I think that the honeymoon with Moscow is over. It has been very, very hard to come back here from Nice. I so enjoyed wandering around a place filled with smiling faces and sunny skies. Even though I really don’t speak French, I was able to talk with everyone and was even able to give someone directions. (Cindy says I have an open face, which is why people are always stopping me for directions. I think I just look smart!) I started reviewing the Russian Alphabet again and relearning some phrases and then just put it away since it sounded so harsh and it seemed so pointless. We leave in three weeks and will be gone for three weeks, which means I’ll have forgotten everything I learn now, so what’s the point?
Shopping today really sent me to the edge. I’m doing my wine history/tasting on Saturday and I had to go and get the wines. It took forty-five minutes to get there and one hour and fifty minutes to get back. The traffic was as ugly as my mood, which wasn’t nearly as ugly as the mood of the other drivers as they cut people off, drove on the shoulder and in one case, on the sidewalk. What major city decides to block a lane of traffic to wash the inside of a tunnel at rush hour??
Once I was at the store it took me ten minutes to try and convince a sullen clerk to let me have two empty wine boxes so that I could fill them with my purchases. She was breaking them up so they would be flat, but the thought of giving me something for nothing challenged her something fierce. When I finally got though the check out process and had my cart loaded, I was escorted to a quiet corner of the store by two security stooges who demanded to see my passport. I guess it is illegal to purchase two cases of wine in Moscow. I handed one of them my diplomatic ID and after some handing it back and forth they decided I was entitled to my wine. Meanwhile it appears you can purchase as much vodka as you can carry, but wine, well that must be decadent.
In rereading this, it appears I’m quite upset so I think I’ll take a pause and go for a walk.
What the walk didn’t do, the news did; I mean you just have to laugh at some of the things you read. Isn’t it great that we can get duped by an Afghan who claims to be representing the Taliban at three peace meetings, takes our money, and then disappears? And how about those funny folks at TSA with their new luggage tags that celebrate their growing power to harass? (See attachment).
Or how about this headline from today’s Moscow Times: Russia to Sell Stalin-Era Builder of Moscow's Subway System. The guy has to be about one hundred years old, how much do they think they can get for him??
Dinner last night was a baked chicken with veggies and garlic gravy. Lots of onions, carrots and potatoes browned from the chicken fat dripping on them during the baking process. It was just right on a cold Moscow night. Tonight we are having the chicken and vermicelli soup that I made from the chicken parts that didn’t make it to the oven. I’ll serve it with a nice salad, fresh bread, and at the last minute I’ll poach two eggs in the chicken soup and then serve it piping hot. Must run to the kitchen to make all this happen. Ciao, Cindy and Wm
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| TSA Luggage Tags |
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