedicated to exploring and honoring the diverse complex Russian-Jewish history and culture.

Explore every facet of the role of Russian Jewry throughout the centuries — including food, artifacts, religious beliefs and cultural traditions. Visitors can also see an array of exhibits made from testimonial footage, as well as a large collection of works of Jewish artists.

For history buffs, the museum dives into the intriguing role that Jewish soldiers played during World War II.

36 – Cruise down the Moscow River!

boat tours in Moscow

For those looking for a unique perspective on the city, there are stacks of tours (romantic, sightseeing, luxury-themed or party-vibed) that explore Moscow from its riverfront.

Take in some of the most iconic landmarks around the Kremlin and Gorky Park on a boat. Cruises can also take you underneath bridges, entertain you with live music and offer insights into the landmarks that pass by with live audio narration.

  • boat tours in Moscow

37 – Grab a table at Café Pushkin

Café Pushkin, Moscow

A favorite of many Muscovites, Cafe Pushkin on Tverskoy Boulevard is an intimate spot to enjoy some authentic Russian dishes.

It’s hand-picked by locals for its traditional décor resembling a nobleman’s house and charming atmosphere (thanks largely to the rustic bookshelves). You’ll find that the menu consists mainly of classic European cuisine mixed with a few local favorites. It’s complemented by a wooden bar with a fine collection of vintage wines and regular live music.

38 – Spend the day at the Karibiya Aquapark

Karibiya Aquapark, Moscow

After a hard day exploring the city, why not spend some time out to relax and unwind at one of Moscow’s largest water parks?

Karibiya has a handful of pools (including a heated salt-water spa) and fun but not too wild slides, plus a bowling alley for the kids, a fitness center and bar for the adults. There’s something to keep everyone entertained.

39 – Take a day trip to Sergiev Posad

Sergiev Posad day trips from Moscow

A photographer’s dream with blue-and-gold cupolas contrasted by snow-white walls, the ancient town of Sergiev Posad (just over an hour’s drive from Moscow) is a quaint tourist favorite. It’s famous for being home to one of Russia’s most important and sacred monasteries — the free-to-visit Trinity Lavra St. Sergius monastery complex.

Founded in 1340 AD by Saint Sergius, today it serves as an active monastery where visitors are free to attend daily services. Admire its truly remarkable artworks and historic museum collections.

  • Sergiev Posad day trip

40 – Spot starfish (and monkeys?) at the Crocus City Oceanarium

Crocus City Oceanarium, Moscow

One of the latest attractions in Moscow, Crocus City Mall’s iceberg-shaped  Oceanarium is a vast three-floor aquarium. It has more than 5,000 species swimming gracefully under one roof — not to mention the reptiles, birds, and monkeys that also call this place home.

Since the mall also boasts shopping centers, a pair of concert halls and a skating rink, there’s no shortage of activities on offer to whisk away a rainy day.

41 – Button-mash at the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines, Moscow

Where are the gamers at?

For anyone curious about the video games and technology of Russia’s yesteryear, there’s no better place to visit than this retro museum (complete with Soviet-era soda).

Filled with an impressive collection of more than 100 vintage arcade machines dating back as far as the late 1970s (like ”Pull the Turnip”), it’s sure to take you on a trip down memory lane.

42 – Take a walk through the Alexander Garden

Alexander Garden, Moscow

While the majority of Moscow’s other top attractions require a ticket or entry fee, there is at least one gem that doesn’t. It happens to be right on your doorstep if you’re staying anywhere near the Kremlin.

Alexander Garden (also known as Alexandrovsky Sad) is an expansive park that stretches the entire western wall of the Kremlin (nearly 1km in length). It’s filled to the brim with colorful flower beds, winding walkways and calming fountains.

Don’t miss the tomb of the Unknown Soldier while you’re there.

43 – Sign up for a dog sledding adventure!

dog sledding in Moscow

Cliche? Sure, maybe a little. Seriously fun? You better believe it!

Winter is coming, and that means it’s time to get out there and experience Russia the way only locals can — by dog sledding.

Typically lasting seven or eight hours, these outdoor adventures (which include hotel pick up and drop off) are a wonderful way to experience nature and immerse yourself in ancient Russian traditions — and hang out with a handful of adorable huskies, of course!

Seriously though, this is one of those things you’re going to want photos (and videos) for when you get back home because, really, words just wouldn’t do it justice.

44 – Walk beneath the Iberian Gate and Chapel

Iberian Gate and Chapel, Moscow

Facing away from the Red Square and linking Manezhnaya Square, the Iberian Gate and Chapel (sometimes called the Resurrection Gate) is overflowing with history. It acts as the spiritual entrance to the Red Square and the home of the wooden chapel that houses icons of the Iberian Virgin.

Many believe it is customary to kiss the Iberian icon before entering the gate and for boys to take off their hats. For an insight into the local culture, join a walking tour and learn more about the gate’s significance to religion and history.

To add to the importance, the gate is also the location of ‘Kilometer Zero’ — the official central point of Moscow.

45 – Play all day at the Dream Island theme park

Dream Island, Moscow

After opening its gates early in 2020, Dream Island earned itself the coveted title of being the largest indoor theme park in Europe (yep, that means it’s even open in the harsh winter).

