I am sorry I haven't been blogging these last few days. I have been very busy with things that could likely be considered more important. Or not. I'm not to judge.
Oleg worked late Friday, and had to work Saturday, so he picked me up at the metro, and he took me to walk around Чистые Пруды. I know the area, because one side of the metro (followed by an immediate left-hand turns) leads to our favorite bar: Papa's Place. We went out the other side, and just strolled. This has to be one of my favorite area of Moscow. The buildings are all very classical. It looks almost like St. Petersburg, only not incredibly cold and wet. Here sits Patriarch's Pond Park. Although, to be fair, its still sort of Patriarch's Ice Sheet Park. But beautiful. Absolutely stunning. For those of you who do not know, this is where the opening scene of "Master and Margarita" takes place. Oleg pointed out that the tram that supposedly decapitated Berlioz in the novel still runs by the park.
As a side note, I am so glad i met Oleg. In addition to the food and affection he provides (both of which I thrive on), there are so many things in Moscow he is showing me I would never have found otherwise. Usually, my method of sight-seeing involves trying to bribe one of the American boys to accompany so a. I am not alone, and b. I don't get raped/murdered. This is not really specific to Moscow. I don't even go to malls alone back in the States. But more on this later.
At the end of the street, we stopped so Oleg could take a call. Which was fine by me, as it gave me time to read their business lunch menu in the window. For those of you who don't know (in case I haven't mentioned it before) business lunch is transliterated from English. It means an inexpensive, quick meal, as if for businessmen in a rush to get back to work. They serve is at the university cafe here for 200p (about $6) and it includes a drink, a salad, a soup, a main dish and garnish (Russian for side dish). So, anyway, this very expensive-looking menu on the corner had full business lunch (all of those things listed) for 260p. Plus, you got to pick from like 4 main dishes, 3 salads... all sorts of choices. I had already made up my mind to return, but now I had leverage with which to bribe people to come with me... cheap food!
So, we wandered around awhile. There was some Eastern restaurant Oleg wanted to take me to, but it more or less disappeared. Instead, we went to Sherbet (I would imagine the "t" is not silent) another Middle-Eastern restaurant. Per a quick google search, the menu has some Arabic dishes, but is mostly Uzbek. It certainly had an Arabic feel... arches, hookahs, dim red lights. There was pop music playing, and reality TV shows on TV, which sort of ruined the ambiance, but gave Oleg and I a chance to discuss the impending end of the world (as foreshadowed by the rise of the Jersey Shore and Justin Beiber.)
A note on prices in Moscow: they are insane. Certain things are just disgustingly cheap. I've already discussed how cheap vodka is. You can get certain snacks, or a funnel, or a fresh baguette, for under 10p. That is thirty cents. But restaurants are all famously expensive. And drink prices at restaurants are equally crazy. For example, the cheapest drink on a menu at Coffee House is soda, which is 95p. It is essentially $3 for a really small glass of soda. No refills, naturally. Our drinks at Sherbet were about half the cost of our meal. Yes, they had alcohol. But, for example, I drank coffee with Baileys, which is imported and costs scary amounts of money if you buy a bottle at the store. This was about 185p (if I remember correctly). But coffee without and alcohol was already something obnoxious, like 130-150p. So you really might as well drink.
For the curious, here is their website: http://www.scherbet.ru/
We left there, and Oleg wanted to go inside a book store. I feel like such a philistine, but I am really not that keen on most bookseller's in America. They sell more kitsch than they do books and, as much as I realize this is horrible/ruins the publishing industry, etc... it is just so much cheaper to buy online. But, I must admit, Russian bookstores are odd. The places where the books are are pretty bland. Shelves reaching to the ceilings, and books are much more categorized than in the US. But they have these little kiosks where you type in the book you want, and it prints out a receipt with the location (which hall, section, shelf, etc.) Pretty neat. I was able to find a Russian translation of one of my favorite books (not a well-known one at all) on display.
Downstairs, things got odd. Like everything else in this city, the bookstore had a complete florist shop in it, as well as selling pretty much every touristy thing you could imagine.
On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store for food for supper the next night. Oleg sent me in with promised to join me after he picked something up. Big mistake. In the U.S. we have maybe 4-6 types of milk. There is Vitamin D, skim, lowfat, chocolate, maybe soy or almond? Here there is literally an aisle of unrefrigerated milk, and a giant section of refrigerated milk. So, I just stared at it at a loss until Oleg returned and chose a milk for me. Then, we went to get steak. I had found terryaki sauce, and wanted a nice, think skirt steak for terryaki steak. We went to to butcher, and she was about to grab me two nice-looking ones when... scary insect appears near the steaks in the display case. Oleg told the woman, and, in the process of nabbing Big Scary Bug... he fell into the case of steaks. We opted for beef tips after that. It really freaked me out, because this is supposedly one of the higher-class grocery stores... what goes on behind the scenes at Ashan?
I've much, much more to tell y'all, but I have an excursion in an hour, and sort of want to eat. So I shall continue the riveting tale of my weekend upon my return.
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