Sun and Fun in Moscow

It is a glorious day in Moscow.  The sun is out and it is much stronger now than it was ten days ago.  The roads and sidewalks are mostly bare asphalt now and we hope that there won’t be any more major snowstorms.  It is still rather cool outside, but the temp has gone from 10 this morning to 16 this afternoon, which is why my walk felt so good. I was able to walk erect the entire hour since I wasn’t worried about losing my footing and falling down; much nicer to walk on asphalt than packed snow and ice.

Our trip home from France was uneventful but quite long. We had an hour’s drive to the airport, had to gas up the car and unload it at Avis and then we had to wait from 10:30 to 1 pm because Mr. Smarty Pants Travel Arranger forgot to make sure there was a lounge at the airport (there is not!) and didn’t see the small print that said you couldn’t check in until 90 minutes before the flight.  So we sat in the small Marseille Airport, which was filled, really filled, with little rug rats bouncing off every solid object.  I have never seen so many accompanied and unaccompanied kids traveling at one time.  Just our luck the French school vacations were just starting and everyone was getting out of Dodge.  We finally got though check in and security and had time to get a sandwich and glass of wine before our 1 pm departure. 

The flight from Paris to Moscow was late so we didn’t arrive home until 11:30 pm and we were whipped.  We unpacked just to decompress, had a quick nightcap and headed to bed about 12:30 and fell into a very deep slumber for the next eight hours. We lounged around on Sunday, mostly doing laundry and sipping coffee while catching up on emails since we had had no Internet access for a few days.  We took a break to go upstairs to the apartment of a departing administrator and purchase her treadmill. In the afternoon we walked a bit before heading to the store to do a bit of shopping for dinner.  We had a lovely roasted chicken with carrots, onions and zucchini, which I served with truffled rice; quite nice.

This morning at 8:30 two of the Green Guys were at the door with the treadmill.  I had done some rearranging of furniture so that it would fit in my office/guest room/coat storage/area.  I was very surprised to see them lifting the treadmill, since when it was shown to us, one of the sales points was how easy it is to roll around.  Turns out the Green Guys REMOVED the wheels before lugging it to and from the elevator. I swear someone must dress them in the morning, and they don’t use clean clothes judging from the odors they were emitting.

Once they left I set everything up and made sure that all the nuts/bolts and screws were tight. What I failed to test was whether it was working or not: It was not! It appears that Mutt and Jeff had somehow stepped on the plug wire or something during the moving process, and what had worked beautifully when we tested it did not work at all.  So, out came the tools again and I took the housing off the motor and belt area and tried to check all the connections. Sure enough, two of the connections had been bent and weren’t making contact so I gently bent them back, reinstalled the plug cable and plugged it in.  It now purrs like a kitten!

It is a very nice unit that combines a well-built treadmill that allows you to increase/decrease the incline as well as the speed, with an exercise bench for doing weights and elastic band exercises. It has hand weights of 2/4/6 pounds so that you can really get the old heart racing as you work the treadmill or just use them on the weight bench.  It has all the computer-generated lights and whistles so that you can keep track of your workout and will be a welcome tonic during bad weather.

I’m off tomorrow for ten days of working in Munich, Lisbon and Wiesbaden. I’ll have the computer so I’ll try and do a few entries if things get exciting. Otherwise, perhaps Cindy will regale you with tales of AAS. 

Best wishes, Cindy and Wm.

From Marseille to Moscow

Happy Birthday Brother Kevin

We are home; we are tired; we are happy.  It was a swell trip and the south of France continues to draw us in. The weather was magnificent and we relished walking among the scented paths and soulful side streets of little towns and big cities. 

We started the trip in Marseille. We had never been there and will most likely not return, but it was very interesting.  Marseille is the second largest city in France and perhaps the dirtiest.  Litter is everywhere and no one makes any attempt to keep anything except the harbor area clean.  While I’ve never been to Northern Africa, it sure felt like I was there.  North Africans inhabit almost all of Marseille and they have brought their culture and costumes with them. The back alleys were just filthy and filled with either garbage or little shops and stalls selling junk. We spent most of our time near the Old Port (Vieux Port) except for a train ride around the town, and even though we were there only two days we saw all of what we went to Marseille to see.  Here are a few photos that were all taken with my iTouch since we forgot our camera.

We rented a car on Monday and placed Marseille firmly in the rear view mirror and headed north on the scenic route towards Avignon. We had been there once nearly thirty years ago and only stayed for one night so the city was really new to us.  It is a marvelously preserved walled city with some of the most beautiful old palaces and old homes in France.  For you history buffs here is some detail, but for the rest of us, just know that it was the seat of the Catholic Papacy from 1309-1377 and the popes did what popes do, built monumental structures to protect themselves. The best one is the Palais des Papes and it has 18-foot thick walls!  Here are a zillion professional photos of the city, and here are a few of ours.

