More Winter Fun

After coming back from Greece, we quickly adjusted to the cold weather.  It was pretty frigid at first, with highs in the single digits, but before long it warmed up to the upper 20s - and yes, when the temperature hits about 30, it actually feels warm.  Before that, though, we had a problem with the heat in my office building and for about a week, most of us were interviewing visa applicants in our coats.  Unfortunately, you can't type wearing gloves, so as far as our cold fingers were concerned, we had to just suck it up.

But eventually, they got the heat back on and shortly after that the temperatures warmed up for it to snow, and snow it did.  Apparently this is the most snow Moscow has gotten for over 100 years, and it's still only February.  I was kind of surprised to read that, but I guess it's just been more of a steady snow rather than a single huge storm, which makes the overall total less noticeable.

We've been making the most of the wintry weather.  Stephanie and I got a babysitter for Aiden and went ice skating in Gorky Park.

It took us awhile to get our balance again, but neither of us took a spill.  The park was really nice because rather than just a circular rink, there were a series of paths winding through the park for us to skate on.

There was even some wildlife on display.

As an added bonus, the park had set up a series of neat exhibits with optical illusions and such.  So when our ankles got tired, we were able to walk around and enjoy that for a bit.

Stephanie swears she doesn't see the optical illusion in this room, where she looks disproportionately sized depending on where she stands, but I do. Click on the picture to see the full comparison.

Stephanie scored a big win with a little plastic sled she picked up.  We found a nice little hill in a nearby park and took Aiden sledding.  He seemed somewhat nonplussed by the whole thing, which is a surprise given how much he likes his slide.  Oh well, Stephanie and I had a good time taking him down the hill anyway.

But despite all the fun we've been having, I'd probably say the best discovery has been the movie theater we discovered down the street, which plays English language movies with Russian subtitles.  So far we've seen Anna Karenina and Les Miserables, both of which we enjoyed immensely.  The theater itself is very nice, with smaller, more intimate theaters, an old fashioned decor, and big comfortable chairs with plenty of leg room.  They even have a cafe with excellent food, which makes it nice to get there early to buy tickets and then enjoy a bite to eat.

I have to say, with winter more than half over, it hasn't been half bad. I know that February can typically be the coldest month, but I think we can deal with it if it happens.