Dosvedanya Moscow

And so it came to pass that Cindy and William resumed residence in West Virginia.  Our last twenty-four hours in Moscow was filled with all that we liked about Russia and all that we really disliked. We stayed at a hotel that was relatively close to the airport, about a 25-minute shuttle ride.  It took us ninety minutes to get there from our apartment, mostly due to traffic jams.  The hotel was perfectly fine, a lovely air-conditioned room with great views across most of Moscow.  We went to the nice restaurant for dinner but walked out after finding out that the wines that were listed on the wine list were not the ones that they had available.  Instead they were 100% higher than the listed prices so we went to the beer hall and had a nice simple dinner and some great local beer. 

Wednesday morning we took a little wake-up walk and then had breakfast before getting cleaned up and dressed for our long flight.  We had five pieces of luggage and we got them all stored in the van and headed to the airport.  As it turns out the airport has banned all porters since the airport bombing last winter.  Additionally, they do not allow cars or vans to come up to the airport doors; instead they have to unload passengers about a hundred meters from the entrance.  This meant that we had to schlep our luggage up to the entrance, have the bags screened and then we were allowed to go and check in.  By the time we got to the United counter I was soaking wet and cursed my habit of wearing a jacket and tie when traveling.

The folks at the counter were efficient and pleasant but they had nothing but bad news.  There was no air conditioning that was working that day and oh yes, your flight will be two hours late!  We collected our boarding passes and then headed to immigration where we had very, very lengthy waits since the frowners had obviously never encountered exit visas and didn’t know what to do. They had to call a supervisor who finally appeared and gave them the clearance to let us leave the country.  We got though security with little discomfort and headed to the relative cool and calm of the Business Lounge were we were able to grab something to eat and drink and wait in a far more comfortable environment than the departure halls offered. 

Finally it was time for our flight and I had just two surprises left for Cindy in Moscow. The first was the fact that I had used miles and money to upgrade us to First Class, in what United calls Suite Seats. They were very comfortable and there are only five of them in First Class with two dedicated flight attendants. The service was superb.  I gave the Purser a lovely box of chocolates to share with the cabin crew and we had lots of attendants coming forward to thank us for the kindness.  My last surprise was to have the Purser bring Cindy an ice-cold glass of Champagne before take off along with a little gift I had purchased for her. I knew she had bittersweet feeling about leaving so I gave her a jeweled heart pendant so she would always be reminded of the little bit of her heart that will always belong to Moscow.  She was inspired to write two Haikus:

“Goodbye Moscow”

Dosveedanya Moscow

City of culture, beauty

long walks and frowns.

untitled

My dear husband with class,

foresight and true love for me

Displayed daily.

The flight was wonderful and we both slept for long periods of time and arrived feeling tired but very happy to be home.  We had a light dinner at a local restaurant and we collapsed into bed just before ten.  This morning we were up early and out exercising in the cool, crisp, clean air of West Virginia.  We marveled at the wide-open vistas and the lack of any non-natural sounds.  We did some shopping, had some breakfast, got new phones, Cindy got her driver’s license renewed and we shopped for garden stuff. Everything was so incredibly easy!  Incidentally, Cindy’s new phone number is 619-600-7907.

And so it is over.  Our time in Moscow was something we shall always remember and we are both very happy that we did it.  We are both looking forward to finding out what we happen next and we remain open to everything.  I thank you all for your kind words regarding Moscow Musings and have appreciated being able to share out daily life with all of you.  Stay well, stay in touch and stay happy.

With best wishes, Cindy and Wm.

Our Last Night in Gruz

Our last night in the apartment, and it did not fail to confirm that we shall not miss it.  The noise level was amazing with garbage seeming to be taken every hour.  I’m sure we are hearing more since we have all the windows wide open for any breezes that might be available to visit our bedroom.  This morning at six, we thought all was quiet and we could sleep a bit more but no, the local workers here were having a Spike Jones session with the garbage bins that was truly annoying.

We finally gave up and got up and started the very last minute preparations for our two pm departure to the airport hotel.  The apartment looks much better than it did when we got here and it truly is spic and span; even the little balconies have been swept and washed.  Of course by the time the new tenants arrive, things will be covered with dust and soot but for now it is spotless.

