I needed to get some pills from the pharmacy so I did as much research as I could before going there and carried my little cheat sheet with me. I walked in and found my way to the counter where there were two women in pharmacist-like clothing and began my pitch. It was hilarious and finally ended with my getting what I wanted - wrong dosage but she demonstrated that I could split them. Actually they are the size of a baby aspirin so I’m not sure how that would work. If there had been someone filming the transaction, it might have looked something like this:
Yesterday while at one of the monasteries we were standing in front of one of the churches listening to our guide going on and on about dates and saints and things like that when we heard a loud noise. We looked around and up at the scaffolding covering the bell tower in time to see a big bucket of red paint fall from one level of the scaffolding to another and then dump all the paint right in front of the exit of the church. Just as the paint hit the ground two very, very well dressed Russian women were walking out and got completely splattered with the paint. One had on an elegant full knee length black leather coat and black leather high heeled boots, the other had on a WHITE furry coat with matching boots. They both ended up looking like they had chicken pox from heat to toe. Others in our group got a little color but these ladies got the brunt of the blast of paint. Later one of the Russians who works at the school told Cindy that the falling paint was a sign. She wasn’t sure what the sign was, but she knew it was a sign. Personally I thought it was a sign of a pending lawsuit, but I’m not sure if you can sue the church in Russia.
While I might have had some complaints about the bus trip, I certainly can’t fault the expense. Turns out the entire day, with admission charges, donations to the monasteries, and guided tours, only cost us $7.50 each! I guess AAS sponsored the transportation and perhaps underwrote some of the expense. We certainly got our money’s worth!
For those of you who don’t read the NYT, here is an article from today’s Travel section. I must say, the writer went to only the most expensive places and I’m tempted to write an article on Moscow on the Cheap!
This morning I went shopping at about nine am to make sure Cindy had all the groceries she would need for the four days I’ll be gone. I got a lovely chicken which I’ll cook this afternoon so that she’ll have it for the next several days. I got lots of fruits and veggies and cookies also. I’m getting a little better at fighting off the babushkas in the produce line. I was about halfway thru getting my things weighed and tagged when this old lady comes up and places the two lemons she wanted right in front of my bags. I gave her my biggest smile and said in perfect English, “Not so fast sweetie!” and moved her lemons past my fruit to be weighed after mine were done. Yesterday in the bakery the lady in front of me was paying for all her breads in what looked like pennies and nickels. She must have had a hundred coins out and was slowly counting them as the line got longer and longer. Three women jumped the line and threw the exact change at the cashier and ran off with their purchases, while I, ever polite, stayed in line despite the fact that I had the exact change. Finally the cashier looked at me and saw I had the right amount of rubles and simply held out her hand for the money. I’ve much to learn.
If you would like to see more photos of our trip yesterday, I’ve posted my photos to this address: http://gallery.me.com/wbyxbee#100112
From CC: let me explain my fashion statement! Yikes I look like I should be in the soup line at the homeless shelter. We were told we had to wear long skirts, no pants, and had to have our heads covered. I have no long winter skirts so I hauled out a cotton one and wore tights underneath for warmth. I’d started the day in short boots but they had heels and my feet were tired so I switched to my Sketchers – and my scarf looks rather ridiculous, but heck, I didn’t get barred from entering anything so I guess my ensemble worked!
Back to Wm: Speaking of photos, here is one that doesn’t go over well with most folks in Moscow. It is the overflow of Muslims at Friday’s prayer at the Central Mosque. They fill this square every Friday and every Friday there are tons of cops around the area. Remember that it was Muslim extremists who blew up the metro last March, so the Russians have good reason to be suspicious and to have lots of police on hand.
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| Moscow Muslims |
I’m off tomorrow morning for sunny Germany and I have no idea if I’ll be able to write or if I’ll be able to post blogs, so don’t hold your breath. Until next time, Cindy and Wm
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