Croatian New Year

As usual, it's taken me longer than usual to get around to updating this.  Well, I guess it happens enough that it really isn't longer than usual, it's just usual.  Time to admit that parenthood means less frequent blog posts.  Of course, all the work related to the Sochi Olympics hasn't helped, but more on that in another post.  For now I want to catch up on our New Year's trip to Croatia.

We started out by leaving late and barely made the train to the airport, but  a last minute dash got us through the doors just before it departed.  The travel couldn't have been better after that.  We had the smoothest check-in process ever and then Aiden slept for almost the entire flight.  The airport in Zagreb is tiny so we had our bags and were through passport control in less than 15 minutes.  Not long after that we were able to catch a bus into town.  It was a nice coach bus and the driver was so startlingly friendly (particularly when compared to the typically surly service in Russia) that I initially wondered if there was going to be a catch - like an extra $30 charge at the end.  But no, Croatians are just generally friendly and helpful!

We got to our hotel, which was very nice - we splurged a bit since our itinerary required us to spend two nights on a train - and then headed out to find lunch.

The first thing we discovered is that there is a strong Italian influence in Croatian cuisine.  It shouldn't be surprising given the proximity, but being as Croatia is slavic (slavic enough that I could understand a fair amount of the language), it was an odd juxtaposition.  We found a wonderful lunch in a brick vaulted basement and enjoyed smoked duck breast, pumpkin gnocchi, and some wonderful dark beer.

So we were off to a good start, but had a bit of a scare shortly thereafter.  Part of our plan was to spend a few days on the coast, which was most easily reached by train.  The choice was between a 6 hour train ride during the day or an 8 hour ride over night. With Aiden, the overnight seemed the easiest option.  So I made sure that the train was running on New Year's Eve and made our hotel reservations accordingly.  But when I got to the train station, the lady told me there was no overnight train on New Year's Eve - insisted that was so, even though I had an e-mail from customer service saying there would be one.  Desperate, but not defeated, I went to the customer service center, where a nice lady said that of course there would be a train.  She even sent a man with me to the ticket counter to make sure there was no further confusion.  It was likely a language problem, but it didn't really matter.  I got the tickets and with a sigh of relief went back to the hotel to get Aiden and Stephanie to go sightseeing.

It was overcast, but significantly warmer than Moscow, so we enjoyed ourselves.  Zagreb has beautiful architecture.  It's amazing to think that it was less than 20 miles from the front lines of the war with Serbia only 20 years ago.

We made our way around town into the evening, when all the lights came on and stopped at a nice restaurant with a fairy tale theme to enjoy some traditional Croatian food like strukli, which is sort of a twist on mac'n cheese, but so much more delicious.

We also enjoyed the advent markets, that run all the way until New Years.  They feature all kinds of festive treats like hot chestnuts, mulled wine, rum punch, sausages, and more.  There was even a stand that sold chocolate that had been made to look like rusted tools and pieces of metal.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it had been a very long day.  Despite being only a three hour flight from Moscow, there was a three hour time difference so it was past midnight by our clock when we went to bed.  Aiden was so far gone he didn't even wake up when we changed him into his pajamas.

After a good nights sleep we went down for a wonderful breakfast including local sausages and more strukli!  Plus there was a Croatian breakfast item sort of like spatzel, that was very good.  So I guess you could say there is also a fair amount of Germanic influence in Croatia - also not surprising given the location.

Now the tricky part was that we needed to check out of the hotel that morning, but our train wasn't scheduled until 11 pm that night, leaving us a lot of time to fill outside on a rather chilly New Year's Eve.  There was still plenty to see, including the Zagreb Cathedral, which like most of the churches we visited, had live Christmas trees inside.

The day passed faster than we expected. We visited the Dulac market, which reminded me of Shrek and made us jealous with all the affordable fresh greens, which are unavailable in Moscow this time of year.  And really, we just enjoyed ourselves wandering the quaint streets of the upper town and taking in the view of the lower town.