It’s a delight for kids and adults alike. Throughout the park you’ll find an array of rides themed around classic cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pinocchio, the Smurfs, Hotel Transylvania and Hello Kitty. It also has charming and well-arranged streets that transport you to bustling cities like London and Barcelona!

Throw in live performances, plenty of eateries, a cinema and a hotel, and you can see why it’s become all the rage recently.

46 – Race against the clock in an escape room

escape rooms in Moscow

An unmissable and quick activity for any budding Sherlock Holmes out there, escape rooms challenge your mind and require wit, teamwork, and logic. Figure out the puzzles and escape from each room before time runs up.

Moscow’s escape room games usually last around 60 minutes and cover a range of themes (like a USSR Nuclear Bunker or even an outdoor, app-led scavenger game) — perfect for the whole family.

47 – Chill out by the Patriarch’s Ponds

Patriarch's Ponds, Moscow

Surrounded by residential buildings in the fancy downtown Presnensky District, the enormous (9,900 square meters, to be exact) the Patriarshiye Prudy is a beautiful oasis. It’s frequented by dog walkers, picnickers, artists and musicians alike.

In summertime, you’ll find people picnicking on the grassy banks or sunbathing by the ponds. In the winter, it transforms into a magical wonderland of snow and ice, morphing into a popular public skating rink.

Directions on Google Maps

48 – Go behind the scenes at Luzhniki Stadium

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Moscow’s Lujniki Stadium is one of Europe’s biggest soccer complexes, capable of hosting some 80,000 fans with an electric-like atmosphere — as we saw during its phase as the main stadium of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Besides being the current home ground of Russia’s National Football Team, it also hosts concerts by some of the biggest international acts and was also the focal point of the 1980 Olympic Games.

If your trip doesn’t line up with any sellout matches, you can still join a backstage stadium tour that explores the dressing rooms, press conference room and the field.

49 – Head to Suzdal and Vladimir for a day

Suzdal and Vladimir day trips from Moscow

A fantastic option for anyone who wants to get out of the chaos of Moscow for a minute, these two towns are parts of the Golden Ring of ancient Russian cities. They present as perfect day trips, thanks to their rich history, diverse culture and white-drenched architecture.

In Suzdal , the Kremlin fortress is the main event, with the Cathedral of the Nativity (and its 13th-century Golden Doors) captivating visitors year after year. In Vladimir , the awe-inspiring Assumption Cathedral (Dormition Cathedral) teaks center stage, with its five golden domes making for a wonderful photo backdrop

Don’t feel like hiring a car? Take the hassle out of your getaway and book a pre-arranged tour that visits both ancient towns on the same day.

50 – Escape the crowds at the Botanic Gardens of Moscow State University

Botanic Gardens of Moscow State University, Moscow

Wielding the title of Russia’s oldest botanic garden, the Botanic Gardens of Moscow State University (founded in 1706) is a fantastic place to escape the city and learn about Russia’s rich flora.

The beautifully arranged garden boasts more than 6,000 plant species that span various climates across the world, allowing visitors to see everything from roses and tulips to cacti and bamboo trees!

51 – Climb inside a tank at the Kubinka Tank Museum

Kubinka Tank Museum, Moscow

A must-see for any military history buff, the Kubinka Tank Museum showcases dozens of tanks and armored vehicles from across the globe, with a particularly heavy focus on Soviet Union models (to be expected, right?).

The collection includes everything from Polish TKS tankettes to the only remaining Panzer VIII Maus, a captured WWI British Mark V and the Object 172 — as well as plenty of cannons, weapons and missiles.

Serving traditional Russian military meals and national staples, even the cafe-restaurant is military-themed!

52 – Sit front row at the Moscow International House of Music

Moscow International House of Music

A world-renowned performance complex on the picturesque Kosmodamianskaya Embankment, this state-of-the-art venue is best known for hosting Vladimir Spivakov’s Virtuosi of Moscow Chamber Orchestra. It showcases everything from classical concerts to jazz, folk music and more!

The venue’s three magnificent concert halls welcome an array of local and international performers. Check the website to see who’s taking center stage during your visit!

53 – Drift through fresh powder on a snowmobile!

snowmobiling in Moscow

While it’s not always winter (though if you want to make the most of your snowy trip, come between December and March), as soon as that first snowfall hits, it’s time for snowmobile tours. Make for a fantastic way to explore the out-of-the-way locations and magical forests beyond Moscow’s city limits.

Even if you’ve never ridden a ski-doo or snowmobile before, the friendly expert instructors will be with you every step of the way, with safety and enjoyment always priorities.

54 – Crank your head skywards in Moscow City

Moscow International Business Center, Moscow

A stark contrast to the ancient and colorful onion domes in the Red Square, Moscow City’s skyscape (aka the Moscow International Business Center ) is full of towering, modern glass-heavy (even twisting) skyscrapers. Many of which are vying at the top of the list of Europe’s tallest buildings.

At 374 meters tall and with 95 floors — and a wonderful restaurant on its 60th floor — the Moscow Federation Tower is a popular choice for tourists. Meanwhile, the 85th and 86th floor of the OKO Towers play host to a Russian restaurant and skating rink respectively.

Be sure to walk through the modern Bagration Bridge and, for the shopaholics, check out the stores and IMAX theater inside AFIMALL City.