We found that since we were mostly in large tourist cities we didn’t eat as well as we do in the small towns of Burgundy. However, we also discovered that many of the less expensive restaurants that we favor no longer employ French cooks with a tradition of French cooking, but rather use North Africans who for the most part can’t even do a decent omelette, as I found out much to my dismay.  We were rather disappointed in that aspect of the trip and wished we had had an apartment so we could cook since the markets, especially Les Halles in Avignon, were filled with lots and lots of great fresh ingredients.

After three lovely days in Avignon we spend a day touring old places we loved, like Les Baux which is a hilltop fortress, and St. Remy de Provence which is a lovely old city founded by the Romans and still going strong today.  We ended at the home of friends we had met in Bahrain - he French, she Norwegian - and both just charming.  Their home, Les Volets Bleus, is a 250-year-old typical Provencal place, which they have lovingly restored with the utmost elegance and good taste.  It is just delightful, as you can see from the photos above.

It is time to wrap this up since I’m pretty exhausted and haven’t even begun to prepare dinner.  More tomorrow.   Ciao, Cindy and Wm

Outta Here!

I had the strangest experience this morning.  After getting Cindy’s breakfast done and bidding her goodbye at 6:40, I went back to bed hoping for another hour or so of sleep.  I was rather restless and finally looked at the clock and realized it was 7:20 and I knew I wouldn’t get back to sleep so I got up, cleaned up, did my exercises and climbed the stairs before coming back for coffee.  I was just about to sip my coffee when I heard a loud noise and BANG  I was still in bed and it was 8:15!!  Everything after Cindy’s departure was a dream, realistic, but just a dream.  

I had to struggle with the fact that I needed to exercise and do the stairs all over again, but I did. I have finally realized that I’m a lot closer to a stewing chicken than I am to a spring chicken.  My legs and hips really told me that I had some decent exercise yesterday and I knew I needed to do it again today. By the ninth floor I felt as self-righteous as a Texas preacher and by the time I got done my legs were as wobbly as an Elvis impersonator. 

Ever vigilant for new contestants to receive a Darwin Award, I submit this article for your approval.  On a lighter note here is a site, which will allow you to play some videos that display the ‘art’ of Moscow.  One more article, this one about the business interest of the Egyptian Military. I had no idea!

I’ve talked about the terrible condition of secondary roads and most sidewalks here in Moscow, but those of you in the USA should be proud of how your tax dollars are being spent.  You would be excused for thinking that the US Embassy in Moscow is under a dome.  There isn’t an itsy bitsy bit of snow on the sidewalks or streets of the embassy compound. Zero, none, zilch, nada!  It is just remarkable and has become my favorite place to walk in the winter. They use a combination of lots of salt and lots of labor to keep the place snow free. Very impressive to say the least.

I made a cross between a chicken soup and chicken stew last night for dinner. I’m trying to clean out the fridge before we leave so I chopped up all the vegetables from the chicken roast.  I stripped all the meat from the remaining chicken and then combined all of that with the stock I made from the bones of the chicken, added lots of garlic, tarragon, chives and black pepper and the rest of the sour cream/truffle gravy.  It was a hearty, healthy (almost) repast.   Not sure what I’ll do tonight but I’m sure the fridge will be empty of perishables by the time we depart at 6 am tomorrow.

Here is a helpful household hint.  Make sure that when you transition from the kitchen to the laundry area, you leave all your little kitchen habits in the kitchen. I’m referring specifically to my tendency to run my finger around a bottle or jar of something in the kitchen and then sticking my finger in my mouth.  This works well for things like maple syrup, ketchup, honey and milk.  It does not work as well with laundry detergent!  Yep, after doing a bit of creating in the kitchen I went to put another load of laundry in the washer and out of sheer instinct, I quickly used my finger to clean the detergent spout and then licked my finger. Gross is the first word that comes to mind, stupid is right behind it.  You should never be in a position where you have to wash your own mouth out with soap, and I didn’t even swear!

I just put away my snow sneakers, winter parka and heavy gloves for at least a week.  Since we have not had any snow in two days I decided to go and clean the car. There are guys that shovel almost every day but since we have not used the car, our slot is filled with snow all around the car.  I brushed the car off and scraped off the ice and damn near froze to death, it being a chilly -5°.  I saw one of the guys with a shovel and I asked to borrow it, but he indicated that only he can shovel and he would get to it later.  I drove the car around the lot and parked it in a sunny location while I went into the apartment and got a pack of Marlboros.  I then walked over to the guy shoveling and told him, in perfect Russian, what number my parking slot was and indicated I needed it done NOW, as I extended my hand and said Please. These guys aren’t slow and he grabbed the cigarettes in one hand and my hand in another and shook firmly and started to speak with great animation.  I can only assume he said many thanks and I’ll do it right away since the next thing I know he was over at the parking spot with two shovels.  Fifteen minutes later I drove the car back to the space and he guided me into the beautifully cleaned slot and made sure everything was in order.  Ah, the sweet pleasure of a good bribe.

