Nungesser's Russian Adoption Weblog: Season II, Episode 10: Long Weekend

We all slept in Saturday morning. One of the luxuries of staying in an apartment is that Ashton Beau had his own separate room. If DW or I wanted to stay up late, prepare a meal, or watch TV, we could do so without disturbing Ashton Beau. It also gave us space to spread out. Because we had a kitchen, a washing machine, etc., we were able to take up life much like an ordinary family. If you can fend for yourself in foreign surroundings without English speaking service, I recommend an apartment over a hotel.

We got lucky because Pasha and his family were at their dacha for the summer and he offered to rent us his apartment. However, there are several other reputable services that can help you get an apartment in Moscow. On our first trip, and the first night of our second trip, I hired apartments from Peace Travel. Thy have good apartments with good locations. They can supply a crib and other child related conveniences if ask.

The catch is that depending on the season, you have to reserve and pay your rental fee pretty far in advance. That is tough with the unpredictability of Russian adoption travel. On our first trip we stayed in Ulyanovsk two days longer than we expected and we lost two nights worth of rental fees on an apartment I reserved for those two nights in Moscow. Before I left on our second trip I was determined not to let that happen again.

Before Pasha offered to rent us his apartment I had a plan. First, I reserved a room for the dates I thought we would be in Moscow at one of the Western hotels AP’s and PAP’s frequent. This hotel had a very liberal cancellation policy. If I canceled even within 24 hours before our scheduled check-in, there was no cancellation fee and I did not get charged for any of the nights I had reserved. The hotel was my back-up plan, our reserve accommodations. Second, I planned to contact the various apartment rental services once we were firm on our departure from Orenburg for Moscow. If they had an apartment available, I’d reserve one and cancel our hotel reservation. If they had no apartments available, we’d use the hotel room I reserved. Of course we ran the risk of no apartments being available, but it was less than reserving an apartment and risking paying for nights we could not use an apartment I’d reserved far in advance because we had to extend our stay in Orenburg longer than expected.

Because the following Monday was the Russian Constitution Day holiday, we had a three day weekend to spend in Moscow. On Saturday we walked about the neighborhood and went to the mall, the grocery store, and for coffee. Three days was just too long to stay sequestered in our apartment for three days like escape prisoners in a safe-house. We’d have to get out. Any why not, when would be our next opportunity to see Moscow?

I knew we would need transportation and the Moscow Metro was the best candidate. On Saturday I went alone to scout the Metro. First I studied the location of our apartment, the Аэропорт Metro station, my destination (Red Square [пл. Красная]), and the Metro stations near it on Eatlas (www.eatlas.ru). Eatlas has excellent maps of the whole Russian Federation and the best street maps form Moscow and St. Petersburg I’ve found anywhere, including the bookstores in Moscow. The street maps mark the locations of the Metro stations and go down to such close detail that they identify the building numbers. Especially useful for AP’s and PAP’s, you can view Eatlas’s maps of Russia in English or Russian by clicking on the little British flag button. I also prefer to select the Professional option when selecting the Map View Mode. Another site called Moscow-Taxi (www.moscow-taxi.com) has a lot of good, and free, information about Moscow too.

I planned to get on at the Аэропорт station near our apartment (named for an airport near there when the station was originally build in the 1930’s), get myself down to the Театральня/Охотный Ряд Metro station near Red Square, and then back again. I figured that if I could do that on my own, at a leisurely pace with no distractions, then I’d be ready to take DW with Ashton Beau with me the following day.

I descended into the tunnel and entered the Metro station. I bought a Metro card with several rides on it (13 Rubles per ride) from the lady behind the glass window, studied the Metro map, inserted my card into the turnstile, retrieved it, and walked through. Then I descended a short flight of stairs to the train platform. During our tour the day before Pasha had showed me which side of the platform to go from; however, I checked the signs anyway to ensure I would get on a train headed in the right direction. This is where learning to speak and read Russian was really paying off. I made sure to count how many stations I needed to go just in case I missed the signs or announcements over the loudspeaker.

A train pulled up within a couple of minutes. One of the best things about the Moscow Metro is how frequently the trains run. Seldom do you wait more than three or four minutes for a train. I hopped in the train and stood right by a map of the Metro system so I could count off stations and keep my bearings. The train rumbled out of the station.

If the frequency of the trains on the Moscow Metro is one of its best features, its loudspeaker announcement system and signage visibility from on board the train is two of its worst. The operation of the train is loud and often the volume of the speakers is not. Combining that with poor sound quality and an unfamiliar language make it difficult to hear, and understand, announcements, like what the next station will be. I also noticed that most Metro stations only have signs with the station name on the outer wall of the station. This works great when you are standing on the platform looking across the tracks at the sign with no train in front of you. But when you are on the train, it is very difficult to read these signs through the windows of the train because you eyes are so close to the outer wall. Imagine trying to read a large sign with your nose almost touching it. In most stations there are no signs behind the platform; if you are looking from the train into the station, you often will not see any signs telling you what station you are in. One more critique I have for the Moscow Metro is that stations with multiple lines stopping in them may have different names depending on what line you are arriving or departing on. This makes the system more confusing. Because of these things, I had to pay extra close attention to the progress of my train.

