Great pictures! It's so cool that you wouldn't know that was Russia and not America. Kids are the same throughout the world. Ya gotta love that. :c)
I couldn't read what that kid's pin said though . . . ?
From Russia with Love
Moderators: Doc Manhattan, Papa Bear, Sgt. MacPherson
by Captain Scurvy on Jan 20, 2008 11:03 AM
Nor could I.
Great pics, Sheep! I have to say you're cuttin' a mighty attractive figure. I'm glad you were over there representing the USA. They were lucky to have you.
The kids seemed like they were all having fun (I even recognized some of the activities). I'm struck by how universally trim the youngsters are as compared to what we find in a random group of kids here. You mentioned this in your articles but it really strikes home when you see the pictures.
Great pics, Sheep! I have to say you're cuttin' a mighty attractive figure. I'm glad you were over there representing the USA. They were lucky to have you.
The kids seemed like they were all having fun (I even recognized some of the activities). I'm struck by how universally trim the youngsters are as compared to what we find in a random group of kids here. You mentioned this in your articles but it really strikes home when you see the pictures.
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Captain Scurvy - Prince of Thieves
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by Mad Sheep on Jan 20, 2008 11:33 AM
Big Time wrote:I couldn't read what that kid's pin said though . . . ?
If you click "Download Photo" in the album, you get a high resolution version of the photo. It won't really automatically save it on your hard drive (the wording is a bit misleading). Here's a link: http://www.ititches.com/gallery/d/401-2/mrenglish51.jpg
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Mad Sheep - 33° MC
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by Mad Sheep on Jan 20, 2008 2:47 PM
We woke up early on Saturday, Jan 12, hoping to get a head start at Izmailovsky Market. We knew, thanks to Howard, that the Metro stop for the market had undergone a name change in the past year. It was now called Partizanskaya since it was confusing even for the Russians to have two stops right next to each other called Izmailovsky Park and Izmailovskaya.
We still weren't going there alone. We had told Tanya we'd call her the previous night, and we'd failed. So we tried again. This time we gave in and went down to ask the desk for help. We were told that we'd need a phone card to make calls. Really? I wonder who's getting the bill for all the wrong numbers we managed to dial from the room.
She sold us a phone card, and told us to dial the number for an operator assisted call (that part was in English on the card), but to dial "9" first. We tried it in our room. No dice.
I decided this 7, 8 and 9 first stuff was a pain in the ass, so I went out to the lobby phone on our floor, the fourth. That phone wanted you to insert a certain type of phone card. Instead, I just dialed the seven digit number marked "In Moscow" and it worked! I got an operator. Since the card was half in English, I tried, "Vih panimaitye pa-angliski?"
"Hold, please."
New operator (after a wait): "Pin code, please."
I gave her the code (which I actually think I could have managed in Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin or Japanese), but I needed an English speaker when she asked for the number. I told her it started with a +8, then 910. "In Germany?" she asked. No! It's a mobile phone in Moscow... I hope. I gave her the rest of the number, and we got through.
I told Tanya we'd had some trouble with the phone. "I know," she said. We told her we wanted to go to Izmailovsky Market and we'd meet her at the exit of Partizanskaya Station. It was now 10 AM. What time should we meet? 12, she said.
We got on the Metro and promised we'd let everyone who ever went to Russia from the States know that it's useless to try to make a phone call in Russia without a phone card and without an operator. We used a "Tacka" card we bought for 140 rubles. If you ever figure out how Russian phones are actually supposed to work, please let me know.
We got to the beautiful Partizanskaya station at 11. On the way we passed Komsomolskaya, which we'd seen from above, but it supposed to be beautiful, and switched trains in Kurskaya, which was probably the nicest station we saw personally. Pictures of Partizanskaya are coming later.
Since we were an hour early, we decided to check out the market. First, we walked around the outside. From the exterior, the place looked like Disney World. On the inside, not so much. This land used to be the private hunting grounds of the tsar, now it's a very public hunting grounds for scammers selling cheap wares. On the outskirts, you have the cheaper stuff. As you go in, you get to better and better stalls. We oriented ourselves, then went to change some more cash, buy water (still water!) and use the pay-to-potties.
I have no comment about the pay-to-potties. Except this: women, you're paying to use a port-o-potty.
We met Tanya, who was dressed very fashionably. She wasn't really dressed for the cold, however. Honestly, I don't know how anyone manages anything but perfect floors and sidewalks in nearly stiletto heels, but she did it all right over grates, cobbles and all.