Time to pack and get organized for our early departure.  We’ll have the computer with us and if anything really exciting happens, we’ll be in touch. Otherwise, the blog will rest for a week.   Happy Weekend to all,  Cindy and Wm.

Bahrain Bashing

Another beautiful but very cold day and I opted for doing the stairwell, twice, instead of heading into the great outdoors.  Ten stories in the building and at each landing there is a window, so it was rather fun to see how my view improved with each landing. I stopped a few times to water some plants that are on the fourth and seventh floor landing.  They were as dry as a bone, and yet there are big jugs of water on the floor near the window where they are sitting.  I’m not sure if they are there for the taking or if someone really is supposed to be watching over them. If they are there when we get back from vacation, they are mine.

Every other floor landing has a small door over the garbage chute. I’ve used it a few times when we have had very little garbage since the chute is very small. What I noticed today is that a few people just leave their garbage there, it being too big to fit, so I guess they assume the Green Guys will take it. It made for a malodorous few floors.  I did find a perfectly good computer bag that was thrown on the heap and it is now clean, bright and ready for me to use or give away. 

Today was dedicated to doing taxes and my oh my, is that a job I really dislike.  The new Turbo Tax for Mac does a better job each year, and it is great to not have to enter all the data from scratch each year.  This year we will need the advice of a good international tax man since the rules and regulations for living and working  outside the USA are cumbersome and require lots of finesse. 

Speaking of finesse and the complete lack thereof, we were very saddened to see the ever so predictable response by the government of Bahrain. These were peaceful men, women and children who wanted certain basic civil rights. They were not calling for the overthrow of the government or the toppling of the King, and yet they were brutally attacked resulting it at least five dead and hundreds beaten and gassed. I’m afraid the King has awakened a sleeping dragon and he will not be happy until he has severed its head.

Dinner last night was a traditional baked chicken with carrots, potatoes and onions all roasted in the same pan.  Just for variety I made a special sour cream and truffle gravy, which really made things taste wonderful.  Cindy had been craving vanilla ice cream but all we could find was rather expensive Movenpick and even they didn’t have just plain vanilla.  I finally found some local ice cream that is packaged like a big roll of  cookie dough; you just slice off what you want and the rest goes back in the freezer, which in this case is the door to the balcony outside our bedroom.

OK, back to the taxes.  Ciao, Cindy and Wm

Roundabout in a Square Plaza

A bright and beautiful day in Moscow with the temperatures hurling up to 3°, yet it was lovely to get out and walk as far as I could before the pain in my face was too much to handle.  I managed to get in a solid hour of walking, although not all in one shot, but it got me out of the apartment.  I stopped for a few things at the grocery store on the way back, just enough stuff to get us through until Friday night.  The joint was jumping and for the first time ever, there were no shopping carts or baskets available, and the folks waiting for them were none too happy.  I carry my own bags so I just wandered around placing this and that in the bag, until I was informed that perhaps it would be better to use a cart that had suddenly appeared.  In all the other places we have lived, you could always use your own bag and then empty it at the cashier, but I think they are a bit afraid of shoplifting so I was duly chastened, but in a very nice way. 

The vegetable section is really looking tired.  There don’t seem to be any deliveries of anything that I really want.  For three days now I’ve been looking for eggplant and broccoli, but can’t find them anywhere.  We get so used to having everything available all the time in the States that it seems strange not to be able to get ‘summer’ vegetables in the dead of winter.  I did find some lovely carrots, first time they have looked good in weeks. Don’t know where they come from but they are perfect. Because there were so many people shopping, I had to queue up and wait my turn to have the one person at the scales weigh and tag the carrots and onions I purchased. This gave me a chance to watch the dynamic of the babushka ballet.

There is a definite pecking order involved with this and it seems to have a lot to do with age and infirmary.  One babushka, who was very old and very frail, had already pushed my cart and therefore me out of her way as she took ten minutes to select three carrots.  Having made her selection she did an end round and hobbled up to the back of the kid weighting the vegetables and placed hers right in front of everyone else.  No one said a word.  Emboldened by this move, another babushka, not as old and certainly not as hobbled, tried to do the same thing with her basket of vegetables and was soundly shouted down by the assembled multitudes and banished to the back of the well established line.

I came home and had just taken off all my snow/cold weather gear when the bell rang and four count them, four Green Guys were there with one technician dressed in black. He had to have been from the gas company and for the next twenty minutes they came in and out, chatted, opened the range, used tools and gauges, closed the range and cleaned things up before proudly asking me to come into the kitchen.  The technician slowly explained to me in Russian what he had done while the Green Guys all nodded, and then he lit up the range.  Imagine my surprise when the flame was still orange.  I said, the flame is still orange, and they all agreed, but, said the technician, it is ok.  I just don’t get it!

