Victory Day

Happy Victory Day

Moscow was in a festive mood today to celebrate Victory Day.  The parade in our neighborhood only had armored vehicles since all the cool stuff was in Red Square, which was by invitation only. It was there that they had all the troops, bands and flyovers, but we were happy to be outside with the masses enjoying good weather and breathing lots of lovely diesel fumes.  I took a few pictures and for every one you see, we saw twelve of the same thing, so it was a long parade!   Notice the orthodox domes in the background; they seemed a bit incongruous.  Here is what the swells saw in Red Square.

We walked over with our friends from the apartment complex, one of the few couples close to our age.  We have had some fun times with them since they are irreverent and quite independent thinkers.  At the end of the parade we marched over to the German Beer Hall, which on Victory Day over the Germans seemed appropriate.  Most Russians still have a hard time dealing with the fact that sixty-six years ago they defeated Nazi Germany and yet today they can’t hold a candle to the wealth and productivity of the vanquished.  We settled in with big mugs of Hacker-Pschorr and then ordered lots of good old-fashioned German dishes.  It was a lovely end to the parade.

Cindy and I went back to the espresso place we found yesterday and enjoyed another perfectly prepared coffee before taking a forty-five minute walk to stretch our legs.  Tonight is the big boat ride and fireworks display so we are resting to make sure we can stay awake until 11:30. Poor Cindy has to go to work tomorrow, which seems like poor planning to me on the part of the school – she should have a 4-day weekend, not just a 3-day weekend.

Perfect Daiquiri

Plu-Perfect Daiquiri

Last night we were too full from lunch to have dinner so at cocktail time I decided to do something a bit different.  I had a few limes and some nice rum so I made some good old-fashioned Daiquiris.  I haven’t made these in a while but they sure were fun to make and even more fun to drink. About eight Cindy was a bit peckish so I made her a small bowl of fried rice with egg, which was just the right amount of food.  We watched a little of an old movie, The V.I.P.s with Burton, Taylor (both Elizabeth and Rod), and Louis Jordan. It is a strained movie but there was a really good scene with Orson Welles talking to a very young reporter played by David Frost. Have no idea where the movie was going but it was entertaining until we went to bed.

Time to get assembled for the boat ride.  Details tomorrow.   Ciao, Cindy and Wm.