Everything you could imagine must be for sale here. Mostly, we were just interested in the classic Russian stereotypical tourist goods. There was plenty of stuff you could buy that you could never get out of the country, too, like icons. We didn't bother pricing those. Basically, anything antique needs a certificate of transport, and you're not getting one if the antique has cultural significance.
Among the things I didn't buy that you might not be able to get here without paying an arm an a leg were mammoth ivory carvings, furs of all kinds, St. Petersburg and Ukrainian china and highly ornate samovars. There was also a flea market in the place, where you could buy... flea market stuff.
I did buy a few matryoshkas (including a Cheburashka one for myself and a penguin one for Lil' Miss Sunshine-- because she collects penguins), a lacquer box with a painting of St. Basil's and a mug with the Romanov crest of the double-headed eagle (the symbol of the new Russia, as well). There is plenty of Soviet paraphernalia for sale, including medals and insignia of all kinds and propaganda. I picked up a piece of replica propaganda for the Soviet space program for Papa's birthday, and a Soviet soldier's hat for my dad.
Mike came home with a few fur hats (beaver, fox and rabbit, I think), a samovar and about 200 matryoshkas.
All of this was purchased after lunch, though. Tanya was getting cold as we made our way around the market, so we went back outside to an odd looking restaurant outside the park gates. I think it was supposed to be modeled after a hunting lodge.
I ate some red caviar with pancakes (crepes, really) and had some of the beluga (the whale, not the caviar) sturgeon (the fish, not the caviar) and the salmon Mike ordered as an appetizer. I had beef stroganoff for the main course, but it was one of the few meals I couldn't finish. I was stuffed by the end!
After lunch, we went back to the market to make our purchases. The place started shutting down as we were there. I think it was open later, but many of the stalls started putting away their wares around 4. That was when we struck most of our deals. I think we did all right, and Tanya definitely kept us from getting fleeced. She'd never been to the market (though she said she knew it was outdoors and chose her clothing despite that fact), but the merchants knew they couldn't take too much advantage of us since we were traveling with a real Russian.
We bought our wares and headed back to the Metro. I told Tanya I wanted to buy a Russian tree book. After all, I'm a Park Ranger, and I wanted to be able to identify the trees I'd seen during my week there. We went to the middle of the city to a bookstore she frequented and had to get help finding the book. I think the woman working there was surprised I wanted such a technical book. First she started showing me books of flowers. Eventually, we got the right kind of book. Unfortunately, I found out later that it's not just Russian trees, but trees from all over Europe, so it wasn't completely comprehensive. The glaring omission: birch! It's the national tree of Russia, and there wasn't a single betula in the bunch! Oh well. Now I'll have some light reading when I finally learn Russian.
We then went looking for a restaurant. Tanya didn't realize we were taking her out to a dinner of her choice! She said she liked French, but didn't know of a place in the area. We consulted our guidebook and found one one Metro stop away.
We were in the theater district, which was quite beautiful. We were looking for a certain brasserie, but it was across one of those streets with no crosswalks. We eventually found our way to the other side, but we never found the restaurant. Instead, we found a much nicer one!
The place was clearly posh, but the food wasn't as expensive as one might think. With appetizers, we paid about $40 per person for some great, fancy food. I had bruschetta for an appetizer, which was served with a tortilla-like flatbread and something called chicken roll, which was much fancier than it sounds. There were shrimp stuffed in the chicken, much bigger than the little sea monkeys I'd had the previous evening.
Tonya had the octopus salad. We got a nice close-up of one of the fully intact, yet tiny octopi that came on her plate. We told her we weren't used to seeing into the face of the creatures we ate. maybe that's just because I eat at cheap restaurants.
The wine, however, was where they got you. She wanted a white wine, so Mike deferred to me for the choice. There was nothing German (my go to), so I looked at the stuff from Alsace (because really, what's the difference?). I went with a Gewurztraminer that ended up being delicious. It better have been. It was the first time I paid for (half of) a bottle of a 4250 ruble wine ($175).
We bid Tanya farewell in the underground, tipped her a bit and then made our way back to the hotel. By then, I realized I must have done miles and miles of walking over the past few days and was ready for bed.
The next morning would be our last in Moscow. Our taxi was to arrive at 11 AM, so we had a little bit of time to head out and do some local shopping. Mike wanted to check out the Expedition store to grab some gifts for his outdoorsy friends. I would have liked a t-shirt from the place, but it was winter, so only the warm stuff was out. There was a single t-shirt in the clearance section, but it was a women's small, so I didn't think it would fit.