In one square there were a couple of boys playing the saxophone, they looked about 11 or 12 years old.  It was mostly Christmas music, but then they suddenly started playing the Star Wars theme.  But it looked like they were racking up some good change in their instrument cases.

In the afternoon, we warmed up a bit and gave Aiden a thrill by riding around in the little blue tourist trolley that is shaped like a steam engine. He was so excited and we were glad to be warm!

Most business closed down early on New Year's Eve, including restaurants, so we decided to eat at the hotel given that they had a very nice dining room and told us they would be open.  We were a bit disappointed, however, to learn that the dining room was reserved for a private party and were shown to a very spare, very hot room in the back by the kitchen door.  In some respects it was probably for the best as Aiden could run around without bothering anyone and the food tasted just has good as it would have in the nice dining room.

After dinner we had to brave the cold for a few more hours.  There was a nice setup in  the park near our hotel with live music and lots of refreshment stands.   There were even other kids for him to run around with.

There were also firecrackers. Lots of them. Some quite large.  They were lobbed into the darkness by kids of all ages, many of them encouraged by their parents.  Apparently, as in Tajikistan, not enough people have had fingers blown off by handing explosive devices for them to consider limiting the sale and usage of such items by minors.  I suppose Croatia isn't a particularly high target for terrorism either, but after more than 10 years post 9-11, I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with unexpected explosions.   We decided to abandon the park and made our way to the main square where they were gearing up for the big countdown.  No firecrackers there.

 But eventually it was time to catch the train and we had to walk past the park. Firecrackers had given way to small fireworks, which were a bit better because at least you can see what they are.  The downside was that Aiden had fallen asleep and woke up as we were making our way to the station and he was not happy about it.

The conductor for the train was extremely friendly and helped us get our luggage on board, gave us night kits including toothbrushes and let us get settled.  I think we were the only ones in the sleeper car, so it was nice and quiet.  Once Aiden went back to sleep, Stephanie and I shared a small bottle of champagne at midnight and watched the fireworks over the countryside as we rode by.  All in all, it was a wonderful way to ring in the New Year.

We arrived in Split, on the Dalmatian coast just before sunrise.  It was warmer and beautiful, situated right on the water.  Split is very old, having originally been the site of a palace for a Roman emperor around the 3rd century AD.   The old town is built entirely within the walls of the palace, so everywhere you go, you are walking inside the ruins.  It's fascinating.

We dropped our bags off at our hotel but couldn't check in until 11 am.  They were nice enough to give us a free breakfast even though we just arrived.  The hotel was located just outside the western gate of the palace and we passed through on our way to breakfast to be greeted by the sight of the city cathedral and campanile.  What a welcome!

The campanile is only a couple hundred years old, but the cathedral inhabits the mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who had the palace constructed.   There are still columns and arches everywhere and the vestibule of the private quarters of the palace  looks much as it would have originally. What history!  Breakfast wasn't available for a bit so we walked around.  Everything was nice until we stumbled upon a man sitting on one of the old roman walls, apparently relieving himself.  Of course, that only made Aiden want to climb all over that same wall for the rest of our time in Split.  Needless to say, we didn't let him climb that one or any other.

Breakfast was great and we headed out to explore a bit.  Even aside from the original Roman structure, wealthy families over the centuries built their own little palaces within the walls, so there is lots to gawk at while walking through the narrow streets.  There are even sphinxes that the Romans brought in from Egypt, it's like having free reign in a living historical museum.  And as a bonus, we were there in the off season so it was not crowded at all and we were able to give Aiden lots of freedom to explore on his own (as long as we could see he wasn't climbing any walls.

Once we were able to check into the hotel, we let Aiden take a nap.  When the church bells rang for about 15 minutes at noon I thought he would wake up, but he slept for a good long while. We did some more exploring after that and then went for dinner.  We enjoyed a local pizza with seafood and olives along with their specialty of black risotto (black from cuttlefish ink), not to mention some nice local red wine.  What luxury - and for half the price of a meal out in Moscow.  It's funny, after all this time, we're having reverse sticker shop when faced with reasonable prices.