But paying close attention paid off and I made it to the Театральня/Охотный Ряд Metro station without a problem. I exited the train, went about five paces out onto the platform and took a good look around. I wanted to get my bearing as well as identify some signs and landmarks to ensure I could find my way back when the time came. Looking down the platform I was a sign that said “Exit To City [Выход В Город]” above an escalator. I headed in that direction.

I emerged from the Metro station south of the Bolshoi Theater [Большой Театр]. First I called DW on my mobile phone to let her know I made it OK. Then I walked over in front of the theater, snapped a couple photos and then headed back towards Red Square. Unfortunately the authorities had closed off most of Red Square to set up for the Constitution Day festivities the following Monday. I Walked up through the Resurrection Gate just east of the State Historical Museum and got few photos from the northern perimeter of the square. Then I went back north through Resurrection Gate onto Manezhnaya Square [пл. Манежная] and through another tunnel under Ochotnee Ryad Street [ул. Охоеный Ряд] and emerged on Tverskaya Street [ул. Тверская] to look for a Stardogs. I soon found one and purchased the now famous sausage sandwich and a lemonade. I then returned south to enjoy my sausage sandwich and lemonade under a nice shady tree just east of the State Historical Museum. By the time I finished, it was time to hop back on the Metro and head back to our apartment.

I found my way back to the Metro entrance without a problem. Again here I paid petty close attention to my route when I was coming out of the Metro so I could easily find my way back. I went down the escalator next to the one I came upon and got back to the platform. The signage was a little confusing at first. There was a sign with a blue “1” on the right and a blue “2” on the left pointing across the platform with the names of stops on it. I knew I had to be on the № 2 (Green) line to get back to the Аэропорт station. The “1” side of the sign had the Аэропорт station on it and pointed to a set of tracks. But I was afraid that I might be getting on the № 1 (Red) line headed where I should not be going. After a few moments I saw another sign that assured me the “1” on the first sign referred to the northbound track or the № 2 (Green) line, not the № 1 (Red) line. Confusion cleared up I moved to the northbound side of the platform and waited for a train. It arrived in a couple of minutes and after a ten minute ride I was back at the Аэропорт station.

After emerging from Metro station I again called DW on my mobile phone to ask if she wanted anything; I was right next to the mall with the grocery store. She said no so I walked another ten minutes back to our apartment.

I spent the rest of the day playing with Ashton Beau, writing some of the early Season II episodes and trying unsuccessfully to download photos off of my camera onto Pasha’s PC. We all went out for a walk and then DW prepared supper. After playing some more with Ashton Beau we put him in his playpen/crib for bed. Then DW and I watched the Bogart and Bacall in the 1946 production early film noir of Dark Passage, one of my all time favorites.

The next day started the same. In the afternoon all three of us hopped on the Metro as tourists and went down to Red Square to be tourists. Unfortunately for us, in preparation for Constitution Day, officials had closed off much of the area north of the StateHistoricalMuseum rendering it much more difficult for us to get around the area. We had to carry Ashton Beau’s stroller up and down a lot of small stairs around the perimeter of a construction site where someone is building a shopping mall northeast of the museum along Ochotnee Ryad Street.

Ashton Beau had grown discontented with his strolled. He was fine in the Baby Bjorn on the Metro, but he had had enough of being harnessed in, especially when we were stopped for anything. We walked up Tverskaya Street to Kamergersky Perulok [пер. Камергеский] to eat some Stardogs. After finishing another satisfying visit to Stardogs, I went up to the Citibank on Tverskaya Street to get some more Rubles at the ATM. Then we headed back down towards the Alexander Gardens. Ashton Beau was still unhappy and I was starting to regret we came on this little outing. We noticed there was something big about to happen in front of the history museum. It was all cordoned off and there was a huge gathering of police officers, several hundred at least. We approached to see what it was all about.

We soon discovered that Ashton Beau needed a new diaper. DW was mortified. Where would we change him? All these people would see! She accomplished one of the quickest “poopie” diaper changes I’ve ever seen and did it with Ashton Beau reclined in his stroller. My hat was off to her as I walked to a rubbish bin to discard Ashton Beau’s debris. With Ashton Beau and ourselves cleaned-up (remember that easy access bottle of Purell) we bought some ice cream from one of the many vendors and took a moment to enjoy eating it while watching people gather for the spectacle. We never found out what they were gathering for because we soon left for our apartment.

