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Moscow Circus
No one had better ask which one is the clown in the picture...lol This is one of the famous Moscow clowns from the original cirus, near where one of the hostels is located that I have stayed at before. As Michael described his experience in Russia to some English students we spoke to in the early spring when asked about Russia, he explained, “It is like a big camping trip.” The past two days have continued to support this statement. I thought it was bad when I had no hot water, well; try taking a shower with no cold water. I am not sure of the hot water temperature here, but I am going to guess around 110-120oF. At least when it is only cold, you can take a shower. It may not be comfortable, but it is safe. I had to get the drinking water out of the refrigerator again to have some cold water so I could rinse my hair. As Michael tells me, just get up an hour early and fill the bathtub and then let it cool down. That would be fine if I knew I was going to have no cold water…lol
Well today, I have both hot and cold water, but had no electricity. I noticed it when the mosquitoes starting driving me crazy around 4 AM this morning. With these mosquito repellent things you plug in to your outlets, it does
Metro Tease
I am not going to post all of them but just give you a feel for my blog entry with the metro pictures when I finish. not do a bad job holding them somewhat at bay. (I hate to think what I am breathing all night long that is “scaring them away”, but they work and without them, you would be eaten alive!) As I woke up to buzzing and biting, I thought to myself what is going on as I leaned over to see what time it is and the clock was blank. So I got up and turned on my watch’s alarm clock to find it was 4 AM and without electricity to heat these repellent things, the mosquitoes were having a free for all feast at my expense. I could not sleep so I got up and decided to update my blog in Word then I will copy and paste it tonight, when HOPEFULLY, the electricity is back!
I spent the weekend in Moscow. I have enough friends there and the timing worked out to see most of them if I stayed over the weekend. I also got a great deal at a hotel, which is really not a great deal for a hotel, but for a hotel in Moscow especially as the tourist season, it was a great deal. I have
Metro Tease
I am not going to post all of them but just give you a feel for my blog entry with the metro pictures when I finish. no idea why I wait until it is summer to do this as oppose to the winter, but I start taking metro stop pictures. I probably have over 100 of them now and no, I will not post all of them for you, but a few of my favorite ones just so you get to see the beauty of some of them. It is amazing how pretty some of these are as well as how different. There were two reasons for the metro system, first, the obvious, as a mass transit system to get people around the city. I have been told, it is most heavily used system in the world. I do not know if this is true, but I do know during peak times, it is impossible to get on some of the trains no matter how hard you try. But the second reason, they were built as bomb shelters. And because they are part of the military, you are not supposed to take pictures in/of them. I did not realize this until Alexey told me about the law, but he also told me they do not enforce it much any more.
You will also be happy
Metro Tease
I am not going to post all of them but just give you a feel for my blog entry with the metro pictures when I finish. to know, I was able to help some people find their way. (Talk about the blind leading the blind…lol) It is a funny story now, but as I was getting ready to go through the gate where you scan your ticket/card, the metro women asks me, in Russian, “Do you speak English?” Not thinking, I respond with a “yes” and she motions (and says, I think), “Come with me.” I am thinking to myself, boy did I give the wrong answer and then a thousand thoughts run through my mind. Do I have all of my documents (passport and registration)? Am I going to have to pay this person off so I am not harassed? Should I call Denis, Dasha, or someone to walk me through the translation? What did I do wrong? Are you sure your ticket is valid? Why did she pick me? Etc. She then motions me through the gate and points to this couple whom are looking at a metro map and she says, in Russian, “English” and I ask the couple if I could help. The joy on their face was probably the same as the joy on my face that I was not being
Metro Tease
I am not going to post all of them but just give you a feel for my blog entry with the metro pictures when I finish. harassed, but they were looking for some of the pictures that were suppose to be in that metro stop but they had gone in and out of it twice looking before they asked for help and poor metro lady could not understand their question.
As I shared with others at work, I am actually surprised this woman helped find someone because usually they just sit there in their booth with no expression on their face unless you try to jump the line. I will be honest, it is NOT normal to get this kind of assistance. Well, it ends up they are looking for these pictures on the orange line and they needed to be on the brown line. I do not know why, but the same metro stops can be called different names depending on which line or sometimes they are the same name. It makes no sense to me so I told them I will walk them over to the brown line via the orange line so they do not have to go out again. But they were basically doing what I was doing, but with no camera, just looking at the more famous metro stops.
Trying Covas
I may not be spelling it correctly, but it is a sweet beer with no alcohol. It really was not too bad, but I would never buy it off the street. I did not do much more, but tour around the city with friends and other than being hot, I had a great time. I think we are setting record highs here with it being in the lower 90’s which is very early for them and lasting much longer than they normally experience. They will get a few days in the 90’s but not usually until June or July and it only lasts about one week. The only good news, it is still cooling off at night into the lower 60’s so once you get the flat cooled down, it is not too bad.
Speaking of hot, I now know why Michael hates the train so much other than he always complained about it in the winter; but in the summer, it is like an oven and most of the windows do not open and the body odor is enough to kill you! Thank goodness, it was not over crowded and you could keep a little distance between you and the other person, but it was still a very very long ride from Moscow to Obninsk on Sunday. I am not also not sure what I said or did not
Trying Covas
I may not be spelling it correctly, but it is a sweet beer with no alcohol. It really was not too bad, but I would never buy it off the street. say, but when I was trying to buy my ticket, which I knew the amount, she asked me something else dealing with numbers. I thought she wanted more money, which was not the case, so I am guessing she was asking me which time, which does not matter on the price/ticket, I did not think. She asked me a few times and the person behind me told me the same thing a few more times and I looked at all of them with this dumb look on my face, thinking if I did not understand the ticket agent, what would make you think I understand you???? She finally pushes the button and my ticket came out so all is well.
Kovos is what many of the Russians grow up on. You can even buy it from government city vendors along the highways, streets, towns, etc. They fill these big barrels up and let them sit all day in the hot sun. Supposedly, they dump it, clean the tanks, and refill the next day, but I am not going to try it from the street. Denis was part of my joking about these tanks selling it so he went home
Obninsk Night
I took these pictures a few days ago from my flat window. and made some from scratch, which I said I would try, and brought some in for me to try. It was not too bad. I would drink it again, but truly prefer my KoolAid or Coke.
For those wondering, I am feeling much better and still no problems with my stomach. I do not understand all of that?!?! While I am home in July, I will be seeing my doctor and if for some reason there is something, I will let you know. I am signing off. I am sure I will have plenty more pictures next week after I get back from St. Petersburg. I am meeting up with Oleg and his wife at Oleg's flat he has in St. Petersburg, but want to go and see the things I did not have time for the last time I was there. I am also going to try to squeeze in Gzhel, which is a town just outside of Moscow where the original white and blue pottery.
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Jetta
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Gift for me?
If the original blue and white pottery is pretty, would make a nice gift for me:-) I know I have the great Egyptian paper painting, which is currently being framed for Christmas, but I have a birthday too.