The town at night is, if possible, even  more magical at night and it was hard to go back to the hotel.

For a minute I actually thought this statue was some kind of sorcerer, but it's actually Gregory of Nin, a medieval bishop who opposed the pope and introduced the national Croatian language into church services.  He stands guard outside the golden gate to the city.

One thing I had been nervously watching in the lead up to our departure was the weather forecast.  The closer the trip got, the worst the forecast.  The day before we were supposed to leave, the forecast was for rain everyday and we had actually thought about cancelling the trip, but we wouldn't have been able to get a refund.  Luckily the forecast was extremely wrong and it never rained.  The weather actually got better each day.

On our second day, we got up early and caught a ferry to Stari Grad (old town) on the island of Hvar.  It was a beautiful way to see the nearby islands and Aiden was excited to go on the boat.

As we arrived at the port in Hvar, we could see the town at the head of the harbor through the mist and could see the bottom of the sea even a fair way from sure.

We enjoyed a nice walk along a little paved road by the cost until we came into the town proper, which was very quaint. We checked in at the visitors center and started seeing the sights.  Stari Grad was even more deserted than Split, but that kind of added to the mystery.

Like Split, or maybe even more so, Stari Grad has a long history.  It's still possible to see Roman era carvings along the road, but more impressive, are the remains of the ancient Greek city of Pharos.  Seeing the extent of these empires in textbooks is never quite the same as seeing the evidence of their presence in such far flung places.

Most of the restaurants are closed, although some funny signs were still up.  It didn't make a whole lot of difference to me as I was having some stomach trouble that day - it really caught me by surprise because not much has been able to affect me since my time in Tajikistan.  Luckily that same experience taught me what to do in such circumstances and I was just fine.

One thing that hasn't come to Croatia is the idea of no smoking in restaurants, or even non-smoking sections in restaurants.  One person told us that it's technically against the law to smoke indoors, but that after a year or so, people stopped paying attention to that.  Lucky for us, the sun came out and it was warm enough for us to sit outside.  Stephanie had a nice octopus salad and I had a clear fish soup that was both tasty and gentle on the stomach. 

Our return ferry wasn't scheduled until 5:30pm, so after lunch we took a bus ride to the town of Hvar on the other side of the island. It was a lovely town with a beautiful harbor full of boats and we enjoyed exploring it as the sun set. 

When it was time to go home, the bus we came in on was full.  The driver didn't speak English, but told us "OK" and put us on a coach bus with a driver who also did not speak English.  I was pretty sure I had explained successfully that we needed to catch the ferry - it was the last one of the day - so we went with it and got to the ferry right on time.  When we got back we went to a restaurant recommended by our hotel and had some of the best grilled squid I've ever tasted.

We dedicated the next day to seeing more of Split itself, starting with the inside of the Cathedral, which had a neat mix of Roman architecture and early Christian decor.

Then we climbed the campanile, which was actually somewhat terrifying because unlike most where the stairs wind up a central column, this one had stairs going around the inside of the walls so you could see straight down the center.  Further up, the stone stairs gave way to open grill work, which was even scarier, but the views were worth it.

From there we visited a former temple of Zeus that was converted to a church.

Then we were able to walk through the vestibule of the palace and take in the views that would have greeted the emperor from his apartments.  Well, sort of.  Based on the older paintings of the palace, it looks like it was originally built closer to the edge of the water so that the basements led right down to the sea.  I guess either the water level receded in time, or the city was built out into the water over time because now there is a broad promenade between the walls and the water.

For lunch, we went to the bazaar to get some local flavor.  The variety of produce was very exciting after the limited selection in Moscow. We were particularly hoping to find soparnik, a thin pastry filled with swiss chard, but apparently it sells out earlier.