We went out for dinner last night with two of Cindy’s colleagues and a visiting artist who has been at AAS for about a week. We went to the Munich beer hall and had a lovely time.  The walk home was really cold since the temperature had dropped to -14°, but I had a lovely lamb stew keeping me warm and Cindy’s mushroom soup had done the trick for her.

As you might expect, Cindy and I have been following the events in Bahrain quite carefully. We could not for the life of us figure out where Pearl Square was, the epicenter of the protests.  We knew exactly where the Pearl Roundabout was - it is a focal point for traffic in Bahrain - but it certainly isn’t a square.  Well it turns out that the media wanted to have another SQUARE just like Tahrir Square in Egypt, even though this is a circle – a traffic circle with a huge statue in the middle, not a square in the sense of a public plaza.  Oh, the way the news is manipulated for the sake of sensation. Those of you who read our missives when we were in Bahrain know that this protest was something we anticipated, more than the US Government did, that’s for sure.

We live in exciting times!  Ciao, Cindy and Wm.

Civility Dies in Moscow

Civility in Moscow died today at 11:21!  For those of you who have followed this blog since August, you will know that Civility in Moscow had been on life support for some time and thus its death must come as no surprise.  As I was navigating the narrow, icy footpaths of trampled snow that pass for sidewalks, I noticed that dog owners had decided to allow their animals to do their business right in the middle of the path, so that now, in addition to black ice, we have to avoid brown poop mines.  But that isn’t what killed Civility.  It wasn’t even the minus five-degree weather with the strong winds pumping out of the north that spelled the demise of Civility.

Death came when not one, not two, not three, but nine cars decided that the best way to avoid sitting in snarled traffic was to pull up onto the narrow sidewalk and drive down said sidewalk for a full block and then try to reenter the stalled cars, thus gaining a ten car advantage! They did not seem to mind in the least that those of us trying to walk on this sidewalk were forced to jump into snow banks to avoid being hit, and even then, one person was clipped by a side view mirror. Eventually even the sidewalk cars where forced to slow down and then stop since there was no way to reenter the traffic in a speedy manner, and this is when my keys came out and I just held them at waist level as I tried to maneuver around the queue of cars.  If a car came too close to me, well that car now has a souvenir of deviant behavior.

I eventually got to the embassy where I purchased skimmed milk and honey for my honey.  At one point on the trip I was so cold from the wind pelting my face that I walked into the entrance of a supermarket and took off my hat to put on my balaclava.  It never dawned on me that I must look like a guy getting ready to rob the store, but I did notice several people watching me with great interest.  I also learned that it is almost impossible to secure a hat while wearing mittens.  I think I’ll stay in the apartment for the rest of the week and just walk up and down the stairs. It is supposed to get colder and colder each day ending up with temperatures on Friday in the minus 12-14 range, and that is the predicted high!  (Weather in Marseille for Saturday is expected to be sunny with a high of 54°)

Our Valentine’s dinner last night started with glasses of Champagne, Russian to be sure, but still called Champagne because ‘under European Union law, as well as treaties accepted by most nations, sparkling wines produced outside the champagne region, even wine produced in other parts of France, do not have the right to use the term "champagne.” In much of the former Soviet Union, including the three Baltic States, who are now EU members, the term Sovetskoye Shampanskoye continues to be used, with the governments of those countries claiming that the rights to the use of the word “Champagne” was granted in perpetuity to the Russian Imperial Government by the French and that this cannot be rescinded.’

This was followed by a Russian salad of beets, potatoes and carrots (the Russians love their root vegetables) mixed with a bit of fresh garlic, chopped pickles, tarragon, mayonnaise, two kinds of mustard and fresh chives.  I served it in a fresh green pepper half on a bed of spinach.  

Russian Salad ala Embee

The main course was baked penne with vegetables.  I sautéed onion, garlic, shaved carrot, chopped red and green peppers, and mushrooms in a big wok and just before they were tender I added some oregano, salt, pepper, lots of pepperincino, and fresh parsley.  I dumped the cooked penne into the vegetable mixture, along with a quarter cup of the cooking water. I then added eight ounces of ricotta, some skimmed milk and a touch of butter and mixed everything together before transferring it to a baking dish. I covered it with a mixture of finely chopped garlic, seasoned breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and chives and let it all bake until the top was brown and crusty.  It was rather tasty.  We ended the meal with pieces of fresh apple strudel from the bakery served with Crème William.  This is nothing more than some sour cream, mixed with two drops of real vanilla, a bit of cream, cinnamon and some coarse granulated sugar.  (From CC: FABULOUS)

I had to cook between visits from the Green Guys.  The flame on our gas oven/stove is more orange than blue and I know that isn’t good.  Normally this comes from too much gas pressure so I thought for sure the boys would know this and be able to fix it.  I studied how to say, the flame is orange not blue. I even printed it out in Russian just in case I couldn’t make myself understood.  I told them what was wrong, they didn’t understand, I showed them the printout, they repeated exactly what I thought I had just said, and they laughed. They then proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes looking, talking, scratching, turning the gas on and off, scratching some more, but not once did I see a tool, a gauge, or any activity that might indicate that they knew what they were doing. I swear if there where three of them I would have had the complete collection of Stooges!

