Last Days in Moscow and then on to St. Petersburg

In a souvenir shop down Arbat Street in Moscow Peter and I were tempted to purchase these extremely handsome hats but, unfortunately, they weren’t in the budget. Lonely Planet books are great for helping with finding transportation but I’m always frustrated that their budgets always leave out dispendible cash for alcohol and stupid hats. I tried out another hat but despite its popularity with the local women, I ultimately decided to buy a t-shirt. I did hate on the mall in the Red Square at first, but after going inside I was impressed with the architecture and shocked by the prices. It’s easily one of the nicest malls I’ve ever been to in my life. Sara was only slightly interested in the clothes though, as always, she was just looking for a good time. Admittedly, there’s something about those round little wooden boobs that begs, touch me. Since I’ve forgotten the majority of my Spanish from school, the son of this Spanish family had to translate most of our conversation. He was excited about his role though and we spent a while chatting before I told them about this site. Suddenly they were adamant about us having a picture together. I hope they visit the site and see themselves in this shot. They were a really cool family. I calculated that in the past couple months traveling from Xiamen, China to St. Petersburg, Russia, I have been on a train for a combined total of 223 hours. That’s more than 10 days on a train. This picture was taken once we arrived in St. Petersburg, marking the end of our trans-Siberian rail trip. Notice how cracked out we look. Later on in the same day, Sara and I slept during the morning hours waiting for our check-in time. It wasn’t the most comfortable sleep but I could have slept just about anywhere at that point in time. We only caught a short siesta though because of all the other people in, out, and milling about the hostel. Only with my impeccable eye, Sara’s good looks, and Steven’s swagger were we able to capture such a moment in time on film. Numerous modeling agencies have already contacted us about potential new careers in the world of being really, really, ridiculously good-looking. I’m sure Peter won’t be happy about this picture of him with Bizzaro-Bussigel being online but the resemblance between him and this Aussie is just too striking. It only took an hour at the bar before Peter attempted to kill the guy for copying his style. Outside a film museum advertised as a photography museum I saw this cat taking a cat-nap. Unfortunately this photo is far more interesting than any of the short films we saw. Then again, I liked the one with the fat lady mowing the lawn in her less-than-flattering bikini. Only one word comes to mind when I look at this picture: eyelashes. Wanna see something gross? Check out Sara’s filthy little toes blackened from playing Frisbee in a local park. Wanna know something strange? She used toothpaste to clean them off. And you know what’s funny? It worked. I’ll say that this picture doesn’t quite capture Sara’s mood throughout the trip and I would have left her middle fingers out if it wasn’t for Peter’s huge, wide-open grill. The other character in the shot is a friend we made at the hostel who’s currently going to U of M. Not only is he cool but he also wears a watch (not one of us has had a watch this entire trip) and he speaks Russian. Some people like to call St. Petersburg the “Venice of Russia” which I think is annoying. It’s certainly not Venice, and certainly not anymore than Bangkok is the Venice of SE Asia or Zhouzhuang is the Venice of China. How’s this: Venice is Venice, St. Petersburg is St. Petersburg, and Ohio is the armpit of the United States.
This sign needs little explanation. I just wonder what really necessitated the sign in the first place. How many cars plunged down into the canal before the finally put this up warning drivers about the perils of driving over the curb and into the water? You know it’s time to do laundry when you start wearing dirty clothes inside out. I’m not just picking on Sara though, we all have made our compromises along the way, using sniff checks to decide when a change of clothes is necessary. Call it gross if you want but travel through Siberia is less than luxurious and finding a washing machine in major cities can be a problem.
I’m not sure what Peter’s exact reaction to Sara’s kiss implies, nor do I understand why Stephen is going for bunny ears but Dave seems less than impressed. Now that’s a comfortable chair. It may not look it, but that chair hugs the person lucky enough to be sitting in it. Here’s another model shot taken outside the Church of Spilled Blood. Best t-shirt of the week award goes to Dave for his “I am Mickey Mouse” classic.