Instead, we got some famous Dalmatian ham, local cheese, and some interesting berries that I still haven't been able to identify, along with some other fresh produce and bread.  It was a delicious meal. After naptime, we spent another nice evening walking the narrow streets and enjoyed a nice dinner on one of the main squares before heading to bed.

Hard to believe as it was, the next day was our last day in Split.  Once again, we had a fairly early checkout and a very late train, so we had a lot of time to manage.  We wrapped up our sightseeing in Split in the morning and Aiden got very excited about putting coins in the case of some local musicians.

We lucked out and found some Soparnik and got some more food from the bazaar before getting on a ferry to the island of Supetar (which made me want to keep throwing my hands up and shout "Superstar!").  It was a beautiful day with a strong breeze, so there were lots of sailboats on the water.

Supetar is closer in than Hvar, so our trip mostly ran along the coast, which is quite stunning...

Supetar is smaller than Stari Grad so we didn't even plan to eat there.  In fact, there were only a couple hours between the ferries, so we made a fairly quick tour of it.

Stephanie decided to take Aiden to a playground while I walked along the coast to see the local cemetery, which is more interesting than it sounds and provided some good views across the little bay to the town.

On the map, it said that near there were the ruins of a Roman villa, but the closest approximation I found was a square pile of stones, which was unmarked.  I like to think I found it, and if I'm wrong I'll probably never know.

Back in Split, we splurged on a nice seafood dinner complete with more grilled squid, and then made our way to the train for the overnight trip back to Split.  The train arrived at 6 am and our flight wasn't until 11 so I had arranged to have breakfast at the hotel we stayed at in Zagreb so that we could have one more helping of strukli before leaving and it was well worth it.  We even got to eat in the fancy dining room because the breakfast room was being renovated.

It was a bit sad to leave, because the more time we spent in Croatia, the more I learned about how much there is to see there. Maybe another time. We had a smooth trip home and a lot of good memories - and less than 3 months to go in Moscow, but I'll have more on how we're spending that time later...

2013 Wrap-up

Time for one last update before 2013 comes to an end.  I guess to wrap things up, we have to go all the way back to Thanksgiving, which we shared with good friends of ours who had us over.  We brought my great grandmother's sweet potato biscuits, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce (the kind the holds the shape of the can).  We had a great time and also learned the secret of brining a turkey beforehand to get a delicious and juicy result.

Since Thanksgiving was so late this year, we moved right into Christmas mode before we even finished the leftovers.  It really gave us a chance to see how much Aiden has grown since last year because now he is able to really help us out.  He helped Stephanie put the tree together and was even able to help us with some of the baking.  He was thrilled to be allowed to pour ingredients in the bowl as we were mixing.

Of course, getting ready for Christmas also means doing the gingerbread house.  This year I decided to create a Russian dacha, inspired by ones we've seen on our travels.  While the finished product looks deceptively simple, the roof was a real challenge because I decided to make a four piece roof instead of just two halves that rest on an A-frame house structure.  Just take my word for it - the roof alone is a feat of confectionery engineering.

The weather certainly cooperated in setting a festive spirit as we got our first substantial snows of the season - enough to make a little snowman.  Aiden was very taken with the Frosty The Snowman cartoon and talked about it constantly, but when faced with a real snowman, seemed less certain about whether it was really such a good idea.

 However, he had no problem with sledding, so long as I was willing to pull him around the snowy playground...

It seemed that all of Moscow was getting into the Christmas spirit with us - on the way to work one morning I had to walk under the upper half of an enormous fake tree suspended precariously from a crane.  Then, on my way to our office Christmas party, I narrowly missed being smashed by a large chunk of ice falling off the building.  That, along with all the traditional slipping and sliding definitely made it feel like the holiday season had arrived in Moscow.