That’s it for today; I’m going to be holding a wake for Civility as soon as Cindy gets home so I need to chill the wine.  Best wishes, Cindy and Wm.

From CC: I wimped out yesterday and ran on the treadmill after school, but today it was sunny and not windy so I suited up and ran outside for 20-some minutes.  The forest is beautiful with lots of new snow, and my oh my those frozen paths are crunchy.  I did notice a lack of other people today, compared to normal winter days – I usually encounter a few dozen walkers and cross-country skiers as well as one guy on a bicycle (yikes), but today I encountered only 2 people.  Even Russians are finding these temperatures a bit too cool.

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day

I’m about to throw myself out of the apartment and go to the grocery store to see what I might be able to find that would make a special Valentine’s Day dinner.  Last night, for some reason, I remembered something that someone told me that made me shudder, which is why I want to cook a special meal tonight.

I had been working in Germany for Boston University for about five years when the Dean of the College of Education, who incidentally reads this blog daily, made me an assistant dean.  Well that really frosted the shorts of the VP who was in charge of things in Europe, especially in light of the fact that his girlfriend was in my department and I would have supervisory responsibility over her.  In an effort to smooth things over, I volunteered to drive her from Heidelberg to Brussels, where we both had different meetings to attend. It was a very long, tedious drive and the more we talked the more I realized that we had nothing in common.  However, she was fluent in French and I was looking forward to having a decent meal after this long trip. 

When we got to the hotel we arranged to meet in the lobby at six.  I had spoken to the concierge and had a list of four restaurants that were typical and not too expensive.  I was looking at the list when she arrived and she asked if I had picked out something.  I told her I had a short list and showed her and much to our mutual horror, she thought I was talking about movies and I thought we were talking about restaurants.  Here we were in one of the gastronomic capitals of the world and she wanted to go to the movies.  That is when she said the words that still make me queasy, “I wish they would just make a pill that you take once a day so that we didn’t have to waste any time eating!”  Needless to say, we said our goodbyes and I avoided her as best I possibly could for the next four years. (In case you are wondering, I had a memorable meal that night that involved patés, mussels, and frites with three mayonnaise dips, Muscadet, mini-fruit tarts and delicious Cognac.)

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. I had made a caprese salad which I served on spinach and arugula as a starter, and then I went into the kitchen and made some great potato/carrot pancakes using the potato/carrot smash that we had the night before.  I first mixed three eggs and three tablespoons of flour in a big bowl and let it sit for a bit. Then I added about two cups of the potato/carrot and I stirred that together until it was all nicely blended.  I added some salt, pepper, tarragon and chives and mixed it up again. This time I let it all sit until I was ready to fry the pancakes.  Meanwhile, I had cut thin slices of lighted salted salmon and in another pan I had caramelized an onion and five cloves of garlic.  When we were ready I made the pancakes and then placed them on the plate, covered them with the onion mixture, laid a few slices of salmon on each pancake, covered the salmon with yogurt and decorated each pancake with some chives.  DELICIOUS, if I do say so myself.

I challenged the weather this afternoon to go to the grocery store.  The weather won.  It faked me out with lots of sunshine, blue skies and what looked like light winds. Turns out the wind was coming from the opposite side of the apartment building and we were on the leeward side.  Once I walked around the building I was pummeled by a very strong wind that made the nine-degree temperature seem well below zero.  I had a very specific dish I was going to make tonight and every one of the main ingredients was not available at the store.  I’ll improvise!

On this Valentine’s Day let us pause and give thanks that we aren’t trying to celebrate in Malaysia.  Who knew that romantic love was not suitable for Muslims? And speaking of romantic love, what in the world is poor BerLUSTconi going to do today? With all of his girlfriends and all of the press he gets, someone is bound to feel slighted!  I’ll bet there will be no celebrating Valentine’s Day in Bahrain, even though the King, in an effort to buy some love from Bahrainis, gave each family $2700.  Today is scheduled to be a Day of Rage and Bahrain might not know how to handle it.  And finally, a sad story about two teenagers who will not be celebrating Valentine’s Day today.  Perhaps however, they did qualify for next year’s Darwin Award.

Moscow: Two students died on Sunday night in Moscow after they attempted to ride on the roof of a metro train, a police source said. One of the bodies was found on the roof with 'multiple fractures' while the other was found on the platform a short distance away, the source said. They are believed to have died after being slammed into the roof of the tunnel. Both the dead were teenage tourism students at a Moscow university.

