Saturday Walkabout

I can't understand why neither of the boys want to take a nap in the afternoon considering jet lag and our walking tour today, both Jose and I would practically trade our first born for one.  Maybe we'd trade both the first born and the recent acquisition.  At least for just 
a few hours.  Naaaa, they're too cute and I suppose sleep is overrated.


We started off our morning with a walk down New Arbat Street in the direction of the Kremlin again.  Planned on having a nice breakfast similar to yesterday's scrumptious beginning.  Evan got sucked in by corporate American marketing once again.  "It's been soooooo long since I've had a donut, please, please, let me choose our breakfast place today.  It's my turn, you got to choose yesterday!"  We crumbled like stale muffins under the pressure and inside the exclusive Moscow Dunkin' Donuts we went.  This is probably the most-rockin' DD we've ever been in... cool furniture, jammin' music.  Evan and Max ended up dancing while Jose and I enjoyed our not-so-DD-coffees.  And then they sat quietly coloring in their Transformer sticker/coloring books together.  

The coffee menu listed several different types in both Cyrillic Russian and English, including cappuccinos, American Coffee and Original Coffee.  We initially asked for the original coffee, but the young man at the cash register recommended that the American Coffee was better.  I'm guessing, in hindsight, that the Original was what we were after since the American Coffee didn't taste anything like the creamy sweet good-morning-in-a-cup one normally gets at DD in the States.  At least our breakfast was semi-relaxed and the guy behind the corner seemed to enjoy the opportunity to practice his English.

We needed to be back to our apartment by 11:00 am since Philip was coming by to meet us for a walking tour of the area.   We started out on New Arbat Street in the opposite direction that we'd been walking on our own, swung around the corner on Garden Circle and onto Old Arbat Street.  What a treat!  It's a beautiful old European walking street, closed off to motorized traffic, full of fabulous tourist traps, two Starbucks, one Hard Rock Cafe, one McDonalds, one Wendy's and lots of sidewalk artists.  I shared with Philip the story I knew about Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, that he was an advocate for adoption in the U.S. and that he, himself, had been adopted.  Philip was very interested to hear this and mentioned that the Wendy's had been open for only a very short time.  We continued on our path toward the Red Square and Kremlin and St. Basils.  I asked Philip, "If we behave, will you take a family photo of us in front of St. Basil's?"  He smiled and nodded.  He shared lots of interesting information about the sights, but mostly, he was a non-stop font of questions for Jose and I.  Philip is curious (and super knowledgeable) about the world and world history, in general.  

One of his most pressing questions was whether we thought that the Democrats and Republicans would work out their differences regarding the fast-approaching deadline for the increase of the debt ceiling (to save the world from certain financial ruin).  We discussed the fact the American politicians love to basque in the glory of being a world super power, but when it comes to thinking outside of the U.S. borders, they don't seem to be very far-sighted.  It seems that most only think of what's best for their voting constituents in their own respective states.  We also discussed a few more political issues and he was very curious about the demographics that make up the typical parties.  He must ask most of his clients which party they usually vote with, as he brought up that between 80-90% of couples who adopt in Russia tell him they vote Republican.  Things that make you go hmmm...

The top of St. Basils Cathedral... I had
to cut off the event set on the ground.

We continued walking, and walking, and walking.  Didn't stop very much at all.  Just walked and walked and walked.  Philip made some very astute observations about Maxim and also commented about what he had read in his file, especially some things that were unique and different.  When we got close to the Kremlin, he told us that the word "Kremlin" comes from old Russian and means "fortress."  It was built originally to protect from attacking tribes.  We got oh so close to St. Basil's for our long-awaited family photo.  Alas, the Red Square and area surrounding St. Basil's was closed off to everyone, except for the event crew loading in for a huge concert connected with the Dakar Racing Series -  Sochi to Moscow Rally.  We didn't find out exactly when it was happening, but I'm not holding my breath that the stage and all the things being assembled in the spot that we had hoped to have our photo taken will be removed prior to our departure.  I'm so sad.  We may have to find someone with Photo Shop talents that can help us create the family photo we were dreaming of taking.  Or I'll have to come up with Plan B for our family Christmas card this year.  

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We continued our walk, and like last weekend in Vladivostok, we encountered at least half-a-dozen brides and grooms parading around the area having photos and videos taken dancing in the park or posing near other historic landmarks.  They also brought bouquets of flowers to lay at Russia's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which also hosts an eternal flame.  The area around this landmark is cordoned off to everyone except for bridal couples, who are allowed inside the area to leave their flowers.  What a very nice tradition. 


Philip felt certain that somehow we would be able to get into the square, so we kept attempting to enter from all the different sides.  One attempt took us through the GUM department store shopping mall, out the revolving side door and out to another fenced-off area which prevented our entry.  We re-entered the GUM and I, especially, thoroughly enjoyed the window shopping provided by shops the likes of Armani, Gucci, Cartier, etc.  Unfortunately, I left my platinum card back in the States along with my Russian phrase book.  We did have a nice casual pizza lunch upstairs in one of the restaurants, though. 

With the Coca Cola Bubble Chick.  Thanks for the
thirst buster!

The walk back provided another occasion to witness American corporate marketing around the world...  we encountered two gals, dressed from head to toe in Coca-Cola themed outfits, armed with bubble-guns (guns, not gums), passing out little cans of Coke.  We were quite thirsty at this point, so we thanked them kindly and asked for a photo for our story. 


About four o'clock (after five hours of walking the town) we finally returned to our apartment.  Feet aching, the boys' patience at an end, and our heads ready for a nap.  The boys had other plans for us, though... hide and seek.  Maybe we'll try the zoo or a circus tomorrow.