Moscow has been entertaining - although my legs hurt

Russia is very good for getting yourself into good shape. The public transportation system is one of the best in the world. But, you will find yourself walking a lot more than you do living in the USA. If you are going to rely on using the metro, you need to do a little extra walking due to the locations of metro stations. But you will enjoy stepping on the scale when you return home. The metro is a very inexpensive way to get around - 14 to 15 rubles per trip, doesn’t matter how many stops as long as you don’t leave the station when changing lines. To ride the trolley, it’s 25 rubles per trip. Another plus about riding the metro are the stations - they are all different and most are very beautifully architected.

A Moscow metro station

We’ve spent a lot of time taking care of things that we came for - Lena’s parents interviews and medical exams for their visa’s and a couple other personal things Lena needed to do in Russia. So, I have had a chance to walk the city and take pictures of some of the things I normally would not see.

Entrance to the cathedral where Russian Czars are burried.

Last night was Halloween, but not here in Russia. Russians don’t really observe this day. But, we decided to go to the Hard Rock Café and to my surprise, there was a Halloween party of sorts going on there. Nice surprise indeed. Lena and I ordered some Mojito’s to drink. Hmm, I think they forgot to put the rum in those $9 drinks. We paid about $22 for a tuna steak sandwich and the same for Lena’s rib/chicken combo, ouch! And we paid $4 to have a glass of water. Yes, we are still in Russia… But the food was good and the atmosphere was a nice change. Got to see Michael Jackson’s boots from Thriller and some of Madonna’s costumes. Not to mention all of the cool 80’s and 90’s video’s playing. Picked up a Hard Rock Café Moscow t-shirt and a cool bottle opener.

Lenin's tomb

Yesterday also yielded a new Samovar for us to bring home. Very nice unit and looks classic also. Runs on 220v, but after some research, I found that it will run on 110v without problems. The heating unit is only a coil and will just take a little extra time to heat up. Just need to buy a plug adapter at our local Radio Shack.

We stepped into a McDonald’s while we were out on Tuesday. Wow, huge place. Nobody serves ice with their soft drinks. What’s up with that? Another observance I made is that all fast food restaurants clean up after you. You don’t have to throw away your trash when you are done.