55 – Check out Zaryadye Park

Zaryadye Park, Moscow

Within arm’s reach of the famed Red Square, the peaceful slice of greenery that is Zaryadye Park is a breath of beautiful and natural air amidst the concrete jungle. It’s the first new city park to be opened in Moscow for more than half a century.

At various points around the 10-hectare park, you’ll find a few restaurant pavilions, a media center, a museum and a botanical collection housing over a million plants. It also houses the two-stage Zaryadye Concert Hall where thousands of passersby take a seat on the steps every day.

While you’re there, don’t miss the Chambers of the Romanov Boyars, an unusual museum above the northern side of the park.

56 – Stroll around the cozy Hermitage Garden

Hermitage Garden, Moscow

Small yet incredibly charming and found conveniently smack-bang in the middle of the city, the Hermitage Garden is a perfect spot to relax and unwind after a day of learning about Russia’s vast history.

Surrounded by the Sfera Theatre and The Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow , this lovely, leafy garden can be both a relaxing oasis or the prelude to an entertaining evening out.

57 – Treat yourself to a ballet show at the Bolshoi Theatre

Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

With a reputation that precedes it, the impressive and world-famous Bolshoi Theatre is a must for any theater lover. Its rich history is making it one of the most iconic theaters in Europe.

While there are several performances to choose from throughout the year — from ballet to opera, classic dramas and even acrobatic shows — you can also get your own private backstage tour.

58 – Get artsy, then party at ArtPlay

ArtPlay, Moscow

This old tea factory turned cultural hub of Moscow’s creative arts is heaven on earth for rotating exhibitions by local artists.

Depending on what piques your interest, you can join in on everything from live music to dance classes, art studio workshops, flea markets and film screenings here. However, after the sun goes down, its alter-ego comes out to play.

So, if you’re feeling peckish, stop into the Domozhilov restaurant nearby for a shashlik. Then wash it down at the English pub with a beer before partying it up at Rodnya, a pumping techno club.

59 – Head to the PANORAMA360 Observation Deck

PANORAMA360 Observation Deck, Moscow

A surefire hit for the social media feed, the observation deck at the top of Moscow’s Federation Tower skyscraper — PANORAMA360 — is a must-see selfie stop for its killer views and … ice cream factory.

From the 89th floor, you can soak in the wonder of Moscow old and new from above. It has floor-to-ceiling windows providing 360-degree vistas, a rotating restaurant and mini-cinema to boot.

60 – Throw down a picnic blanket in Sokolniki Park

Sokolniki Park, Moscow

One of the largest green spaces in Moscow, Sokolniki Park is a very popular gathering place for locals and visitors alike.

Spread across the northeastern Sokolniki District, it’s the perfect distance from the city’s main haunts where the crowds remain small but the accessibility stays high.

With its many activities — from sports to live music to festivals — not much beats this park when it comes to outdoor fun!

61 – Catch a traditional Russian dance show

Russian dance shows in Moscow

To get a true sense of the rich and diverse culture in Moscow, you can’t go past one of its many folk dance shows.

While there are several to choose from, “Kostroma” and “The Golden Ring” are two crowd favorite choices. Each is thoroughly unique with traditional music and costumes sure to make for a once-in-a-lifetime night of entertainment.

Of course, due to high popularity, be sure to book in advance.

62 – Book a table at the White Rabbit restaurant bar

White Rabbit restaurant bar, Moscow

Perched above the historical center of Moscow on the 16th floor of the Smolensky Passage building, this lavish restaurant is a must-visit for any foodie-obsessed traveler. Why? Because it continually ranks as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world.

The drool-worthy menu made by fifth-generation chef Vladimir Mukhin consists of creative, beautiful plated meals. The coveted eaterie also boasts 360-degree panoramic views of the city and a fine collection of wines and cocktails.

63 – Have dinner inside the Vysoko-Petrovskiy Monastery

Vysoko-Petrovskiy Monastery, Moscow

Whether you’re an architecture or history buff, while visiting Moscow, it would be a shame to miss out on the rare chance to eat in an actual monastery.

This one is particularly special as it dates back some 700 years. Not only will you get to dig into an authentic Russian menu, but learn about the history of the building and (depending on your booking package) get a guided tour too.

64 – Pass by the ‘Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices’ sculpture

Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices sculpture, Moscow

This free public art installation in Bolotnaya square was created by Mihail Chemaikin in 2001. A somewhat controversial landmark, it depicts how children are influenced by vices — alcohol, theft, ignorance, violence, addiction, poverty and war, to name a few.

The sculpture’s uniqueness and thought-provoking nature makes it an essential stop on any day of wandering around.

65 – Get wild on a pub crawl!

pub crawls in Moscow

You’re on vacation, so it’s time to let your hair down, mingle with some fellow thirsty travelers and party it up Moscow-style!

High-energy pub crawls are a great way to get acquainted with new friends while seeing Moscow’s unique nightlife scene first-hand. Let the locals lead you to hidden gems, tourist hot spots and quirky dive bars.

If you don’t feel like walking, why not join a Soviet minivan crawl instead (where you can drink Soviet champagne onboard!)?

66 – Roll up for the Nikulin Circus!

Nikulin Circus, Moscow

If you haven’t had the chance to see a live circus before — and especially if you’re traveling with kids — why not head over to the Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard?