After our office holiday party, Stephanie and I picked Aiden up from daycare and tried to head home.  Our timing couldn't have been worse as it seemed it was the exact same time that President Putin decided to head home from work.  This is a daily exercise that involved shutting down no less than four major roadways in the middle of rush hour traffic while Mr. Putin sails smoothly down the center lane with his escort of flashing lights and sirens.  Normally this doesn't affect my commute as I take the perekhod under the street and cross the bridge on foot.  This time, with the stroller, we had elected to use the crosswalk and got stranded in front of the Russian White House for a good 20 minutes.  Apparently, once the cars are allowed to go again, the stoplights favor the traffic over the pedestrians and we had to wait even longer to cross to the bridge. We definitely weren't thinking Christmasy thoughts at that point.

Stephanie had a great story from the music class she takes Aiden to at the Embassy.  Typically, Aiden just runs around the room while the other participants sing songs, but lately he has been engaging more.  But on one recent class, another mommy with curly hair was there and Aiden didn't pay enough attention.  Stephanie watched as he kind of draped himself over this other woman and cuddled with her, then suddenly, he looked up and saw Stephanie across the circle.  She said the look on his face was priceless - clearly an expression that said "If you're over there, who is this person I'm leaning on", and quickly changed to horror as he realized his mistake and sprinted over to her.  I still can't stop laughing.

This year, Aiden was still enamored with Santa on TV, but terrified of him in person.  Stephanie tried to get Aiden to see him at his daycare Christmas party, but he wouldn't even get down from her arms.  Given that reaction, we skipped the Christmas party at the Ambassador's residence and focused on getting ready for our own, which we held for our friends from my office, complete with cookies, hotdogs wrapped in bacon, crackers and dips, hot cider, mulled wine, and an assortment of other goodies.  We even put a yule log on the TV!

That said, my shopping experience was less than appetizing.  When I went to get the cheese - an assortment of red and green pesto-flavored cheeses to be precise - I saw one worker busily wrapping the hand of another employee with gauze and trying to do it fast enough to keep ahead of the copious amounts of blood that was seeping through.  I stood there waiting, silently urging them to send her for medical attention that she clearly needed and desperately hoping that neither one would be the one to take my order.  The girl eventually left (hopefully to the nearest medical clinic) and another girl, completely uninvolved in the possibly severed finger scenario took my order.  I had everything I needed and the party was a success.

Dushanbe is not too distant of a memory at this point to appreciate the fact that living in a predominantly Christian country means much better Christmas decorations and Moscow really goes out.  Ahead of the big day, we went for a quick visit to the nearby Hotel Ukraina to check out their decorations, which were very nice.

Aiden was also very taken with the scale model of central Moscow by the reception area.

The outside was even more impressive in the twilight...

And then we crossed the bridge to take in the patriotic-themed trees outside the Russian White house,

And the hi-rise where someone got the idea to project a christmas tree on the front with laser lights that shine all the way up into the clouds, creating an imitation of the northern lights in the sky.  I still have trouble getting past the similarity between this decoration and the scene in Independence Day just before the aliens blow up the Empire State Building.

To cap off the evening, the tree that was being assembled by crane earlier in the month was now fully functioning in all its gaudy glory, complete with larger-than-life statues of Ded Moroz and the Snegorichka. Aiden was overcome with fear of the Santa figure, so we couldn't linger too long.  Our retinas were probably better off for the shortened exposure.

One of my favorite work events ever took place on the 23rd at the Ambassador's residence.  He held a reception for the group Perspektiva and Best Buddies, which work on supporting people with mental disabilities in Russia.  Given that I worked with Best Buddies in college, I was more than happy to volunteer. The event was great and we had a lot of fun with the participants, but I also have to share some drama that occurred for yours truly.

Early in the evening, when meeting one of the participants, I also met his companion/buddy who was a, let's say full-figured redhead in a relatively brief red skirt and calf-high black boots.  At first I just thought she was being friendly.  And then I thought I was just being silly, but then she cornered me and started asking lots of questions.  Eventually, she asked me if I have a large family (and my answer to this question made me realize that I still hadn't made the transition to thinking of myself as the "father" in my family).  I still took it in the context of how many siblings I have  - usually if people want to know how many children I have, there is a more direct question for that.  Anyway, I answered that I have a sister.  And the young woman, we'll call her "Red", said she had a couple of siblings and a husband but no kids.

