Every day is an adventure!

I celebrated my birthday in Russia this year and my adorable husband bought me 11 roses (not 12 because an even number of flowers is for funerals only), wrote a beautiful card and then we went out for dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant. It was good food. Not fantastic, but good. The pizzas looked really good! After dinner we walked back home in a park adjacent to the Kremlin walls. An amazing day... well, that was the day before my birthday because the day of my birthday we went to the Hungarian Embassy for a function.

Off to the Hungarian Embassy

Every day really is an adventure here! We woke up Saturday morning and decided to go to the auction held by the U.S. Embassy. It was quite far from our apartment, but we figured it would be interesting getting there if nothing else. I don't even remember the routing by Metro, but it was WAY out of town at the last stop on one of the lines. That only took about 30 min. and then we had to find a local bus, got on going the wrong direction, but thanks to Yandex Maps, we realized it when the arrow was pointing the wrong way and hopped off the bus, crossed the road and got on going in the right direction! We arrived at our stop, but it was a warehouse district and we didn't really know which direction to take...we knew it wasn't far, but things weren't well marked. So, my wonderful husband asked for help and they managed to steer us the right way. We found the auction spot, registered, got a number and then quickly found out that this auction wasn't for us. They were selling some great stuff if you need washing machines, fridges, bedroom and dining room sets. If they were selling it by individual pieces, perhaps we could have had some fun, but they were selling it by the sea container! You know, those huge metal boxes you see at sea ports? So we would be bidding on the whole lot - a sea container filled with furniture. But hey, it was an adventure! lol

Washing machine or fridge anyone?

First time using "the hole" style bathroom

Here's a few random shots of our life here....

View of the Kremlin from a pedestrian bridge really close to our apartment

The adorably cute blue building across the street from us

Our little street...



So people in this new diplomatic world of ours travel... a LOT! We've caught the fever and have already booked TWO trips! So excited! More on those later. We hear all kinds of interesting travel stories from the people we've met, but the best one so far is a story about getting a Kalari massage in India! It's not as lovely as it sounds! First, it's a man getting a massage by another man, then the masseuse asks "John" to take off his clothes and put this diaper-like underwear on - while he stands there and waits for John to do so....."John" reluctantly does so. He is then asked to lay on the floor and not long after is asked to take said diaper off (why bother putting it on???). "John" does so reluctantly. So picture a naked man on the floor while another man hangs onto ropes attached to the ceiling and massages naked man with his feet. It's not sounding too bad, but then it gets nasty! Masseuse massages "John's" butt crack with his toes! But wait... it gets even better! Masseuse asks "John" to turn over! I'm laughing at this point while the story is being told to us. So, naked man, laying on his back, full frontal and the massage continues. Feet are using sort of an "X" pattern for the massage, which means, something gets in the way every time his feet hit the centre of the "X"! You probably guessed it... feet flick said obstacle to the other side each time he comes to the "X" junction! I don't think "John" will be getting another Kalari massage... well, at least not by another man! lol That's awesome! The world is an interesting place!

On Monday I joined Alice, her Aunt and an American lady on the Great Kremlin Palace tour. Organized through Patriarshy Dom Tours. Thank you Alice!
Built between 1837-1849. Formerly the tsar's Moscow residence (The Romanov family) and currently the official residence of the President of Russia - Vladimir Putin. Its five reception halls (Georgievsky, Vladimirsky, Aleksandrovsky, Andreyevsky, and Ekaterininsky) are named for orders of the Russian Empire: the Orders of St. George, Vladimir, Alexander, Andrew, and Catherine. Georgievsky Hall is used today for state and diplomatic receptions and official ceremonies. This palace is absolutely AMAZING! Unfortunately there are rooms we were unable to photograph, so those will have to live on in my memory only, but the rooms we were able to photograph as absolutely stunning. We weren't allowed to touch anything and to help preserve the magnificent, intricate, wood inlay floors, we walked on the carpet only. See http://www.caroun.com/Countries/Europe/Russia/Kremlin/17-Kremlin-GreatKremlinPalace.html for more info.

Say "Cheese" Alice and give me your best pose!

Absolutely stunning!

ok, so I didn't take this shot, obviously, but it's a great overview of the whole Kremlin area