We had a lovely dinner with one of the remaining teachers whom we have sort of adopted.  She is from Minnesota and a lovely young lady who is fluent in Russian.  We had my last bottle of Champagne at her apartment and it was wonderful.  Then off to Torro Grill where Cindy and Lindsey had the Bird Burger and I had grilled lamb sausage.  It was all delicious, especially with the crisp dry wine from Chile.  We were talking about Minnesota and the Minnesota State Fair where she had once worked in the transportation department and Cindy and I agreed that we needed to go back to the fair some time, if for no other reason than the great grilled corn.  Somehow we got on the subject of the Russian Museum that is in the Twin Cities and it turned out that Lindsey had been an intern there and had worked with Cindy’s cousin Lynda who was the intern coordinator at the time.  What a small world we live in!

It is a lovely day to depart the apartment.  It is hot and humid and the air is filled with the fragrance of hot asphalt that is being used to redo our sidewalks and parking area.  We are hoping that the driver will be able to come right to the door since we have four large and heavy suitcases for our trip home.  I don’t want to be lugging those things around in my sports jacket and dancing shoes, especially since everything is all torn up and filthy.

Cindy and I were talking about what we would miss about our time here in Moscow.  We both agreed that we very much enjoyed living in the middle of a vibrant city and we have vowed to spend lots more time in Washington so that we can continue to enjoy museums, ballet, theater, opera and other luxuries available in urban settings.  We shall also miss the Moscow Metro, a gem of a public transportation network that is as beautiful as it is efficient.  We both know that we would come back if we were paid to come back but we would never use our own money or miles to return to Moscow.  We do want to go to St. Petersburg, but we can do that on a cruise where you don’t need to go through the horrible visa experience.  Moscow and the USA supposedly have signed a new treaty, which will allow for three year multiple entry visas, but there has been no date established for implementation and the talk is that it will only be for business travelers, not tourists.

From CC:  I am mostly very sad to be leaving, and still feeling extremely frustrated about the situation at the school where there was so much confusion and lack of purpose.  But that was beyond fixing so there is no point looking back; I certainly made the right decision to stick to a one-year contract.  Learning Russian has been difficult and slow, and now that it’s too late I feel like I’m finally making progress.  We made such good friends here but we all know that crossing paths again is very unlikely – but of course that’s a given when you move around as much as we have.  I’m looking forward the most to the clean air in WV, even if cultural events are far away and we can’t go anywhere without a car!  Life is full of choices and I like to think we’ve chosen well over the last 28 years. 

I’ll make this the early edition of Moscow Musings and post it now, two hours before our driver arrives.  We have no idea what is available at the hotel in terms of high-speed access so off this goes.  With luck we’ll have time at the airport to post a quickie before I flight back to Dulles.  If not, I’ll post the last musing on Thursday.  Best to all, Cindy and Wm.

Tallinn, Riga and Moscow

We returned from our trip to Tallinn and Riga yesterday afternoon.  Everything went according to plan and we had a marvelous, relaxing, and fun-filled five days of adventure.  The train and flights were all on time and we arrived in Tallinn at mid-afternoon, plenty of time to unpack and get our bearings in the compact city.  Our hotel was great and only steps from the Old Town, which is where all the action takes place.  The Old Town is very lovely but ever so touristy, with lots of young kids dressed in medieval garb luring the tourists into the various restaurants and cafes that are packed around the central square.  Personally, I’ve never been attracted to Medieval Fairs or banquets or themed events.  From what I’ve read about medieval times, there wasn’t much that was cute or appealing and I have never been a big fan of Hildegard von Bingen.

We had a quick flight on Friday to Riga and our experience there didn’t get off on the right foot.  We had a taxi driver that was Russian and didn’t even speak Latvian, which should have been our first tip off.  He charged us twenty-two Lats for the trip and I had thought that it was only about ten, but he insisted that was the fare.  Of course when we checked into the hotel and asked about the fare, they told us that yes it was only ten Lats and asked if it was a black “Mercedes from Riga” Taxi.  We told them it was and they said that everyone who works in the travel industry knows that they are Russian cheats and yet no one in the government does anything about it since they are all paid off.  Riga is very Russian; fifty per cent of the people that live in Riga are Russian.  While Latvian is the official language, children can still go to Russian schools and be taught in Russian.