I immediately realized my mistake and tried to backpedal, talking rapidly about Stephanie and Aiden.  I said, "I wonder why I didn't think of it that way?"  It was an honest question - one that I'm still thinking about, but Red seized the moment and said - very suggestively, eyelashes aflutter - "Yes, why didn't you?"  I was like a trapped animal, looking for a way out.  I suggested she go try the pizza and she invited me to come along.  I politely declined and said I had something else to do and  made a beeline for some of my coworkers.  Lame, I know, but I didn't want to do anything else that could send the wrong signal.  And if you caught the part where she said she had a husband, that didn't seem to matter a whole lot and even our Russian friends confirm that it doesn't necessarily mean a lot here.

For the rest of the evening I made sure I was never alone, but I frequently caught Red passing nearby, eyes always on me.  I think I know what a seal feels like when the sharks are circling just offshore.  At first my colleagues thought I was overreacting, but before long they saw what I saw and realized I wasn't messing around.   Toward the end of the night, the DJ got things going and a nice dance party was underway.  When they played "What Does the Fox Say" I couldn't resist and joined in.

I didn't lose my situational awareness and occasionally saw the flash of red as Red prowled the edge of the dance floor, using it to keep myself at a safe distance.  At one point I saw her getting a little too close for comfort and started edging toward the other side of the dance floor.  Suddenly, I turned around and there she was!  Her eyes sparked and a wolfish grin split her face and she started gyrating toward me.  I was trapped, my peeps were too far away to save me, I panicked...  I threw up my hands in a warding gesture and shook my head, saying " Ya neh magu!" (I can't!).  How embarrassing!  But as I said, I was panicking and it was more diplomatic than  the truth  (Ya neh khochu!/I don't want to!).  Frankly, it didn't seem to phase Red and she kept coming, but with that awkward outburst behind me, I didn't feel that I was sinking any lower by fleeing, so that's what I did.

I think Red left not long after that and I was safe to enjoy the rest of the evening, which was great because the Ambassador joined in a little later and really cut a swath through the dance floor.

Alas, Moscow is experiencing the warmest winter in 130 years and all the snow was melted by the time Christmas rolled around.  It's kind of disappointing since this was probably our best shot at a white Christmas for the next several years.  Nonetheless, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with some close friends.  We made our own delicious brined turkey and cooked one of the country hams my parents sent me for Christmas.  We also tried out a new cooked egg nog recipe that turned out really well.   But just before bedtime, we told Aiden he had to go to sleep so that Santa could come and he did NOT like that.  He started shaking his head and crying - it took us a good 15 minutes to get him calmed down enough to go to sleep.  After that, we set up the rest of the presents and some of his new toys to surprise him when he woke up.

That didn't really work out either because when he woke up we asked him to come and see what Santa brought and it was another 15 minutes before we could coax him out of his room.  Once he saw the new train track, however, we had him on board and he was more than happy to open his other presents.

One of the nice things about Russia being on the Orthodox calendar is that while our Christmas was over, theirs is still gearing up, so we've made a point of going out to see the lights and keep the Christmas spirit going.  The day after Christmas we went to the newly opened Shake Shack on Old Arbat.  It was just like the original, which is really funny because I remember when the ONLY Shake Shack was the one at the kiosk in Madison Square Park.  Less than 10 years later, they're a successful international chain!

We enjoyed the lights as we walked down to the Kremlin and Red Square and visited the various little Christmas markets they've set up nearby.  We even found a stand selling hot Medovukha (honey wine), and Sbiten (a traditional spiced honey and tea drink).  We also picked up a Tulskiy Pryanik for later as it's impossible to get them outside of Tula except around Christmas.

After taking in the blinding lights at GUM, we stumbled across a light show being projected on the side of the Metropol Hotel, and sat and watched that for awhile.  There is a video as well if you're interested in seeing the whole thing...