It blends traditional Russian acrobatics with modern-day technology, animals, and the classic circular circus stage. This beloved local entertainment is also considered one of the most enjoyable things to do in Moscow!

67 – Get romantic on a Moskva River dinner cruise

dinner cruises in Moscow

What better way to take in the city’s skyline than from a luxury yacht as you enjoy entertainment, fine dining, and (strong) specialty drinks?

Whether you’re looking for something large that can accommodate groups of friends or something smaller with a bit more VIP style, there are several dinner cruises available to suit any taste and budget.

68 – Explore the wonderful Izmailovo District

Izmailovo District, Moscow

One of the city’s best-kept secrets, Izmailovo ‘s focal point is its Kremlin, a colorful wooden complex. Built in 2007, it has had unique museums and flea markets pop up nearby in the years since.

Throughout the area, you’ll uncover museums dedicated to vodka, break and Russian folk art. The district’s charming open-air flea market has all kinds of crafts and souvenirs are haggled on the daily.

Don’t miss Izmailovo Park , which is an enormous 300-hectare space that plays host to souvenir vendors, forest walking paths and even an ice rink in winter.

With so much to see in the district, savvy travelers typically opt for a guided tour.

  • Izmailovo tours

69 – Sip on a cocktail at the award-winning City Space Bar and Lounge

City Space Bar and Lounge, Moscow

Self-dubbed as one of the world’s top 10 bars, with accolades like Luxury Travel Guide’s Bar of the Year 2018, this iconic and luxurious watering hole doesn’t need much of an introduction.

Perched sky-high on the 34th floor of Swissotel Krasnye Holmy, the circular lounge bar slings signature cocktails and dishes up truly stunning views of the city.

Hot tip: While there’s never a poor time to visit, aim to arrive an hour or so before sunset, that’s when the city will truly sparkle below.

70 – Pamper yourself at the Sanduny Baths

Sanduny Baths, Moscow

If you’re looking for something to ease that throbbing headache after a night of pub crawling, why not try the famous Sanduny Baths , a quintessentially Russian experience?

Famed as one of the world’s most beautiful public bathhouses, Sanduny’s steam rooms and pools are said to be some of the best in Moscow. But for something totally unique, you can’t go past the birch twigs massage (read: beating).

71 – Spruce up your social media feed at some Insta-worthy restaurants

insta-worthy restaurants in Moscow

While a good meal is always part of the restaurant experience, getting a good pic for Instagram is half the fun!

Luckily, there are tons of excellent eateries that combine great food with gorgeous aesthetics.

Big Wine Freaks has a fantastic drink selection (naturally), and its dark, classy rooms full of elegant light fixtures and plush furniture bring to mind a spy’s hideout.

Meanwhile, Sempre adopts more of a naturalistic approach, surrounding diners with ferns and greenery.

And at Black Market Moscow , you can choose between indoor and outdoor spaces, each featuring their own unique designs and dining experiences.

Take a bite and snap some pics!

72 – Unleash your inner party animal at the Night clubs

nightlife in Moscow

When the sun goes down, you’ll get to see a whole new side of Moscow: its amazing nightlife!

Head to Propaganda for a bite or a beverage, then dance to some quality club tunes.

Or get a little wild at Chesterfield , where you can pay a flat fee and drink as much as you want – the perfect recipe for fun!

And at Rock’N’ Roll , there’s a new form of excitement every day, from DJ sets to live bands, all playing a lively mix of rock music from across the decades.

With all this excitement, you won’t want to book anything early the next day!

How to get to Moscow?

Unless you’re feeling up to the challenge of a long train journey, you’ll most likely be flying into Moscow.

Luckily, it has three international airports to choose from: Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Domodedovo.

Once you’ve arrived, you’ll be able to easily reach the city via the Aeroexpress train.

Where to stay in Moscow?

Golden Ring Hotel  will make you feel like you’re on top of the world, whether you’re getting pampered at the beauty salon or enjoying a meal in the rooftop restaurants.

Or check in to Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel & Business Center , which boasts everything from riverside views and a gym to nearby shopping areas and relaxing Turkish baths.

At AZIMUT Hotel Olympic Moscow , the massages, international cuisine, sauna, and swimming pool will keep you happily occupied in between excursions.

And at sister property AZIMUT Hotel Smolenskaya Moscow , you can savor a nice meal or admire the scenery from the lounge, or stroll over to Gorky Park or roam along Stary Arbat Street.

Meanwhile, Oblaka Hotel blends simple charm and a convenient location, with charming red brick exteriors and easy access to historic sites and a metro station.

  • best hotels in Moscow

Visiting Moscow on a budget?

There’s nothing like seeing a city on foot… especially on a free walking tour !

These excursions aren’t just a way to save money while still learning a lot; they also offer a wonderful opportunity to gain local perspectives, courtesy of your guides.

But despite the name, they do accept tips for a job well done, so bring a bit of money with you!

Where to go next?

If you’re short on time but still want to see the best of Moscow, try some multi-day tours ; they’ll provide all of the coolest sights and experiences in an efficient format.

After that, it’s time to start exploring further afield!

Though it’s a bit of a trek, St. Petersburg is well worth the journey!

With its famously decadent buildings to its lively arts scene, this is the perfect place to soak up some culture; but there are also some more offbeat options, like folk shows, vodka tastings, and even an amusement park!

