A visit from a friend

November 21 – November 27, 2016

My friend Chantale is coming to Moscow to hang out for the weekend; my first guest from “home”. She and her Viking family had also been my last guests in Ottawa as we dined among the packing boxes the week I moved. I can’t wait!

I have spent the last couple of weeks planning lots of fun cultural and shopping opportunities for us. The first part of the week seems to be a century as I am really looking forward to her visit.

Soon enough it’s Thursday and Chantale arrives bag and baggage with her colleague Ivan. After a few glasses of wine and lots of laughs, we head out in search of sustenance.  First stop is the Georgian restaurant close to the Embassy, Elardgi. Nothing doing without a reservation so we head to a larger Georgian place on the main drag. 

There was only one table free directly in front of the stage, the doorman suggested we wouldn’t want to sit there but we gave it a shot. After a few minutes of deafening Georgian lounge music, we headed off for somewhere we could hear ourselves think and ended up at Voronezh Deli.

The first floor of Veronezh features both a meat counter where you can buy  fabulous local steaks to cook at home and a casual deli with great food. Our dinners we all very good but the star was a ginger/lime mayo that came with the home-cut fries. Yummmm – I need to figure out a recipe to make some.

Ivan and I on the Metro

Chantale @ St. Basil's

Sated, we hopped on the Metro for a quick trip around Red Square so that Ivan could have a chance to experience a bit of Moscow before his flight home tomorrow. After our microburst of tourism, Ivan headed back to his hotel and Chantale and I headed home. A couple more glasses of wine and lots of catching up later, we called it a night.

Friday was going to be a busy day so we fueled up before heading out on our guided tour of Moscow’s Kremlin. Our guide, Oksana, was amazing and regaled us with stories, history and facts for four hours without any problem. Alex and I had come to the Kremlin in August and wandered around but the experience was totally different with someone who the knew stories surrounding the sites and the lines were short so we were able to get into all the open churches without any problem. 

After touring the grounds including Cathedral Square, we headed to the Armoury Chamber to view the wealth of the Russian Empire in all its iterations and the Russian Orthodox Church; wowser! Originally the royal arsenal the museum is now a museum bursting at the seams with treasures ranging from Faberge eggs to a collection of carriages and everything in between. We spent two hours learning about some of the more significant pieces and barely scratched the surface.

Four hours of history was somehow exhausting so we headed home for a bowl of soup and a nap before our next ”event”; Vendor Night at the Embassy – another event in support of he GCWCC. A couple of glasses of wine fueled a bit of a spending frenzy and I leave with lots of beautiful gifts for friends and family back home and a beautiful Santa for me – a Russian carved from a single block of wood and decorated with jewel colours and gold leaf!

My Russian Santa

We sent our treasures home with Craig and headed out for a bite to eat with Fadi and Stephanie. Another busy night so we cooked up a scheme to drop the name of our colleague at Pinzeria when we arrived. Our scheme worked like a charm and we ordered pinzas, salads and drinks. Great food and great company made for a lovely evening. Chantale and I chatted again into the wee hours.

Saturday and we are up and headed off to the International Winter Bazaar sponsored by 30+ Embassies in town. Muscovites have no sense of personal space so the event is a mad house! LOL, somehow we manage to buy a few things but as a shopping opportunity it is a bust – an aggravating experience that does not need to be repeated. Since we were close to the Euro Mall we went to check out Natura Siberia where we purchased a plethora of lotions and potions for ourselves and as Christmas presents.

Saturday outside the Euro Mall

Moscow Cake for Lunch

On our way home, we ended up on the Arbat where we ran into some old "friends"; Hare Krishna dancing down the street.

🎵🎵🎵 Hare Krishna 🎵🎵🎵

After a quick lunch, we headed home to drop off our treasures and relax for the evening. We ordered Georgian food, with some help from Cat, and settled in for the night. The food took hours (2 +) to arrive. It was good but not great because it arrived a bit on the cold side. No matter, the company was great and we watched the History of the Eagles into the wee hours before crashing for the night.

Sunday is Chantale’s last day in town and we have lots of things to see and do. First stop GUM to check out the beautiful building that is tarted up for Christmas.  We had a quick bite at Stolovaya 57; a Soviet-style self-service restaurant on the third floor.

GUM

GUM

Back on the Metro and we are heading to Izmailovsky Market for some Russian souvenirs and more Xmas presents. The excursion is a success and I even managed to buy the elusive fur hat that I have been seeking.  Probably not the last but it’s my first!!

Izmailovsky Market

Russian Cafe

My new mink toque

After a late lunch and some final chatting, Chantale is whisked away by a cab for the drive to the airport and her flight home. My SQ feels a bit emptier now that she is gone but it was a great few days.