The next night, we read that there is a Christmas market near the old Red October Chocolate Factory, so we decided to check that out.   It involved a rather nice walk down Gogol Prospekt and around Christ the Savior Cathedral.

We also got some great views from the bridge, but were disappointed that when we got the the factory, we couldn't find even a trace of anything Christmasy.  Oh well, it was a nice walk...

and I still got a kick out of a new restaurant called "What's Up Dog?"

Now we're off for a little vacation,  but will be back before Orthodox Christmas and plan to visit some more Christmas markets (hopefully ones that actually exist) when we get back!

Bright Spots in a Dreary Fall

Since we got back from our vacation to the East, the weather in Moscow has been pretty much abysmal.  Almost every day is gray and dreary, with frequent showers.  So we find ourselves looking for the bright spots week to week;  a nice outing, a rare sunny day, and we're getting by.  As the end of our time here approaches, we're also rapidly trying to see things we haven't seen and check off as much as possible on our Moscow "Bucket List". 

In the beginning of October, Stephanie and I went to see an Opera at the Bolshoi Theater, which was very high on our must see list.  Tickets to see the ballet were just more than we could justify spending - over $300 for bad seats, but the opera was much more affordable and we were able to get very good seats. 

The website for the Bolshoi didn't prove to be very trustworthy.  They said that most people would be dressed in evening attire, but we saw more people in jeans.  Still, it was a fun excuse for us to get all gussied up. The website is also very adamant that you may not take photos anywhere inside the theater, but when we arrived we discovered that the opposite is true.  They even have a series of restored waiting halls where they encourage you to photograph the opulent surroundings. 

We appealed to the kindness of strangers (we weren't very optimistic given some of our experiences here) and asked a couple of people to take pictures of us on their camera phones and gave them my e-mail address.  Surprisingly, the people we asked were very helpful and one young woman took a bunch of pictures and sent us several that she had taken on her own as well. She definitely proved that stereotypes don't cover everyone.

Speaking of stereotypes, we've been finding in general, that young people in Russia are much friendlier and more willing to help strangers than the older generations.  We tried to go to lunch at one of our favorite places a few weeks ago and it was packed.  The waitress told us it would be a 2 hour wait.  But then this young woman at the counter said they have a sister restaurant not far away.  She called for us and made a reservation and then used her iPad to show us directions.  How friendly is that?  It just shows that things can change anywhere and it's always too soon to give up on trying to improve a situation.  That's all I wanted to say about that, back to the Bolshoi...

The opera itself was fantastic.  We saw Boris Gudinov, which is one of the most famous Russian Operas and I had a lot of fun researching the historical background and learning about where the time period fit in with our explorations of Russian historical sites.  The sets, which the Bolshoi is particularly known for, exceeded all expectations.

Coming home was a bit of a challenge.  Stephanie was not wearing comfortable walking shoes and we had found a reasonably priced taxi to get to the theater.  Going home was not so easy as all of the cab drivers hiked their rates to take advantage of people leaving the theater.  The best offer we got was about $50 for a 9 minute cab ride.  The subway wasn't far, and Stephanie proved that New York girls are made of tougher stuff than what the cab drivers are used to dealing with and decided to take the metro closer to home and get a cab from there.  Even at the metro station near us, drivers wanted exorbitant prices, but we eventually found one who understood it was better to get a reasonable amount than nothing and we made it home just fine.

The weather hasn't been all bad and we took advantage of a beautiful day in October to enjoy Izmailovo park during the golden autumn.  It doesn't beat New England foliage, but it was still very pretty.

Halloween was much more exciting this year as Aiden really got into it.  He was very excited about pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts, skulls and bats and was a great helper when it came time to carve our pumpkin.

 Getting the pumpkin was a bit tricky as I had to try to explain that we wanted a pumpkin that looked nice on the outside because we wanted to carve a face on it.  I had to be fairly pushy at the market to get them to show me enough pumpkins until I found the right one.