Riga doesn’t have the charm of Tallinn but it is a very interesting city filled with lovely parks, a magnificent river, and tons of Art Nouveau buildings from the late 1890s to 1910.  The Old Town isn’t as old as Tallinn but it is filled with charm and churches.  In both cities Cindy got me on Hop On / Hop Off buses that took us on tours of the cities.  Both times it rained so hard that it was hard to see anything but the narration was good and very informative and it gave us a sense of where we might want to visit in the future, if there is a future visit for us in either Tallinn or Riga.

One of the highlights of Riga was our visit to the Occupation Museum.  This is a marvelous exhibit that really shows you how difficult it was to have lived under the German Occupation for six years and the Russians for another fifty.  Cruel and unusual take on a whole different meaning when you see these exhibits.

Today was supposed to be a relaxing day but it appears we had a lot more to do before we were ready to depart.  We worked like crazy this morning doing last minute laundry, defrosting and cleaning the freezer, packing up things we want and tossing things we don’t want and giving away everything else.  Finally at one this afternoon we felt like we had done enough to head out on our last excursion in Moscow. Our first stop was at the Moscow Monument to Space Flight.  It is truly a grand monument, as are all the monuments in Moscow.

From there we walked over to the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, which was first opened in 1939, four years late, and was to be a monument to all of the countries that were a part of the USSR.  This place is really filled with monuments and has one of the largest and most beautiful fountains in all of Moscow.  It was very hot today and there was precious little shade so our walk was more of a forced march, which provoked a great deal of perspiration. We decided to take an alternative way home, one that would take us though the botanical gardens directly to another Metro stop.  That was the plan and it didn’t work at all!  We ended up walking and walking and walking through this forest with lakes, all of which was very pretty but for the first time in Moscow I really wanted to hear the sound of traffic instead of birds.  We finally got out of the forest and had no idea where we were.  Cindy found a woman who spoke English and she told us we needed to take a bus to the Metro, which is what we did, but we didn’t see any Metro.  Turns out you have to walk though a neighborhood to get to the Metro and we finally got back here about four thirty and stopped for a much needed ice cold beer.  (From CC: actually I first found a very nice woman who explained all about the bus and Metro to me in Russian, and while I got the general gist - gestures were helpful - I couldn’t quite believe my ears.  It just doesn’t seem fair that the Metro stop called Botanical Garden is nowhere near the actual botanical gardens, which is what I’d been banking during that long walk through the forest!)

So now the house is immaculate, we are pretty much packed, we’ll go out to dinner tonight, and tomorrow a driver will deliver us to a hotel near the airport in advance of our flight on Wednesday.  Until tomorrow, best wishes, Cindy and Wm.

Moscow's Day of Aggravation

Happy Solstice

While we enjoy the longest day, Colin et al. in Wellington will enjoy the early evening as they try to catch up on sleep.  They arrived save and sound and are having a grand adventure.

Cindy and I are having our own little adventure today.  We had thought this would be a very relaxed day to prepare for our trip to Tallinn and Riga.  We went to the embassy to pick up our passports and lo and behold, they had not done anything right.  We had asked for a double entry visa plus the exit visa, instead they only issued the exit visa, which means if we were to go to Tallinn tomorrow; we would not be allowed to reenter Russia!  We have already prepaid 1200 non-refundable dollars for this trip and now we are not at all sure if we can go.  The two people at the embassy that handle visas are both Russian and their first reaction was that it was our fault that they didn’t do what we wanted done.  Cindy insisted, in the nicest possible way, that she had filled out the forms correctly.  This drove the clerk to the file cabinet and she got out the forms Cindy had filled in and guess what, Cindy was CORRECT and there it was in writing and the clerk had to admit it was her fault.

I have to return to the embassy at five to see if they have been able to correct their errors, if not, we are stuck in Moscow with no way to cook for the remaining eight days before our flight to Dulles.  This must be the Day of Aggravation in Moscow because we have been in a constant state of aggravation since our trip to the embassy.  We decided to do something to get our minds off this mess so we walked over to Red Square and I got in line to buy tickets for entry to the Kremlin.  We had never been inside the gates of the Kremlin before and didn’t want to depart Russia without having seen all the cathedrals, official buildings, and magnificent gardens.  The line to purchase tickets was typically Russian, one way to get in the door and the same door for people to get out so it was always a bottleneck.  I stood there waiting my turn and knew that the woman behind me was jockeying for position to jump in front of me.  Just as the man ahead of me was about to leave, I gave the woman a wonderful head fake and then a hip check and she never knew what hit her as I got my ticket.

