Our Moscow Adventure: November 2007

27 November 2007

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.......

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

22 November 2007

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?!?

15 November 2007

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.

07 November 2007

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!!!

06 November 2007

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