Out trip to the Dacha was delightful. It was certainly far more jazzy than the first trip where there were fifty or more people. This event had only the ten members of the AAS board and about six senior administrators and their families. The tables were set with silver and china and nice wine glasses. There were lovely autumn arrangements on the tables as well as bottles of red and white French wines. Unfortunately, I was driving and therefore was unable to enjoy the wines, but I certainly enjoyed everything else. I had a chance to meet the board members who all seem to be wonderful folks. Got to learn a lot more about the British and American embassies in Moscow since two thirds of the board are attached to the embassies. Surprisingly, I also got to learn that Cindy will be playing in a quartet at the AAS Christmas Party!
Today we got up and Cindy ran and I walked and we met when she was done and walked home together, stopping for an espresso at our local café. Over breakfast we planned our day, which was to involve a long Metro ride to the Tsaritsyno Park. This park is located at the extreme southeast terminus of the Metro. It is a vast preserve of woods and lakes and walking paths along with a few palaces and churches. I could write about it but it is best for you to see it for yourself. First, here is some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsaritsino_park
When you have the time take a look at this site, it is fantastic and gives you a wonderful 360 view of the entire park. Make sure you click on the white arrows; they’ll take you to marvelous places:
We spent about two hours walking around the park before going to the Honey Festival that everyone raves about. I hated it! It was nothing more that hundreds of small tents arranged in claustrophobic alleys, where thousands of people were pushing and shoving to get at free samples of various honeys. When I wasn’t fighting the throngs, I was swatting the bees and hornets that were also attracted to the honey. My god, the Russians certainly love their expensive honey.
By the time we got back to our neighborhood we were plenty hungry so we tried a little Viennese café with outdoor seating. It was another picture perfect day and we had great salads and good Oktoberfest beer. We’ll be going to dinner at the local Munich Beer Hall tonight to really celebrate Oktoberfest, just as soon as Cindy is done with her rehearsals with her new friend who plays piano (an AAS teacher).
All and all, a perfect Sunday! Cindy and Wm
PS. For those of you interested, here is the exact route we took today.
From CC: well darn it all, now that I’ve seen that great Website with the white arrows where you can zip around the park I guess I could have stayed home today! Ha – not really – as Wm said it was a fabulous day. As for the music, I was so sure I’d mentioned the string quartet for Christmas to him but I guess not. We haven’t met yet but I think 2 of the people are professional musicians and that is going to be so much fun. I have two other musical things going with AAS teachers: Duets with a violin player who is also in the quartet, and duets with a piano player. I’m hoping that we can turn those duets into trios soon.
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