Had a busy weekend. Friday I left class during our half-way break, and took a bus home. On the way, I picked up some flowers, and dropped off my books at the dorm. Then I hopped on the metro and met Vova near his office. I guess he wanted to get a spot close to the metro, so he just put it in a spot marked ‘no parking’ blocking a driveway. He told me to meet him at 1, and I got there about three or four minutes after. As we approached his car, we saw two security guards pushing it down the street. We ran and got in as one of the men yelled at Vova to pay attention to street signs. Apparently they were trying to get a truck out, so they just pushed it out of the spot.
We got to the airport very early, so we sat at a café for a while. Vova drank the biggest cup of coffee I’ve ever seen. The mug was about ¾ of a liter. When Brittany’s plane showed up, I gave her the flowers, chocolates, and chocolate cow I had waiting for her. I went to the chocolate museum a few days ago to pick up the cow. I spent a while looking at different animals, and was deciding between two dogs when I asked a women there for her advice. She suggested instead of a dog, getting a cow. I told her that that was a strange gift to give a woman. Then all the women in the store started arguing with each other about it, but unanimously agreed that a cow was the best gift for me to give a girl. I told them that in my country it is somewhat of an insult to associate giving a woman chocolate with cows… but they didn’t seem to get it…So I bought the cow.
Vova wasn’t able to join us for dinner, so after he dropped us at her hotel to check in, I took her to see my dorm so I could grab some things, and we went out to a light dinner at a café.
Saturday morning we went to the giant mall on Nevskii Prospekt. It was formerly a mansion belonging to a friend of Peter I which has since been turned into a shopping center. They sell pretty much anything anyone could be looking for from countries all over the world, and we went there to walk around and kill some time. After an hour or so, we went to the metro and rode down to the southern outskirts of the city, where I had bought tickets to a circus. I had told Brittany that I had bought tickets to a show that I promised she would like, but wouldn’t tell her where. She got really excited when we walked out of the subway station and saw the giant circus tent.
It was a good show, but the animals looked incredibly abused. They had horses dancing, bears riding motorcycles (and salsa dancing), parrots on tricycles, and dogs jumping rope. It was really something…but you couldn’t ignore the looks on the trainers’ faces as they cracked their whips every time an animal came out. We had a lot of fun though- we ate lots of caramel corn and were probably the only people there who didn’t bring little kids.
Following the circus, it was still too early for dinner, so I took her up to Dostoevskaya to see the ‘women’s’ mall’. She did however find 3 stores (in the five story mall) aimed towards men…but there wasn’t a single person in any of them. We walked around for an hour or so, and then went back to the metro to find dinner.
We went to a restaurant I know near my university, where we had a really great dinner. Shchi (a classic Russian cabbage soup), a salad (made of egg, potatoes, chicken, peas, pine nuts, mayonnaise, cucumbers, and who knows what else), and bacon-wrapped chicken kebobs (we each ate the same thing).
Sunday the weather was miserable, so we decided that it was a good day to go to a museum. We went to the Russian Museum, where we saw a lot of interesting artwork and artifacts. After the Russian Museum, we stopped for a light late lunch at a café, and then went to the Chocolate Museum. I’m not sure which museum Brittany liked more…
Following the Chocolate Museum, we went back to the mall so Brittany could get some ideas for souvenirs to bring home. It had been pouring all day, so after the mall we went to her hotel (right down the street) to dry off, and then went out to eat. I took her to Теремок for another taste of Russian food. I ordered her some Морс (a cranberry/grape juice drink) and a блин filled with chicken and cabbage in some kind of mayonnaise sauce. I had the same but with квас. After dinner, we went back to the dorm (Valentin still isn’t back from Romania yet?) and we tried to watch a Russian movie (with me doing translations) but it didn’t work out very well. It turns out I’m not very good at dubbing both sides of a conversation…movies intended to be comedies turn out very boring.
Today we are going to the hermitage. I’m not sure what else we are doing, but I think I am going to find some borsht for her to try…
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