Russian Ball

On Monday night Jim and I were invited to a party at the YAR Restaurant which is over 180 years old. It was beautiful inside (we were told that the inside has been completely redone to look 180 years old but its only around 10 or so years old.....kind of like everything here in Moscow since the collapse of the USSR.) YAR is known to have the only Russian Ball in Moscow. A Russian Ball is basically dancers kind of like something you'd see in Disney World. Here is the YAR website.....http://www.sovietsky.ru/index2.php?ver=yar&lang=eng

The party started off with a buffet dinner......some things looked good - but mostly it was typical Russian fare and I just haven't acquired a taste for pickled fish and caviar yet.

After dinner there was a raffle where they drew business cards out of a box and JIM won a prize!!! However, we didn't recognize his name being called (because it was of course in Russian) but did hear PricewaterhouseCoopers - and put two and two together. Jim got his picture taken and everything - he came back to our table with an envelope, but unfortunately we couldn't read what he won since.....of course it was in Russian?!?! I will have to ask my Russian teacher to translate it for me.......

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When the raffle was over the Russian Ball began. WOW was this interesting.....I will let the pictures speak for themselves.....

Happy Thanksgiving

A few of us made plans to have an authentic American Thanksgiving.....A restaurant here advertised in the paper that they were serving an American Thanksgiving at a restaurant called the Starlite Diner. Eight of us loaded into 2 cars and drove out to Starlite Diner to find the Diner dark, empty, and roped off. It was clearly closed and the only signed posted was....of course in Russian. None of us could figure out what the sign said, but it was clear we weren't having turkey dinner at the Starlite Diner.

We began walking down the street in search for a new restaurant and found an Indian place. Why is it that Jim and I always end up at an Indian place? We don't even really like Indian food?!?! But the restaurant was open and they had a free table big enough to fit all 8 of us and we ended up having a great time!

So for all of you who enjoyed turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.....we had nan, chicken curry, and saffron rice!!!! We found out the next day that Starlite Diner had a fire and had to close and who knows when they will reopen. Just our luck?!?

A few pics from around town...

As you can see - from this shot from our apartment window....
it's snowing here. Brrrrrr.

We went to the mall this past weekend and stmbled upon a show....sort of like cirque du soleil - it was amazing....this mall is huge - those are the escalators in the background.
I think it's 5 or 6 stories.

Here we are at the indoor market we go to every once in a while....
this man is chopping up some pork chops for us.

Madrid, Spain

Finally! We made it to Madrid!! The first thing we absolutely loved about Madrid was the weather - sunny, not a cloud in the sky and warm (around 70 degrees) perfect weather! The gloomy weather of Moscow was beginning to get to us....Above is a picture of a statue based on Madrid's coat of arms, el osso y madroño, a bear eating the fruit of an arbutus (strawberry tree)

Enjoying a bite to eat in Plaza Mayor - the popular dish....Paella (which is a rice dish made with meat, fish, and veggies) The rectangular, cobbled Plaza Mayor, whose official name is Plaza de la Constitución, was first constructed as a market square in the 15th century and later referred to as the Plaza del Arrabel (Square outside the Walls). Plaza Mayor was always been the place for festivities and even executions; hangings took place here until the end of the 18th century, with spectators observing from the balconies around the square. In the 1960's the plaza was pedestrianised and you can gain entry to the plaza via nine archways.

Here we are walking around Old Town Madrid. All of the streets are narrow and all of the buildings have narrow windows that open to a balcony. Very quaint and great town to just walk around!


Jim in the Plaza de Armas. The Plaza de Armas is the huge square located between the Royal Palace and Almudena Cathedral. Many special events occur in this plaza throughout the year.

Friday night I signed us up for a tour called Adventurous Appetites here is their website... http://www.adventurousappetites.com/ James the guy at around 4 o'clock was our tour guided and took us on a brief walking tour of the city to see all the popular sites. Then we basically bar hopped from one Tapa's bar to the next. Tapa's originated in Spain and are given out to people for free when they order drinks. It is believed that eating something small while drinking will allow you to drink more and get less drunk....I don't know about that.



Above is the most popular Tapa's dish. It consists of Queso (sheep's milk cheese) Chorizo (sausage flavored with paprika) Jamon Serrano (salt curred ham dried in the mountain Serrano air) and bread. However, on our Tapa's tour...we were much more adventurous...to say the least. Some of the many Tapas we tried were Callos (Pig Stomach), Chopitos (Cuttlefish), Pig Pancreas, and Sea Barnacles - Who said we are picky eaters?!?!



Walking around town.

Here I am in a store/Tapa's bar called Museum of Ham. Those are pig legs for sale. Every restaurant around Madrid had pig legs hanging and slicing them to eat! It was delicious but quite bizarre at the same time.

Monument of Alfonso XII facing the boating lake in the Parque del Retiro

Cheers!!!

Leaving on a jet plane.....

As with everything in Russia...nothing is EVER simple.

This past weekend Jim and I took a trip for a long weekend to Madrid, Spain. We left Thursday and flew home Monday evening. Moscow has two main airports, one North of the city and the other South of the city. For our trip our flight was booked out of the Domodedovo Airport which is located South of the city and you take a train to get to it. Jim and I left in plenty of time to catch the 1 pm train to the airport and arrive in plenty of time to check in and grab a bite to eat at the airport.

We arrived at the check-in counter to check in for our flight to find out that the flight is late and we will miss our connection....GREAT. Nothing like being stranded in the Moscow airport. Our options were to wait and see if the already booked direct flight on a different airline would have two open spots or stay the night in Brussels, Belgium.