And from the jaw-dropping designs of the metro stations (yes, you read that correctly) to the glimmer of Faberge eggs, it showcases beauty at every turn.

Ready to go beyond Russia?

Dive into the best places to visit in Europe , a smorgasbord of art and history, nature and architecture, showcasing some of the most beloved cities and countries in the world.

Final thoughts

While Russia’s capital may seem imposing, its dynamic culture, live-wire entertainment scene, and remarkable history make it an unbeatable destination, with unique adventures that will linger in your memory long after you’ve returned home.

You may feel a little overwhelmed by all of the incredible things to do in Moscow… but that’s all the more reason to come back!

If you have any other must-see suggestions, noteworthy day trips or quintessential tours worth booking, feel free to write in the comments!

As always, happy travels!

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Russian Tours and Cruises from Express to Russia

  • Moscow Tours

Our 20 Best Moscow Tours of 2022

Join us on an unforgettable tour to Moscow, the capital of Russia. Imagine visiting Red Square, St. Basil’s the Kremlin and more. Moscow is one of Europe’s most vibrant cities and one of Russia’s most historical. All of our tours to Moscow are fully customizable and can be adjusted to fit any budget. Our most popular tours are listed below. Please click on the tour details to learn more or contact us for more information about our Moscow tours using the form at the side of the page. You can also schedule a call with one of our Russian travel specialists to learn more.

Moscow Kremlin, photo by Walkerssk on Pixabay

Classic Moscow

This is our most popular Moscow tour that includes all the most prominent sights. You will become acquainted with ancient Russia in the Kremlin, admire Russian art in the Tretyakov Gallery, listen to street musicians as you stroll along the Old Arbat street, and learn about Soviet times on the Moscow Metro tour.

Accommodation

PRIVATE TOUR

St. Basiils Cathedral, Moscow, Photo by vierro from Pexels

A Week in Moscow

This tour is a perfect choice for those who wish to get to know Moscow in depth. One of the highlights of this package is the KGB history tour which gives an interesting perspective on the Cold War. You will also have time for exploring the city on your own or doing extra sightseeing.

Photo by Andrey Omelyanchuk on Unsplash

Weekend in Moscow

This tour is a great way to get acquainted with the capital of Russia if you are short of time. You will see all the main attractions of the city, the most important of which is the Kremlin - the heart of Russia. The tour starts on Friday and can be combined with a business trip.

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Group Tour Moscow Break by Intourist

Russia's capital has so much to offer, from the Kremlin and the Metro to the Old Arbat street and the Tretyakov Gallery. Besides these sites, you will also visit a fascinating country estate which today is quite off the beaten path, Gorky Estate, where the Soviet leader Lenin spent the last months of his life.

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Kolomenskoye Tour with transport

The history of Kolomenskoye stretches back for centuries. In 1380, Dmitri Donskoi’s army passed through Kolomenskoye on their way to the Kulikovo battlefield, and it was...

Tours by car

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Kremlin, Red Sq., Cathedrals & Armory Tour

The Kremlin is truly a fascinating structure, at the same time it is an ancient tower, the city’s former military fortification, a palace, an armory, the sovereign treasury...

Walking tours

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Kremlin, Red Sq., Cathedrals, Armory, Diamond Fund Tour

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Old Arbat walking tour

You will be told of the street’s interesting history and view the street’s artisan culture. You will also have the opportunity to view and purchase souvenirs from the...

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Tour to Sergiev Posad with transport

Considered by some to be the Russian Vatican, Sergiev Posad is the temporary residence of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Trinity St. Sergius Monastery (Lavra)...

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Tour to Kuskovo with transport

The Kuskovo Estate often called the Moscow Versailles due to its perfectly preserved French park, is an example of an 18th century, luxurious Moscow summer residence. Its history...

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Tour to Tsaritsyno with transport

The Tsaritsyno Estate is located in the southern part of Moscow. The estate was constructed for Catherine the Great by the Russian architects Bazhenov and Kazakov in a romantic...

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Moscow Metro and Old Arbat Tour

The Moscow Metro is one of the largest and most grandly built metro systems in the world. It was meant to be a showcase of the Soviet Union’s achievements for both the Russians...

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Vodka Museum Tour with transport (excursion and vodka tasting)

Vodka is an important component of Russian life, an element of national identity and everyday culture. We invite you to visit the Vodka Museum and feel the atmosphere of long-gone...

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Mikhail Bulgakov Apartment Museum

This apartment museum located close to Patriarch Ponds became the prototype of the "bad apartment" described in the novel "The Master and Margarita." Currently the museum's...

Spasskaya Tower,Moscow Kremlin, Russia, image from Shutterstock

Kremlin, Red Sq., Cathedrals & Diamond Fund Tour

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy by Ilya Repin (1887)

The State Museum of Lev Tolstoy Tour

Take this opportunity to learn more about the Russian writer Lev Tolstoy. During the visit to the museum you will see part of a vast collection of exhibits connected to Tolstoy...

Novodevichy convent, Moscow, Russia, image from Shutterstock

Novodevichy Convent Tour with transport

Tour of the Novodevichy Monastery. Founded in 1524 by Grand Prince VasiliIoanovich, the original convent was enclosed by fortified walls and contained 12 towers. The structure...