Best wishes for the day, Cindy and Wm.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Being housebound ain’t so bad. Cindy is playing sweet music on her viola in the other room as I gaze out into the cold (4 degree) windswept snow. Our apartment is warm, we have food and wine and each other and nature has a way of slowing us down when we really need to slow down. We did venture forth this morning on what Cindy calls a “wake-up walk” – going outside to get your blood moving almost as soon as you’re out of bed. We had fully intended to go to the little French café/bakery that is not too far from the apartment but we got halfway there and headed in another direction. The wind was fierce and the temperature cold, so cold that our faces, even protected, started to fall off!  We shopped for some smoked salmon and brown bread and raced home to seal the doors and windows.  Not to worry, a week from today we’ll be eating croissants and sipping café crèmes on the quais of Marseille.

I did make dinner last night, which is a good thing since the weather was just as bad but it was also dark, which makes walking even more treacherous.  I defrosted a couple of tuna fillets and pan seared them in a bit of butter. Just before they were done, I added some Newman’s Own sesame salad dressing to the pan along with the juice of a half lemon. When it was reduced to nice syrup I placed the tuna on a hot plate and covered it with the sauce.  I served this with a mélange of smashed potato and carrot, with roasted garlic and Parmesan. Boiled peas added to the color and fresh flavors, especially nice with a lovely bottle of white Burgundy. Cindy was happy to have me home.  I never worry about her surviving while I’m gone; she was after all a professional caterer and knows her way around a kitchen. It is, however, much nicer to be waited on and served like you are in a restaurant. It is a good tonic for deep winter.

Random musings as I read the news:

1.     I never liked Clarence Thomas and I don’t like him now. This is what is wrong with lifetime appointments. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13thomas.html?hp

2.     I used to love Guadalajara and now it is a haven for drug lords and look what they have done to this beautiful city. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/02/12/mexico.bar.shooting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

3.     I like cruising. I like small intimate ships that take you to small harbors and quaint inlets.  Anyone planning on surprising me with a gift of a cruise, don’t choose this ship.  Thanks. http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/travel/13allure.html?src=dayp

Cindy made me go out into the cold again this afternoon but this time I had on more clothes, including a balaclava.  While it kept me warm, it was impossible to wipe my nose so I don’t plan on wearing that much more.  It has snowed all day and we are now very much in for the night and approaching The Hour.

Best wishes for a lovely Sunday, Cindy and Wm

PS from CC:  No one makes Wm do anything!  I simply announced I was going for another walk and after a lot of whining and some banter about waving at me from the window, there he was at the doorway, all covered up and looking very much like a bank robber.  I have to agree that the weather is miserable today, but with the right clothing it’s hardly noticeable and certainly nothing to write home about.  Ha!

Iron Maiden, Trials, Tribulations and Tide

Saturday, February 12, 2011

By now you know that my phone conversation with Mubarak ended well; still waiting to hear from Medvedev!

I must say that when I arrived at the airport yesterday, I did not dillydally once past customs. That is the spot where they set off the bomb that killed 36 people and I hurried out of the area to the Aeroexpress train ticket counter, which is on the opposite side of the terminal.  I found no comfort in reading an article while I waited for the train that said the bombing had been a ‘family affair’.

It was snowing quite hard as we approached Moscow and the pilot told us we were going to have to circle for thirty minutes since the airport was closed.  Normally, I would not like to hear that but I had hoped that we might land in the other big airport, which is much closer to our apartment.  The airport did open and we landed on time, instead of forty minutes early.  I’ve never been on a plane that taxied slower to the gate.  While the runway was nice and clean, the taxi areas were just a mess with lots of uneven surfaces due to ice build up.  This gave me more time to check out the Iron Maiden Final Frontier Tour Boeing 757 that was parked at one of the gates.  I’ve certainly heard of Iron Maiden even though I couldn’t hum any of their songs, but I was impressed that they had their own plane.  I was even more impressed when I found out that the band’s leader, Bruce Dickinson, is also the pilot for the plane!

Iron Maiden's 757

I really wanted to take a taxi to the apartment since I had three bags, but it was Friday afternoon and it had snowed and I knew it would be a three to four hour trip, so I opted for the train/Metro/walking option.  Actually, it wasn’t really walking; it was more like hauling and dragging.  The train was a piece of cake since I could take a luggage cart right to the train car.  However, getting the bags from the train to the Metro was a real pain in the rear.  You would think that a Metro stop that is at a major rail station would anticipate that people with luggage would use it, but it isn’t so.  There are no automated doors, which is really hard with three bags. There are no ramps, just two sets of stairs, which again isn’t easy with luggage and once you finally get into the Metro, you have to stand near the door, which is the only place that has space for luggage.