We then had to get in a line to go through security and if I hadn’t purchased the tickets I might have rethought this whole thing.  We finally get through and then the guard tells me my bag is too big and I have to go outside the gates, down two flights of stairs and over to the baggage check place to pay to store my little SDSU bag, more aggravation!  I finally got back to the security lines and got though to the gateway to the Kremlin, where I noticed that about 80% of the women tourist all had bags much larger than mine.  More aggravation.

The hassles were well worth enduring since it truly is one of the most beautiful places in all of Moscow.  Six cathedrals, one more grand than the other all around this lovely square that is guarded by the Tsar’s Cannon, which is right next to the Tsar’s Bell. Everything about the Kremlin is on such a grand scale that it is hard to imagine all the work that must have gone into the establishment of this place.  We also visited a museum which had a special show of the work of Fabregé eggs and other examples of his jewelry.  We had a pleasant stroll in the lovely gardens before heading back towards the apartment.

Just back from the embassy.  We raced over there to catch them and when we finally got to the elevators they were not working so we had to figure out how to find the stairs to the third floor.  More aggravation.  They fixed everything because it was their fault and they didn’t want to live with that mistake and they assure us that we’ll be allowed back into Russia on Sunday!

So, it looks like we’ll be on our way to Tallinn in the morning, which means no blogs until next Monday.  Enjoy the rest.  Cindy and Wm.

Embassy Errands

Cindy left for her last day at work at 7:15.  The water man came and picked up the empty bottles of water at 7:55.  At 8:30 they started to jackhammer outside my window and now they have heavy machines chewing up the parking area.  The place is filled with trucks, equipment, people, and more noise than you can imagine.  It reminded me, in not a pleasant fashion, of those summers I spent working heavy/highway laying asphalt in hot humid weather.  What a lovely way to send us off!

Yesterday we ‘discovered’ a marvelous little museum right near our house.  In fact, Cindy has run by it almost every day since we arrived but we never knew what it was.  Since it was raining we decided to stay close to home so we went over to investigate it.  It is stunning!  Here is a note that Cindy wrote to the folks who live here: For those you still here and/ or returning in August, you might like to know about a fabulous museum right in the neighborhood.  It's now part of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (5 locations including this one) - and it's on the road to the zoo alongside that cute little park on the right hand side of the street.  You've no doubt seen the clowns and other marvelous sculptures outside the building.

http://www.tsereteli.ru/eng/mmzts.php

The above is the best website I found but parts of it are under construction; I think the museum was a studio and is only recently open as a museum.  In any case, it's the work of Zurab Tsereteli, a prolific sculptor originally from Georgia (did you know that Gruzinski means Georgia - or maybe Georgian?).  He has done many famous sculptures around Moscow including the Georgian monument just up the street, the holocaust memorial sculpture in Victory Park, the Peter the Great that's supposedly Christopher Columbus, many many St. George the Dragon Slayer, etc.

The building has 4 floors of art, some sculptures, and some oils and ceramics - all cool.  Then the docents allow you to go outside and there is a jaw-dropping array of HUGE sculptures, bas-reliefs, mosaics, and other impressive art.  It costs 150 Rubles for foreigners (maybe a kartochka will get you in for less).

Have fun - it's well worth it –

I had a lot of errands to do today in preparation for getting out of here.  I had to go to the embassy and return our cable box and connections and then had to check out of the Embassy Association, which handles the commissary and other nice things.  It is a membership organization and by checking out I made sure we would get our deposit of 300 dollars returned within the next month or so.  These were easy things to do, but rather time consuming.

I took the long way home so that I could walk again along the banks of the Moscow River.  All the wildflowers are in full bloom and the banks are a profusion of color.  There were lots of ducks with their ducklings paddling among the water lilies, which are just starting to flower.  Even the fish were jumping and I almost had to bust out in song.

I cooked my last meal in Moscow.  It was a pasta dish with pan-seared scallops, garlic, bacon, chives, hot chili flakes, pepper, basil and a bit of salt.  It was a very nice way to cap eleven months of meals in Moscow.  The kitchen is now officially closed, except for coffee and tea.  We have to clean the fridge tomorrow and then we’ll just eat out for our remaining week or so, most of which will be in Tallinn and Riga.  That is, assuming we get to go to these places.  Right now we still don’t have our passports and if we don’t get them by tomorrow, we may be plumb out of luck.