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, image from Shutterstock

City Tour with Visit to St. Basils & Red Sq. with transport

Panoramic City Tour. This Moscow tour is a great start to your trip and the best way to get acquainted with many of the city’s major highlights. Our professional guide will...

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City Tour of Moscow

Head to the heart of Moscow with a professional guide on a 4-hour private walk through the city center. See Tverskaya and Old Arbat streets, Theatre Square with the world-famous...

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Moscow Metro walking tour

The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, image from Shutterstock

Kremlin, Red Square and Cathedrals Tour

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KGB Tour with transport

This is a very interesting and insightful tour. You will visit places connected with Stalin’s terror - a time of great repression and fear. You will be shown monuments to...

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Soviet and Post-Soviet Moscow Tour

The tour begins with a drive or walk down Tverskaya Street – a Soviet masterpiece. In the years of Soviet power, Tverskaya began to undergo a transformation: it was widened...

Girl with Peaches by Alexander Serov

Tretyakov State Gallery Tour

This world-famous gallery contains masterpieces of Russian art beginning in the 10th century up until today. You will view exquisite Russian icons and paintings from the 18th and...

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Jewish Heritage of Moscow Tour

This tour offers a detailed look into the history and present-day life of the Jewish community of Moscow. On the tour, you will visit sites connected with the cultural and religious...

Vodka, photo by Detonart at Pixabay

Vodka Museum Tour with transport (excursion only)

Customer

Lena, our guide in Moscow was excellent. She was very knowledgable and could answer any question we had for her. We liked that she could pick up on our interests and take us places we might not have thought of to go. When we realized that one of the places we had chosen to see would probably not be that interesting to us, she was able to arrange entry to the Diamond Fund and the Armoury for us. Riding the Metro with Lena was a real adventure and a lot of fun. In Saint Petersburg we found Anna well versed in the history of the Tsars and in the Hermitage collection. Arkady in Veliky Novgorod was a very good guide and answered all of our questions with ease. Novgorod was perhaps a long way to go for a day trip, but we did enjoy it. Vasily was a great driver to have and kept us safe with good humour and skill. We enjoyed ourselves so much, my daughter says she is already planning to return. We would both have no hesistation to recommend ExpresstoRussia to anyone we know.

Just wanted to let you know that My grandson Bruno and I couldn´t have been more pleased with our week in Moscow (6/15 - 6/21). We were absolutely enchanted with the whole experience, including getting lost a couple of times in the Metro during our free time. Although both our guides (both Eleanas) were excellent, I would particularly commend the first one (she took us to the Tatiakov, the KGB tour, and to that beautiful cemetery where so many great Russian artists, authors, composers, musicians, militarists, and politicians are buried). Her knowledge is encyclopedic; and her understanding of today´s Russia as a product of its past was, for us, truly enlightening. I will be taking another tour in Russia, with my wife, within the next two or three years. I will be in touch with you when the time comes. Meanwhile, I will refer you to other potential visitors to Russia as I meet them.

Tours to Moscow

Our Moscow tours are land only meaning that you arrange your own air travel to Russia and our expert staff meets you at the airport and handles everything else from there. Our online Airline Ticket booking system offers some of the most competitive rates to Russia available on the web so if you need tickets, please visit our Russian air ticket center . Rest assured that you will be taken great care of on one of our Moscow tours. Express to Russia has a fully staffed office in Moscow that will help to make your visit fun, informative and unforgettable. Please remember that of all these tours are private and can be adjusted to your taste. You can add, replace or skip some sights; you can add more days to the package or cut the tour short. Our specialists will be glad to help you create the tour of your dreams!

Novodevichy Convent, Moscow

Moscow, a City Like No Other

Moscow is Russia’s largest city with a population of between 12 and 13 million. It is also Europe’s largest city and when you visit Moscow, you can feel it. The layout and architecture of the city is eclectic, ranging from crooked, ancient streets and alleyways to wide, bustling boulevards, from medieval churches to Stalin skyscrapers and to modern, glass buildings towering over everything and of course in the center of it all is the Kremlin and the magnificent Red Square. Moscow is also home to a fantastic, efficient and very beautiful metro system – each station having its own special design. In fact, Express to Russia’s Moscow metro tours and excursions are some of our most popular attractions that we offer. On our Moscow tours, you will see this and more.

Moscow Kremlin in the times of Ivan III

Moscow Tours centering on Russian History

Moscow has a long and interesting history and has been the capital of Russia in many of its different iterations – capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow , the Russian Empire and of course the Soviet Union (who could ever forget the Soviet Union?). Moscow, was founded in the 12th century by Prince Yuri Dolgaruki (Yuri of the long arms – he really did have long arms!). From that time on, it was home to the Russian Tsars until Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg in 1703. The city has survived invasions and sieges from the Mongols, the Tartars, the Poles, Lithuanians and Napoleon but has always persevered. Our Moscow tours will enlighten you on this great history and give you insights into Muscovites and their unique culture. Our Moscow tours show you what the city is like today but also brings to life the past. Moscow never seems to sleep and is bursting with energy. A Moscow tour with Express to Russia is truly the best way of getting to know Russia’s largest and most vibrant city.

Frequently Asked Questions From Our Travelers

What is the best time to visit moscow.