Once I got to my station it was a thirty-minute hike (normally about 10 minutes), dragging luggage through fresh snow that covered very old ice.  By the time I got to the apartment, I was sweating and sore and vowing never, never, never to travel with that much luggage.  If we had access to embassy mail, as the Canadians and British do, I could have mailed all the stuff back, but the US Embassy will not allow access to the mail to employees of AAS.  It was all worth it however when Cindy got home and realized I had brought her back everything that she needed. She showered me with favors!

We went to a restaurant last night that had been recommended by one of Cindy’s colleagues. It was a typical ethnic Russian place that was very attractive and had excellent food, perhaps the best we have had in Moscow, but oh my goodness was it expensive.  I kept looking and looking at the prices and tried to figure out how they could get so much money for so little food.  One eight-ounce bottle of water was six bucks and the cheapest little, little glass of wine was fifteen. The food was innovative; I started with little ravioli (called pelmeni) stuffed with salmon and served with lemon butter and red caviar on the side. Cindy had pelmeni stuffed with duck and fresh ginger in a marvelous sauce.  I really don’t mind paying lots of money for good food, but I draw the line on spending lots of money for bad wine.  Perhaps we were paying for the entertainment, which was quite nice and quite loud. It was like a gypsy band with violin, guitar, accordion and singer/tambourine lady.  I suppose that in a city with 114 billionaires, places like this can thrive.  Tonight I’m awake enough to cook.

We spend a little part of this afternoon cleaning the car, which had a one-week accumulation of ice and snow (you never would have guessed that Cindy had cleaned it off only last Sunday).  Once cleaned we had a heck of a time getting it out of the packed snow, so we placed tide detergent under the front wheels and it worked like a charm.  Tide should make that part of their advertising, ‘whiter than white, brighter than bright and provides wonderful traction.’

I slept for ten hours last night but I’m still a bit tired. I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll be one hundred percent alert, which will be in stark contrast to my fifty percent today.

Best wishes, Cindy and Wm.

Dom Sweet Dom

I have arrived!  It was a very, very pleasant flight, which I’ll talk about in a moment. Right now I’m very miffed with Mubarak.  He had promised me he would step down and the minute I get on the plane and I’m out of touch, he reneges! Same thing with Medvedev. First he tells me he isn’t going to mess around with the Time Zones or with Daylight Saving Time and again, the minute I get on the plane he reneges!  What’s with these so-called leaders? 

There are airlines and there is Singapore Airlines, period!  Their coach service rivals almost all of the Business Class services in the world.  What you don’t have is a lot of space, but the space you do have has been so thoughtfully designed to maximize your comfort to the point that you almost don’t notice. Each seat in coach has a ten-inch monitor, which offers 60 movies, 70 TV shows and tons of music, all ON DEMAND!  That means you start it and stop it at your convenience.  The seats are so comfortable that you swear you are in business.  When you recline the seat, it also moves forward, giving you a much more relaxed position to sleep. They even have footrests that have infinite adjustments so you can get it just the way you like it.  They even provide you with a big fluffy pillow, in a real linen pillowcase, as well as a big plush blanket so you can get really cozy at night.

When the doors were closed they came around and handed out piping hot towels, then toilet kits and then MENUS, yes, menus in coach.  I’ve attached them since they are so interesting.  They specifically ordered this 777 so that it had two additional toilets in coach, which cut down on the galley space but the flight attendants told me that that had been redesigned also and was very efficient.  Each bathroom is constantly cleaned and restocked with hand and face cream, cologne, after-shave, combs, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream and female hygiene products.  The mirrors have those little lights around them so that you can actually see your face.

When we reached cruising altitude almost everyone was already watching a movie as the flight attendants came by with a cocktail service.  When they were finished with that, they came around and asked if anyone wanted another drink.  Incidentally, all the alcohol is complimentary, unlike all the other carriers now.  I could go on and on but you get the point. These are well-trained people who seem to love what they do.  It is an airline that respects everyone who travels with them, in whatever class of service, and provides a superior product.  Someone asked why I flew all the way to Houston just to fly with Singapore Air; now you know.  Besides that, even with the flight to Houston and the overnight, it was still cheaper to fly Singapore than it would have been to fly United from Dulles, and I can assure you the experience on United would not have been as enjoyable.

Okay, I’m tired and need to clean up for dinner so I’ll end this, happy to be home with my darling Cindy and looking forward to a lovely weekend. Hope you have a good one also.  Ciao, William

Not Bad for Coach

On Leaving America

On Departing America

I’ll be boarding a Singapore Airline flight from Houston to Moscow in a matter of hours, but wanted to get a few impressions on the record.  My eleven days here have been filled with lots of lovely experiences and a few not so pleasant. 

I was home for just a day before I had to leave for a series of meetings in Greensboro, NC.  I had rented a car when I landed since I had decided to drive to Greensboro, partially because it was just too expensive to fly, but mostly because I love to drive and thought this would be a wonderful trip.  I was correct!  I drove down the spine of Virginia on beautiful 81.  I have been on 81 before in the early spring and it was just spectacular, but even in the dead of winter it is a lovely road.  The trip took about five hours and from the minute I arrived at the hotel until the moment I departed, I was constantly bathed in the warm waters of southern hospitality. 