Since I have never been to Brussels - I was all about staying the night! Jim however, wanted to get to Spain so we hung out by the check in line for a few hours to see if we could get onto the other flight.....after 3 LONG hours we were informed that everyone showed up for the overbooked flight, which left our options to take a flight to Belgium or stay in Moscow. Now what do you think Jim picked?!?!?

Standing on the platform and waiting for the train

to arrive to take us to the airport....

burrr it's getting chilly here in Moscow!!
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Standing in the middle of Grand Place, Brussels main square

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Jim standing on the street lined with cute cafes and restaurants
all serving mussels!
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Everyone who visits Brussels enjoys a big pot of steaming hot mussels
and a pile of french fries. YUMMO!!

Our finished pot of mussels...

Us eating our mussels and of course Belgium beer!

Stay tuned for our pics from Madrid....

Happy Halloween!!!

Jim and I went to our favorite market here in Moscow called Dorogomilovskiy (we like it because it's indoors and its clean) and bought a couple of little pumpkins...here they are!

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Happy Haloween!!

Apartment Pics

So everyone has been asking us to send pictures of our apartment now that we have our things....did I ever tell you guys when are shipment finally arrived???? It arrived on September 28th - so we lived out of suitcases for 2 months!!!

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Also this past weekend we had our first cocktail party at our house - Jim and I take part in a group called Daring Diners - which is group of couples that meet monthly and try out new restaurants around town....basically to see how daring we are!? Last month we ate an Indian restaurant and this month we ate at a restaurant called Simple Things....SO since we were having this cocktail party before dinner Jim and I were forced to tidy up a bit so we finally took some pics of the digs.....Enjoy!

This is the entry way....notice my rug I purchased in Turkey

Our bedroom

The bathroom

The living room (yes the carpet doesn't match...we know.)

The living room....

(no that is NOT Jim's mask...that came with the place
and will stay with the place...haha)

Living room again....

Kitchen...smallest room in the place....but we like it.

The Daring Diners crew...

Moscow Zoo

Last Monday I had lunch at the Moscow Zoo with an organization called AMUR Preserving Leopards and Tigers in the wild in Russia. Did you know that there are only 35 AMUR Leopards left in the wild in Russia and only 400 AMUR Tigers??? Check out their website..... http://www.amur.org.uk/tigers.shtml

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After the lunch we had the opportunity to tour the zoo privately since on Monday's the Moscow Zoo is closed. The Zoo is similar to Zoo's in the US that they have the same animals but very different in the size cages that the animals live. I think people here compare going to the zoo like going to the circus and instead of learning about animals and where they come from, they laugh at the animals and throw popcorn at them. Another difference were the size of the cages the animals lived, they are small and at times it was kind of sad. But this is a country that is changing everyday, and I have no doubt that the zoo will get an upgrade soon.....

This is an AMUR Tiger at the Moscow Zoo

This is a shot of our apartment building where we live from inside the zoo



A polar bear taking a snooze



A funny looking camel

A black bear with really long finger nails

The Will Update

Sorry that we haven't been updating our blog daily! Jim and I are surprisingly busy and now that our Sling Box is up and running we are able to catch up with Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy and of course Steeler Football!

We have been receiving a few phone calls and emails regarding Jim's blog entry on his Russian Banya experience. Just to make sure we are all on the same page - I DID NOT go to the banya and I WAS NOT hanging out with a bunch of naked Russian men and a 10-year old boy. That was Jim.

Last week our heat was switched on. In Russia Gas & Water are free - so when the government feels that it is cold enough (basically 8 degrees Celsius or lower for 3 days straight) they switch on the heat. Most apartments are heated with radiators and ours are very HOT. We need to sleep with a window open at night....Some of my friends have to turn on their air conditioners it gets so hot - talk about an oxymoron?!

It's a good thing they decided to turn on the heat since Moscow has already had it's first snow fall for the season! Unbelievable - it snowed 19 centimeters in a northern village outside of Moscow on Monday - the Moscow Times reported that the village lost electricity because a few trees fell on some wires...they also reported that the electricity will be back up and running in this village in several days!!! Are you kidding me? TIR.

Jim has been in a city called Samara which is the sixth largest city in Russia and is located in the southeastern part of Russia. He is there the entire week for work - he is helping out the Alcoa team here in Moscow and I've been home alone for the first time - I've been entertaining myself however - today I went to the Coco Chanel Exhibit at the Pushkin Art Museum http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/4814/ It's amazing how the clothes she designed in the 20's and 30's are still worn today....too bad I don't own any?!?! Whats up with that?

Jim & I were walking around town and came across this man.

(Of course Jim took his picture.)

Poor guy...at least he hung onto his bottle of vodka....

Red October Chocolate Factory

For one of my women's groups (AWO) I am the Interest Group Leader for a group called GO MOSCOW - basically what we do is tour different things around Moscow. For my first tour last Friday, I arranged for the women to tour the Red October Chocolate Factory. The tour was 700 rubles per person - which included a tour of the history museum, chocolate factory, tea party, chocolate souvenirs, and an English speaking tour guide! I had 16 women sign up for the tour and it was a lot of fun!

The Red October Chocolate Factory from a distance.

Is this machine ancient or what?!
This machine is mixing sugar to make a hard caramel candy.

This is again mixing the same mixture.

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This woman is pushing the candy along the conveyor belt.

This towel and broom are helping the candy move along
the conveyor belt...hmmm...TIR.

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Here is the finished product - hot from the machine...
these candies were EXCELLENT!
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Here they are packaging the candies.

Again packaging the candy.

Are we CUTE or what????
Here is my group with our shower caps, shoe covers, and surgical gowns!