Any time of year is fine depending on what you plan to do. Summertime is pleasantly warm, ideal for exploring the city and its vibrant atmosphere, but Moscow will be much busier and accommodation is more expensive. Winter can be quite cold but beautiful nonetheless, and this is unproblematic if you intend to spend most of your trip in museums and galleries. There are also various festivals and events organised throughout the year. For more information about the best time to visit, read our guide

How many days are enough in Moscow?

If you plan your itinerary strategically and aren’t averse to a packed schedule, you can cover Moscow’s main sights over a long weekend. Most popular attractions are in the city centre, and the Moscow Metro allows you to cover much ground in a small amount of time. Ensure that your accommodation is fairly central and book tickets in advance, so that you can make the most of your days. For an informative and well-organised day out, check out our Moscow day tours with options to suit all interests.

Do they speak English in Moscow?

As Russia’s capital city, tourists are well accommodated in Moscow. There should be English-speaking staff in restaurants, bars, hotels, shops and attractions in tourist hotspots, and there are also English-speaking tourist police. Transport services have English translations on their maps and English announcements via intercom; alternatively, order taxis from the Yandex Taxi app (Russian Uber), though it’s unlikely that your taxi driver will speak English. If you get stuck and cannot communicate, it’s fine to use Google Translate.

Is it safe to travel to Moscow?

It is no less safe to travel to Moscow than to any European city if you exercise common sense and look after your belongings. As with every city some regions can be more unsavoury than others, but no tourist attractions are located there. The traffic in Moscow is notorious, so exercise caution when crossing roads. Do not take unlicensed taxis; book in advance or take public transport, which is widespread and perfectly safe. If you encounter any problems, look for the special tourist police who can help you. For more information, read our guide about staying safe in Russia .

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

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WEATHER ALERT

A rip current statement in effect for 3 regions in the area

Mother pleads for justice in daughter’s 2021 murder at katy-area home.

Bill Barajas , Anchor/Reporter

West Harris County – Verlisa Duncan is demanding justice for her daughter Valeesha Duncan, 31, who was shot and killed almost three years ago.

Duncan told KPRC 2 no one has been arrested in her daughter’s murder.

  • 3-year-old, woman shot during altercation at northwest Harris County apartment complex
  • Mayor Whitmire says HPD’s suspended cases scandal ‘manipulated’ Houston’s crime rate over the past 8 years

“It’s like living in limbo, living in an alternate universe. Life goes on but at the same time you are still standing still,” said Duncan.

The Harris County Sheriff’s office said Valeesha arrived to her home near the intersection of Appletree Hill Ln and Barkers Forest at about 5:00 a.m.

on August 17, 2021.

Shortly after, a dark-colored sedan pulled up out front and began shooting. Investigators said about 50 total rounds were fired and Valeesha was hit numerous times.

“She made it all the way in her garage and the garage was shut and she was still on the phone with one of her girlfriends and she told the girl she had been shot,” Duncan said.

Duncan is hoping someone with information will come forward and help investigators solve her daughter’s case.

“I wouldn’t describe it as pain, I would describe it as anger, frustration, no understanding of how you can take someone’s life and you just keep living your life like absolutely nothing,” said Duncan.

If you have any information about the case you can reach out to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

About the Author:

Bill barajas.

Reporter, proud Houstonian, U of H alumni, and lover of all the hometown sport teams.

HPD gives details on TikTok fitness influencers reportedly killed in high speed, car crash in Houston

Kprc 2’s bill spencer discusses suicide prevention tips with licensed psychologist, dr. megan houston, healthy sleep habits for teens, why national security is the forefront of latest tiktok ban, three texas cities rank within the top 10 u.s. cities with the largest gender pay gaps.

IMAGES

  1. Run for Your Mother 5K Event 2022

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  2. Run for Your Mother 5K Event 2023, Walla Walla Point Park, Wenatchee

    run for tour mother

  3. Run for your Mother Race

    run for tour mother

  4. Run For Your Mother 5K 2020, ANYWHERE!, Wenatchee, May 9 2020

    run for tour mother

  5. 6 Gifts for Running Mothers

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  6. Plunket Mother's Day Fun Run

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COMMENTS

  1. Florence + The Machine

    Golden Stables TikTok Song ️ Dog Days Are Over Lyric / Lyric Video brought to you by TikTok Music Subscribe and press (🔔) to join the Notification Squad and...

  2. Lyrics for Dog Days Are Over by Florence

    With every bubble she sank with a drink. And washed it away down the kitchen sink. The dog days are over. The dog days are done. The horses are coming. So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind.

  3. Florence + the Machine

    The horses are coming. So you better run. [Chorus] Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing ...

  4. Florence + The Machine

    And washed it away down the kitchen sink. The dog days are over. The dog days are done. The horses are coming. So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind. You can't carry it with you if you want to survive.

  5. Florence + the Machine

    And washed it away down the kitchen sink. The dog days are over. The dog days are done. The horses are coming. So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind. You can't carry it with you if you want to survive.

  6. "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence

    The Lyrics of "Dog Days Are Over". Florence Welch got the title of this song from a billboard in London she used to pass regularly while riding her bike. As generally understood, "dog days" is a term used to encapsulate a troubling era in one's life. But as Florence was knowledgeable of the term, "dog days" also has something to ...