It was worth the effort for Aiden's reaction.  We also hosted a kids' Halloween party and Stephanie came up with a lot of neat treats like Nutter Butter ghosts and Oreo cookie witches' hats.

Aiden's Halloween costume was somewhat open to interpretation. With the wings and devil horns, some thought he was a fallen angel, to others he was a devil in disguise, some guessed he was an imp, and sometimes we thought he was just dressed as himself. 

Either way, he was very excited about the horns and even more excited about trick-or-treating.  We took him to the Embassy compound for the festivities and he got so into it that he got mad at us if we stopped to talk to anyone instead of taking him directly to the next door. 

Last weekend we took advantage of another clear, but chilly day, to see some of the sights of the Taganka neighborhood, which we really hadn't explored. 

I think my favorite was the Potter's church, which was built in the 1650's by the potters who lived in the neighborhood.  They even adorned it with pottery friezes to show off their work, which are still visible today.

We also tried to visit one of the only churches that dates back to the time of Boris Gudinov, but Stephanie wasn't allowed in because she was wearing pants.  A priest was nice enough to come out and explain to us that there is a scripture that says women shouldn't dress like men before the lord.  Our guide book said the church was part of the Old Believer's religion, but when I asked about that, the priest was most offended and said it is Russian Orthodox.  Oops.

The guide book we used doesn't always give the best directions, which sometimes results in interesting detours, like the discovery of these trees full of red winter berries...

And a nice late-year flower garden still in bloom behind one of the churches.

We finally made our way down to the Andronikov Monastery, which is another very old religious settlement, with some structures dating back to the early 1400's.

On our way back to the metro, we passed a street of carriage houses, because this area used to be the last stop on the highway between Moscow and the next major city.  Funny to think this used to be a place for an overnight stop and is now just a stop on the metro, 15 minutes from the city center.

Last weekend we also celebrated Stephanie's birthday with a trip to the restaurant Chimodan (it means suitcase), where we had a very nice Siberian mean, including deer steak crusted in pine nuts with edible pine cones on top.  I had no idea you could eat pine cones at any stage of their development, but these were quite good.  For her big day, we also made yeast pancakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and enjoyed a variety of Russian pies (cabbage, salmon, and tvorog).  And most importantly, I made her favorite, black magic cake (which I didn't mind helping to eat.

This weekend we decided that we couldn't wait for the sunny days to get out because we'll soon run out of time. So we braved the cold cloudy weather and occasional drizzle and made for Red Square.  Aside from some nice views toward Christ the Savior Cathedral,...

We discovered an eternal flame in plain sight that we had never seen.

Then we went to see Lenin's tomb, which didn't interest Stephanie that much, but has been high on my list since we got here.  It's just not that often you get to see such a major historical figure in person almost a century after they die.  There are no cameras or bags allowed inside, so we took turns rather than braving the baggage check.  We had to follow a rather round about route, and were not allowed to stop and look at the corpse, but had to keep moving.  It was very eerie with a general low red lighting but bright spot lights on his face and hands.  I found this picture on the internet that does as good a job as I could have of capturing it.



After our viewing, what else was there to do but to try the new Krispy Kreme that opened in sight of the Kremlin.  They captured the recipe perfectly and it was a real treat.  I find it very interesting that our love of junk food is one of our most successful cultural exports, somehow a matter of pride and shagrin at the same time.  And at the end of the day, it was delicious.

 

We explored a lot of different neighborhoods that day and ended up at a Czech restaurant to sample their honey beer and a huge plate of sausages that was big enough for us to take it home and have it for breakfast today. 

On the way home, Stephanie mentioned that someone installed bollards on the sidewalk near our building to keep cars from driving on the sidewalk (one of my pet peeves).  However, the next morning, she saw the guards from our compound cutting them down with a metal saw.  The best we can figure is that they would lost income from the sport car salon around the corner, which parks its cars in our parking lot at night. *sigh*

Still, we keep looking for the bright spots, and I'd say rather successfully.