Ashton Beau was still not his usually charming self so we decided it was time to go. To avoid the construction site, we headed down into the Metro by an alternate route I remembered from when we were with Valentina on our first trip in March. Instead of navigating the perimeter of the construction site with all of its ups and downs, we went via a long underground tunnel to the platform for the № 2 (Green) line back to the Аэропорт station. Back on the Metro, noisy, hot, and crowded as it was, Ashton Beau returned to his more subdued and happy self. Go figure.

After returning to our apartment I went back to the mall to have the contents of the memory sticks on my camera transferred to CD so could I could copy files and upload them here to post with some of the early Season II threads. The photo store in the mall said they could do it in about an hour so I dropped off the sticks and went upstairs to a restaurant called Moo Moo [Му Му] with a bovine motif. Moo Moo serves mostly traditional Russia food in a sort of cafeteria style. I got a beer and went out on their deck and fund a nice shady table under an umbrella overlooking Leningradsky Prospekt. I took out my Blackberry and wrote part of an episode for about an hour and half a then returned to the photo store to get my CD and memory sticks.

I returned home, we had some supper, and it was soon again time for Ashton Beau to get his evening bottle and go to bed. After he went to sleep DW and I watched Twisted with Ashley Judd, Andy Garcia, and Samuel L. Jackson. Like Dark Passage it’s set in San Francisco. Unlike Dark Passage, it won’t become one of my favorites.

The following day (Monday) we walked the neighborhood. We all went to the Moo Moo restaurant for lunch and then stopped by one of the 24 hour pharmacies in our neighborhood to pick up some extra Avent #2 nipples for Ashton Beau’s bottles. From what I observed, most grocery stores sell baby food, but not supplies like diapers and bottles. However, the pharmacies are usually well stocked.

In the next episode, Nungesser goes to his office and Ashton Beau gets his visa.

One of the street signs between our apartment and the mall. Note that the street name is in English as well as in Russian.

Another street sign with the name of Ernst Thalemann (leader of the German communist party before the Third Reich) Square written in Russian and English.

The mall with a statue of Ernst Thalemann outside.

Descending into the tunnel under Leningradsky Prospekt and leading to the Аэропорт Metro Station.

Small shops in the tunnel leading to the Metro station.

Metro entrance turnstiles with the ticket window behind them.

The platform at the Аэропорт Metro station. Note at this station you can see out of one train accross the platform and see the station sign on the opposite wall across the other set of tracks. Most stations are not open like this. Note also the blue arrows pointing to the two tracks, "1" (northbound) and "2" (southbound).

Nungesser in front of the Bolshoi Theater.

By the Resurrection Gate - ladies doeing whatthey do the world over, queuing up to go to the toilet.

The Resurrection Gate - the northern entrance to Red Square.

Nungesser back at Red Squre. Too bad it was closed for Constitution Day preparations.

The east side of Red Square - the GUM and a reviewing stand set up for Constitution Day.

Looking north across Manezhnaya Square with Tverskaya Street in the background. The Rolex advertising banner is concerling a huge retail construction site.

Nungesser with the coveted Stardogs sausage sandwich.

An ordinary snapshot of a Metro train interior.

Exit To City Sign on the Metro platform.

№ 2 Green Line sign on the Metro.

A "1" and "2" sign identifying the particular tracks of a Metro line running in oposite directions, not to be confused for a sign identifying a particular line of the Metro.

A corridor of the mall we fequented.

Another corridor of the mall and some of the stores.

The entrance to the grocery store in the mall. Notice the ubiquitous bag stowage lockers.

The food court at the mall. Note Sbarro at the very back.

In the window of a toy store at the mall. Who would have thought they'd have a toy Des Plaines, Illinois Crown Vic police cruiser for sale there. Schnooks, you've got to love this!

Nungesser and DW outside at the Moo Moo restaurant.

Looking across the Leningradsy Prospekt from the Moo Moo.

A large, recently built, residential building across Leningradsky Prospekt from the mall. It's styled after the seven sisters and some refer to it as th 8th sister.
If you're coming into Moscow Center from SVO II, you're about half way there when you se this building. You can't miss it.

Russia's version of Judge Wapner.

Watching a World Leauge fooltball game on Russian TV.

A typical Moscow bus stop near our apartment.

A closer look at what riders can buy at the bus stop.

While we were in Moscow the trees were shedding a cotton like substance. It fell and accumulated like snow.

Ashton Beau enjoying DW's company.

Another of DW and Ashton Beau.

DW and Aston Beau on Tverskaya Street with the State History Museum and Kremlin in the background.

Ashton Beau kicking Nungesser in the chin on Tverskaya Street.

DW enjoying an ice cream cone on Manezhnaya Square with the State History Museum in the background with Ashtion Beau and a few of the hundreds of police officers gathered in the square.