Keep your fingers crossed, Cindy and Wm.

Making Deliveries in Moscow

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father’s Day to all who qualify!

It has been a rainy, cool Sunday.  We were up early and Cindy was able to run before the rain started for serious.  While she was running, I was packing up the TV that we were to deliver this morning.  I did a fine job of wrapping it in bubble paper and securing it in the box that the movers left.  We sold it to one of the teachers who we call ‘Swifter’ since she, like me, adores the cleaning aid (some of us call her Swiffer, since that is actually the name of the product).  I had a brand new swiffer kit that she wanted, complete with refills as well as a swiffer dust buster.  We packed everything up, lugged it all to the car, and were ready to go on our big adventure.

As we were loading things another teacher came out to dump the trash and we told her we were going to Kutz, the housing area where Swiffer lives.  She was going to walk over there in the rain, so we told her to hop in.  We had maps and we knew what to do, but I stayed on a surface road too long and missed the underpass that would have taken us where we wanted to be.  Instead we were on the right road but the wrong side, and in Moscow you can’t make left turns.  We had to go about four miles pass the housing area before we found a way to loop around and under the road and come up on the correct side.  What an ordeal.

We got all the stuff delivered and as we were leaving we spied another friend who lives in our housing area so we were able to give her a ride home in what had now become very heavy rain.  Again, there was no easy way to get home since it would have involved a left turn, which wasn’t an option.  Instead we just drove over and around twice, before getting to the right road towards home.  Always an adventure when you take to the streets of Moscow.  When we were back in the apartment I realized that my reading glasses must have fallen out of my pocket while I was trying to lug the big box into the apartment.  Of course I sent all my spares back, so now I have just my emergency Ben Franklin glasses.  I think I’ll go shopping tomorrow. 

Hannah In Biz

Colin, Meagan, and Hannah are finally on their way to Auckland and according to my Flight Track, they have been airborne for a few hours and are most likely sleeping like babies since they are in Business Class with flat beds.  Colin sent me a picture of Hannah in her seat just before they closed the doors on the flight.  She looks so small in such a big seat.

The pasta last night was just wonderful, as were the guests.  Cindy is finding it hard to say goodbye to some people that she has become very friendly with at AAS.  I have no such difficulties with the double-edged sword of friendship here in Moscow.  I ain’t got any problems leaving!!

Cindy found this great Mockumentary on the National Bird of Bahrain, the Plastic Bag.  It is very wonderfully done and very sad that it needed to be done.  Happy Sunday,  Cindy and Wm.

Parties, Pasta and People

We were invited to the Middle School party last night at a restaurant called Scandinavia.  It was a lovely BBQ burger fest with great beer and wine and lots of energy.  Lots of funny speeches about people moving on and nothing boring or overly sentimental.  They are all wonderful people who are really devoted to teaching.  The principal made a point of saying how much everyone will miss Cindy and how much she has done in one year to improve technology.

Cindy had a half-day today so I used my time to do some laundry and make a big, really big, pot of sausage and vegetable pasta sauce.  The house smells great and so far the sauce tastes great, but will improve with simmering.  It was quite the trick cooking the sauce with only one big pot.  I’ll have to transfer the sauce to some smaller vessels so that I have something to cook the pasta in.  At least it is better than camping.  Some of our friends in the building are coming down for dinner tonight.  They have to bring their own wine glasses and flatware!

Heard from Colin, Meagan, and Hannah that they were caught up in the United computer meltdown and were delayed for five and a half hours at Dulles.  Needless to say they missed their connection to Auckland and have to spend the day in a hotel near LAX.  They are now scheduled out at 2100 tonight.  Luckily they are all so excited about the move that their spirits still seem high.  At least they weren’t shot at like the Asiana Flight

People have been coming over today to pick up the stuff we sold.  We are down to two little bags that still have to go.  Tomorrow we pack up the TV and transport it to a friend who lives in the other housing area.  The apartment will look even more barren once the TV and cable box are out of here so we shall entertain ourselves by observing how long the days are becoming.  We have 17.5 hours of daylight today and St. Petersburg has 19.  Now isn’t that exciting.

Obviously I’ve run out of things to report so I’ll sign off.  Best to all,  Cindy and Wm.