  7. The Meaning Behind The Song: Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the

    It goes, "Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive." These lines are a call to action, urging the listener to leave behind all their emotional baggage and run towards a better future.

  8. Florence + the Machine

    With every bubble she sank with a drink. And washed it away down the kitchen sink. The dog days are over. The dog days are done. The horses are coming so you better run. Run fast for your mother run fast for your father. Run for your children for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind you.

  9. Florence + The Machine

    For example "run faster for your mother for your father, run for your children for your sisters and brothers". I feel like she's telling you to leave, like don't waste time on it and just run. For your families, those who loves you and wouldn't want you to stay stuck and move on for the sake of them.

  10. Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine

    Love the energy! 3 and 4 year olds up to adults. We move around 4 cones placed at the outer corners of the studio- March, skip, Chasse,... and everyone anticipates "Run for your mother..." because we take off in a full run! Perfect song for heart rate staging! Blessings to you and your life! Thank you!

  11. Florence + the Machine

    The dog days are over/The dog days are done/The horses are coming so you better run. Whatever thing that has ended, whatever thing she's lost, it better that it's gone and it's time to move on. Run fast for your mother run fast for your father/Run for your children for your sisters and brothers. The trickiest lines to reconcile.

  12. Florence & The Machine

    With every bubble, she sank with a drink. And washed it away down the kitchen sink. The dog days are over. The dog days are done. The horses are coming. So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father. Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind.

  13. Florence and the Machine

    So you better run. Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father; Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers. Leave all your love and your longing behind, You can't carry it with you if you want to survive. Dog Days Are Over, written by Florence Welch and Isabella Summers; This is a gift, it comes with a price.

  14. Florence + the Machine

    Mother, make me. Make me a big tall tree. So I can shed my leaves and let it blow through me. Mother, make me. Make me a big grey cloud. So I can rain on you things I can't say out loud. [Verse 2 ...

  15. Kelly Clarkson Covers Florence + The Machine's 'Dog Days ...

    "Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers," Clarkson sang. "Leave all your love and your longing behind/ You can't carry it ...

  16. Run For Your Mother 5K Run/Walk

    5k run through beautiful Summerville, SC to honor Mothers. This family event encourages everyone to run or walk to prevent strokes. This event is in memory of Hazel Williams Gammons who died at the young age of 64 from a stroke. Her children have organized this event to encourage exercise and healthy eating to prevent strokes.

  17. Run fast for your mother run fast for your father trending ...

    Do you love the catchy song that goes "run fast for your mother, run fast for your father"? Watch the original video of Florence + The Machine's hit single "Dog Days Are Over" and sing along with ...

  18. Run For Your Mother

    Run For Your Mother, Tell City, IN. 359 likes. Join us for a Mother's Day 5K Run/Walk, held on Mother's Day morning. 5/14/23 in Perry County, IN.

  19. "Run for your Mother" Quarter Marathon & 5k

    Description. "Run for your Mother" Quarter Marathon & 5k. Sunday May 9th 2021. Location: 1100 S Lincoln Ave Lebanon, PA US 17042. Quarter Marathon will start at 8AM and the 5k will kick off 8:10AM with a mile fun run and walk starting at 8:15. Course: Races will start at South Hills Park and follow the rail trail for an easy, fast out & back.

  20. Princess Kate Is Seen Out for the First Time Since Her Surgery

    Princess Kate has been spotted. For the first time since she underwent abdominal surgery in January, the Princess of Wales was seen out in public. The first photos of her were taken and released ...

  21. Uproar in Turkey as mother, son flee to US after fatal hit-and-run

    ANKARA — Turkey is seeking the extradition of a mother and son from the United States over a deadly hit-and-run that sparked outrage in the country as grisly details, including the alleged seizure of the victims' phones to prevent them from calling emergency services, emerge.. The 16-year-old, identified only by his initials T.C., is accused of crashing his Porsche into five people ...

  22. 72 Fun & Unusual Things to Do in Moscow

    Busses usually run every 15 minutes, with the full city loop taking roughly an hour — of course, you can disembark and reboard to your heart's content. bus tours in Moscow; 19 - Learn about military history on Poklonnaya Hill. ... If your trip doesn't line up with any sellout matches, you can still join a backstage stadium tour that ...

  23. The 20 Best Moscow Tours for 2022

    This tour is a perfect choice for those who wish to get to know Moscow in depth. One of the highlights of this package is the KGB history tour which gives an interesting perspective on the Cold War. You will also have time for exploring the city on your own or doing extra sightseeing. $ 941 From/Per person. Details.

  24. 21 Things to Know Before You Go to Moscow

    1: Off-kilter genius at Delicatessen: Brain pâté with kefir butter and young radishes served mezze-style, and the caviar and tartare pizza. Head for Food City. You might think that calling Food City (Фуд Сити), an agriculture depot on the outskirts of Moscow, a "city" would be some kind of hyperbole. It is not.

  25. Mother pleads for justice in daughter's 2021 murder ...

    A mother wants justice for her daughter, whose killer is still on the run after two-and-a-half years. 77 ...

  26. Moscow

    Price per person. 649,27. View details. About the tour Reviews 10. 8 days / 7 nights. St. Petersburg Moscow. We offer you a unique opportunity to visit Russia's two largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg. This fascinating, week-long tour will take you to the historic Russian capitals that have always played the most important part in the ...