We went to a grocery store to get some more water and some of the water of life. I picked up a great bottle of vodka (great looking, I haven't opened it yet). It was about $20 in that grocery store. Later, we saw the same vodka for 35 euros in the duty free shop. I definitely got a good deal. It's called Youri Dolgoruki. Mike got his own bag of crab chips (which survived the flight better than mine did).
Julia had arranged for our taxi to arrive at 11 AM. When it didn't arrive, we knew we had to use the dreaded phone. It was either that or pay the resident taxi 2000 rubles to take us to the airport when Julia had given us 800 for the taxi she hired. The phone in the main lobby didn't accept my card. I couldn't even get a dial tone, so I went up to the fourth floor phone which said "Fraud Detected" on the LCD screen. I figured since we'd paid cash for the card there was no harm in trying, and I got ahold of Julia.
Unfortunately, the connection was lost, but not before she said she'd call the driver.
I went back down to tell Mike, and eventually Julia called the hotel phone. Our call was cut short a second time, but she called right back and we found out or original taxi had crashed, so a second one would be there at 12. Also, Julia had been sick, so she hadn't been able to contact us over the weekend. She was glad to hear Tanya showed us around.
Our taxi came around 12:30, but it was fine, since our flight wasn't until 3:50. We got to the airport to check in, but were told we couldn't check our bags and head for the terminal until two hours before our flight.
Since we were saddled with bags, we grabbed lunch (where my bill was exactly the amount of ruble bills I had left) and just sat around until we could check in.
At 1:50 we checked in, and after all of the lines, customs (Mike's array of hats were an infinite source of amusement for customs) and baggage checking, we had a seriously limited amount of time to check out duty free. I really suggest Aeroflot should let their international passengers check in three hours before the flight.
But who am I to tell Aeroflot how to run a business. The flight back was much longer, due, I'm sure, to trade winds and the rotation of the earth. It took us ten hours to fly 4999 miles back to JFK. I got to see Ocean's Thirteen on the flight, which was a nice surprise. I didn't get to sleep much, though.
As we landed, I came into the lobby to see the Giants beat the Cowboys to advance to the NFC Championship, and I knew I was back in the United States. I guess you all know the story from there!
Thank you so much for reading my little "blog." I was very happy to hear that the staff enjoyed Mike's and my lessons and that we're welcome back anytime. Mr. English runs program all over Europe, so who knows, maybe my next little diary will be written from Bulgaria!
Pictures will follow as soon as I can get them uploaded.
Da Svidanya!
We still weren't going there alone. We had told Tanya we'd call her the previous night, and we'd failed. So we tried again. This time we gave in and went down to ask the desk for help. We were told that we'd need a phone card to make calls. Really? I wonder who's getting the bill for all the wrong numbers we managed to dial from the room.
She sold us a phone card, and told us to dial the number for an operator assisted call (that part was in English on the card), but to dial "9" first. We tried it in our room. No dice.
I decided this 7, 8 and 9 first stuff was a pain in the ass, so I went out to the lobby phone on our floor, the fourth. That phone wanted you to insert a certain type of phone card. Instead, I just dialed the seven digit number marked "In Moscow" and it worked! I got an operator. Since the card was half in English, I tried, "Vih panimaitye pa-angliski?"
"Hold, please."
New operator (after a wait): "Pin code, please."
I gave her the code (which I actually think I could have managed in Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin or Japanese), but I needed an English speaker when she asked for the number. I told her it started with a +8, then 910. "In Germany?" she asked. No! It's a mobile phone in Moscow... I hope. I gave her the rest of the number, and we got through.
I told Tanya we'd had some trouble with the phone. "I know," she said. We told her we wanted to go to Izmailovsky Market and we'd meet her at the exit of Partizanskaya Station. It was now 10 AM. What time should we meet? 12, she said.
We got on the Metro and promised we'd let everyone who ever went to Russia from the States know that it's useless to try to make a phone call in Russia without a phone card and without an operator. We used a "Tacka" card we bought for 140 rubles. If you ever figure out how Russian phones are actually supposed to work, please let me know.
We got to the beautiful Partizanskaya station at 11. On the way we passed Komsomolskaya, which we'd seen from above, but it supposed to be beautiful, and switched trains in Kurskaya, which was probably the nicest station we saw personally. Pictures of Partizanskaya are coming later.