We have all been exposed to ‘faked’ hospitality, like Disney, or grand hotels, but what I experienced was genuine and heartfelt.  It didn’t matter whether they worked for the lovely hotel or for the Quick Stop gas station, everyone was courteous, smiling and soft spoken.  Their greetings were sincere and when they invite you to come back again, they mean it.

In addition to my meetings, I had the great pleasure of dining twice with friends of my host in Greensboro.  Goodness was it fun to be around adults who speak English and have lots of varied interests.  I realized that for most of my time in Moscow, I’m alone, or at best, with young teachers, who while committed and intelligent, have not yet had the life experiences to be as totally interesting as my dinner companions.  It was an unexpected and very much valued part of my trip.

Upon my return to West Virginia I had three days to play, cook, talk and laugh with the family.  Colin and Meagan will soon be heading to New Zealand for a two to three year assignment, so we had a grand time looking at maps, reading about adventure travels, and sorting out all the little things that have to be done before they depart.  Colin and I continued our cooking experiences by preparing fancy dinners and informal lunches.  We watched the Super Bowl with the WV grandkids after cooking up a Super Bowl dinner.  I couldn’t believe how long the spectacle was, especially with that silly half-time show.  By the time it was over, I was exhausted and fell fast asleep until eight the next morning.

I stupidly lost my drivers license on my United flight from Paris.  The plane was a 777 and it only had about 70 people in coach, which meant that there were lots of empty rows of five seats.  I took a three-hour nap in one of those rows and all of my credit cards fell out of my pocket as I moved around trying to get comfortable.  I thought I had picked them all up but obviously I missed the driver’s license.  This meant that I had to drive to the local DMV, which is about fifteen minutes away.  I was dreading the process, but really needed to get my license replaced.  Much to my joy and amazement, the entire process took only about twelve minutes, most of which was spend filling out a short form and waiting for my new license to be laminated.  Everyone there was so friendly and professional and I remembered why I have always enjoyed living in small towns.  Incidentally, the three ladies behind the counter all agreed that the Black Eye Peas were silly.

The dark side of my trip involved what is jokingly called commercial aviation.  I had to fly from Dulles to Houston to pick up my flight to Moscow.  Since it was a one-way trip, I was condemned to a connection in Charlotte, NC.  A non-stop flight on Continental would have cost more than eight hundred dollars, while a connecting flight on US Air was only two hundred.  I had no problem with the service on US Air, they were on time, and safe, which is all you really need.  My problem was with my fellow passengers, all of whom seem to have gotten very, very large.  I read about Michelle Obama’s efforts to fight obesity, about the FDA trying to get folks to eat better, but judging from my experience on just two flights yesterday, these appeals are falling on deaf ears. 

My Fellow Traveler Catching a Nap

The first flight was on one of those Regional Jets, which means small and packed.  It was just a one-hour flight to Charlotte and yet more than half of the people who boarded the flight were carrying enough calories to go transatlantic.  I can assure you that the sights, smells and sounds of these folks consuming their food at nine am was nothing short of disgusting.  I don’t know how they were able to finish everything within the hour.  I had a very long layover, more than four hours, so I had ample time to walk the airport and view the ample bodies of my fellow travelers.  The old joke about how people who used to take the bus now take the airplane has never been truer, but now it is more like the people who used to clean the bathrooms at the bus stations are taking flights.  No more dressing well to fly and certainly bathing has become optional.  It is just depressing.  The last leg of the trip was a three-hour journey on a fully packed 737.  If you have ever been on a bus where they have flip up seats that can be lowered into the aisle when they need more seats, you will understand how I felt when I got up to go to the back of the plane to use the toilet.  I was in row seven (I had to pay $25 for an aisle seat) and when I turned to go back I thought they had these flip up seats since it looked like the aisle was completely filled.  There were no flip up seats, it was just people spilling out of their narrow seats.  Feet were in the aisle, shoulders, and ham hock arms flowing into the free space like so much molten lava taking the path of least resistance.  I had to walk sideways like a crab in order to get to the rear of the plane. 

Getting off of that flight was like getting out of prison and I reveled in the space and relative fresh air.  Since I’m traveling with far too much luggage, I had to check it and it took one hour for the bags to get from the plane to the baggage area.  Wouldn’t you think that when they charge you $25 to check the first bag and $50 for the second, they would be able to get you your bags in record time?  Houston was experiencing record cold and standing outside in the raw wind waiting twenty minutes for the hotel shuttle prepared me for my return to Moscow.

So, I’m off and excited to get back to Cindy and to Moscow.  With luck the Moscow Musings will be start to flow by Saturday.

Best wishes to all, William