Moscow - Day Two

Friday morning at 8 a.m. we were ready to take showers....no hot water.  We called the apartment people and after checking a few things said that all was well with the apartment but it was their guess that the government has turned it off.  I know this but they gave a little more detail.  If there is no hot water 99% of the time it is because the government turned it off.  It is only for a couple of hours and sure enough at 10 a.m. we could all take showers.  As we later discovered, no government involvement, we did not wait long enough for the hot water to reach us.

Elder Hamp called at 11 a.m. saying that he and President were leaving the airport and would be here in about 40 minutes. He called again and asked to meet us on the street.  We waited.  Then walking down the street, duffle bag in hand, was Barrett and President both grinning ear to ear.  So good to meet President.  We shook hands, said we would see each other Sunday, Elder Hamp and President hugged and then off President went to meet the driver and be on his way.

Back at the apartment, it was fun to watch Greg seemingly try to cram every bit of information and technology Bear had missed over the last two years into an hour, including Skyping back home for a few minutes to reunited two great friends...and a boy with his dog.  Greg was so thoughtful about it...tried to make it a surprise especially considering it was 1 a.m. in Pville.

Greg telling...Bear's 'Wow" face

Skyping home

Barrett's plan for us was to go to Red Square but when we walked up the gate was closed.  As it turns out, they were going to be doing a rehearsal for the parade that will be televised nationally on Thursday, May 9th, Victory Day.  The parade will go past our building on Trevskaya St and into Red Square.  So Plan B, we took the Metro a few stops down and visited a beautiful Russian Orthodox Temple, stopping at cool stuff along the way.  Then we came back to Trevskaya and purchased tickets for the traditional circus which we will see next Wednesday.

Elder Hamp, Mom and Dad at Bolshoi Theatre

Cool Sundial by Red Square

First trip on the Metro

A slight hiccup in the plan was when I tripped and twisted my ankle walking up to Red Square.  As it turns out, the walkways, curbs, etc., are all uneven here and Barrett joked that this is why Russians look down when walking.  A blessing, medicine and ice and I am much better.

We went grocery shopping to have some breakfast foods in the apartment. We went ty MyMy, pronounced Moo Moo, for dinner.  It is a cafeteria style place with a lot of traditional Russian foods.  We sampled three very traditional salads; each had our meet of choice; we all sampled ____________, which Barrett likes (I was surprised because his descriptions of it over the two years made me think he just tolerated it); and Owen tried a traditional drink that was more like thinned out cherry pie filling.  Owen was not disappointed.

Three Russian salads

The cherry 'drink'

Greg and Bear

When we came out, the tanks and other military stuff were parked out on the street, I guess the rehearsal had begun.  It is all part of the parade.  We watched for a few minutes (it was light out and 9 p.m.)  then we went back to the apartment and got ready for bed.

Parade rehearsal

Equipment from the era of Victory Day 

It is now 4 a.m....I haven't quite adjusted to the time change.