Since we were an hour early, we decided to check out the market. First, we walked around the outside. From the exterior, the place looked like Disney World. On the inside, not so much. This land used to be the private hunting grounds of the tsar, now it's a very public hunting grounds for scammers selling cheap wares. On the outskirts, you have the cheaper stuff. As you go in, you get to better and better stalls. We oriented ourselves, then went to change some more cash, buy water (still water!) and use the pay-to-potties.
I have no comment about the pay-to-potties. Except this: women, you're paying to use a port-o-potty.
We met Tanya, who was dressed very fashionably. She wasn't really dressed for the cold, however. Honestly, I don't know how anyone manages anything but perfect floors and sidewalks in nearly stiletto heels, but she did it all right over grates, cobbles and all.
Everything you could imagine must be for sale here. Mostly, we were just interested in the classic Russian stereotypical tourist goods. There was plenty of stuff you could buy that you could never get out of the country, too, like icons. We didn't bother pricing those. Basically, anything antique needs a certificate of transport, and you're not getting one if the antique has cultural significance.
Among the things I didn't buy that you might not be able to get here without paying an arm an a leg were mammoth ivory carvings, furs of all kinds, St. Petersburg and Ukrainian china and highly ornate samovars. There was also a flea market in the place, where you could buy... flea market stuff.
I did buy a few matryoshkas (including a Cheburashka one for myself and a penguin one for Lil' Miss Sunshine-- because she collects penguins), a lacquer box with a painting of St. Basil's and a mug with the Romanov crest of the double-headed eagle (the symbol of the new Russia, as well). There is plenty of Soviet paraphernalia for sale, including medals and insignia of all kinds and propaganda. I picked up a piece of replica propaganda for the Soviet space program for Papa's birthday, and a Soviet soldier's hat for my dad.
Mike came home with a few fur hats (beaver, fox and rabbit, I think), a samovar and about 200 matryoshkas.
All of this was purchased after lunch, though. Tanya was getting cold as we made our way around the market, so we went back outside to an odd looking restaurant outside the park gates. I think it was supposed to be modeled after a hunting lodge.
I ate some red caviar with pancakes (crepes, really) and had some of the beluga (the whale, not the caviar) sturgeon (the fish, not the caviar) and the salmon Mike ordered as an appetizer. I had beef stroganoff for the main course, but it was one of the few meals I couldn't finish. I was stuffed by the end!
After lunch, we went back to the market to make our purchases. The place started shutting down as we were there. I think it was open later, but many of the stalls started putting away their wares around 4. That was when we struck most of our deals. I think we did all right, and Tanya definitely kept us from getting fleeced. She'd never been to the market (though she said she knew it was outdoors and chose her clothing despite that fact), but the merchants knew they couldn't take too much advantage of us since we were traveling with a real Russian.
We bought our wares and headed back to the Metro. I told Tanya I wanted to buy a Russian tree book. After all, I'm a Park Ranger, and I wanted to be able to identify the trees I'd seen during my week there. We went to the middle of the city to a bookstore she frequented and had to get help finding the book. I think the woman working there was surprised I wanted such a technical book. First she started showing me books of flowers. Eventually, we got the right kind of book. Unfortunately, I found out later that it's not just Russian trees, but trees from all over Europe, so it wasn't completely comprehensive. The glaring omission: birch! It's the national tree of Russia, and there wasn't a single betula in the bunch! Oh well. Now I'll have some light reading when I finally learn Russian.
We then went looking for a restaurant. Tanya didn't realize we were taking her out to a dinner of her choice! She said she liked French, but didn't know of a place in the area. We consulted our guidebook and found one one Metro stop away.
We were in the theater district, which was quite beautiful. We were looking for a certain brasserie, but it was across one of those streets with no crosswalks. We eventually found our way to the other side, but we never found the restaurant. Instead, we found a much nicer one!
The place was clearly posh, but the food wasn't as expensive as one might think. With appetizers, we paid about $40 per person for some great, fancy food. I had bruschetta for an appetizer, which was served with a tortilla-like flatbread and something called chicken roll, which was much fancier than it sounds. There were shrimp stuffed in the chicken, much bigger than the little sea monkeys I'd had the previous evening.
Tonya had the octopus salad. We got a nice close-up of one of the fully intact, yet tiny octopi that came on her plate. We told her we weren't used to seeing into the face of the creatures we ate. maybe that's just because I eat at cheap restaurants.
The wine, however, was where they got you. She wanted a white wine, so Mike deferred to me for the choice. There was nothing German (my go to), so I looked at the stuff from Alsace (because really, what's the difference?). I went with a Gewurztraminer that ended up being delicious. It better have been. It was the first time I paid for (half of) a bottle of a 4250 ruble wine ($175).
We bid Tanya farewell in the underground, tipped her a bit and then made our way back to the hotel. By then, I realized I must have done miles and miles of walking over the past few days and was ready for bed.
The next morning would be our last in Moscow. Our taxi was to arrive at 11 AM, so we had a little bit of time to head out and do some local shopping. Mike wanted to check out the Expedition store to grab some gifts for his outdoorsy friends. I would have liked a t-shirt from the place, but it was winter, so only the warm stuff was out. There was a single t-shirt in the clearance section, but it was a women's small, so I didn't think it would fit.
We went to a grocery store to get some more water and some of the water of life. I picked up a great bottle of vodka (great looking, I haven't opened it yet). It was about $20 in that grocery store. Later, we saw the same vodka for 35 euros in the duty free shop. I definitely got a good deal. It's called Youri Dolgoruki. Mike got his own bag of crab chips (which survived the flight better than mine did).
Julia had arranged for our taxi to arrive at 11 AM. When it didn't arrive, we knew we had to use the dreaded phone. It was either that or pay the resident taxi 2000 rubles to take us to the airport when Julia had given us 800 for the taxi she hired. The phone in the main lobby didn't accept my card. I couldn't even get a dial tone, so I went up to the fourth floor phone which said "Fraud Detected" on the LCD screen. I figured since we'd paid cash for the card there was no harm in trying, and I got ahold of Julia.
Unfortunately, the connection was lost, but not before she said she'd call the driver.
I went back down to tell Mike, and eventually Julia called the hotel phone. Our call was cut short a second time, but she called right back and we found out or original taxi had crashed, so a second one would be there at 12. Also, Julia had been sick, so she hadn't been able to contact us over the weekend. She was glad to hear Tanya showed us around.
Our taxi came around 12:30, but it was fine, since our flight wasn't until 3:50. We got to the airport to check in, but were told we couldn't check our bags and head for the terminal until two hours before our flight.
Since we were saddled with bags, we grabbed lunch (where my bill was exactly the amount of ruble bills I had left) and just sat around until we could check in.
At 1:50 we checked in, and after all of the lines, customs (Mike's array of hats were an infinite source of amusement for customs) and baggage checking, we had a seriously limited amount of time to check out duty free. I really suggest Aeroflot should let their international passengers check in three hours before the flight.
But who am I to tell Aeroflot how to run a business. The flight back was much longer, due, I'm sure, to trade winds and the rotation of the earth. It took us ten hours to fly 4999 miles back to JFK. I got to see Ocean's Thirteen on the flight, which was a nice surprise. I didn't get to sleep much, though.
As we landed, I came into the lobby to see the Giants beat the Cowboys to advance to the NFC Championship, and I knew I was back in the United States. I guess you all know the story from there!
Thank you so much for reading my little "blog." I was very happy to hear that the staff enjoyed Mike's and my lessons and that we're welcome back anytime. Mr. English runs program all over Europe, so who knows, maybe my next little diary will be written from Bulgaria!
Pictures will follow as soon as I can get them uploaded.
Da Svidanya!
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Mad Sheep - 33° MC
- Posts: 2222
- Joined: Feb 20, 2003 9:37 PM
- Location: Shoreline Province
Spaceeba, Tovarisch!
by Papa Bear on Jan 20, 2008 8:36 PM
Thanks to Sheep for this awesome bit of Communist nostalgia!
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Papa Bear - Prince of Rock
- Posts: 3961
- Joined: Feb 20, 2003 10:35 PM
by Mad Sheep on Jan 22, 2008 2:22 AM
The final gallery is up and active!
http://ititches.com/gallery/v/moscow2008/
There actually may be additions later if I get pictures back from the Russian staff, but for now that's all of my stuff, and I think all of Mike's too!
http://ititches.com/gallery/v/moscow2008/
There actually may be additions later if I get pictures back from the Russian staff, but for now that's all of my stuff, and I think all of Mike's too!
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Mad Sheep - 33° MC
- Posts: 2222
- Joined: Feb 20, 2003 9:37 PM
- Location: Shoreline Province
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