A Russian Anecdote!

In May of this year, I went fishing with Slava.  Slava is a former guard at our apartment complex, and he and I have formed a bizarre friendship--bizarre, because he speaks almost no English and I speak even less Russian.  He is a sweet man who has, for lack of a better word, adopted me and welcomed me into his life.  He deserves a whole separate blog post, and it's in the works.
Regardless, when we were fishing, he shared this Soviet anecdote with me:
  It was 1981, and an angel appeared to Ronald Reagan and Leonid Brezhnev.  They were at a Summit or something.  The angel told them, "I have a newspaper from the year 2025.  Would you like to read it?"
  Brezhnev said, "Absolutely!" and grabbed the newspaper.  He looked at it and promptly began laughing.  Belly laughing.  Laughing as if he would never stop.  
  Reagan looked concerned and said, "What!?!"
  Brezhnev said, "The headline here says, 'American Soviet Concerned It Won't Meet Five-Year Plan Quotas."
  Reagan said, "Gimme that!" and started leafing through the paper.  It took a little longer, but he found his tidbit a little further back.  He, too, began laughing to beat the band.
  Brezhnev said, "What!?!"
  Reagan said, "This headline says, 'Fighting Escalates at Finland-China Border!"
Cheers!

A Russian Toast!

On Sunday, we went to Cory Wanamaker's art show.  Cory and his wife Christy are our best friends here in the Moscow.  He's a very talented artist, and his show was a big success.  After the show, we went out to dinner with the two of them and two Russian couples.  One of the couples was another artist, Viktor Bokarev, and his wife Galina.  Viktor had a show at the same gallery, so it was a night to celebrate.
We were well into a bottle of Georgian grape vodka (not grappa, but painfully similar) when Galina offered us this toast:
  A young couple got married, and they began their honeymoon.  They were leaving the village where they grew up, met, and got married so that they could go live in the big city and make a life together.
  They walked all day and then set up camp.  They were very tired and very hungry, and the husband told his wife to rest while he went to find some food.  He walked through the surrounding forest, carrying his rifle with him, but saw nothing that they could eat.  He was about to turn back for his camp when he saw a goat in the distance.  He crept up on the goat, carefully took aim with his rifle, but just as he pulled the trigger, the goat danced away.  Before the man could set up another shot, the goat was out of sight.  He returned to his camp with no food for his bride, so the young couple went hungry on the first night of their marriage.
  They woke up the next day and continued on through the forest.  All through the day, they walked and walked.  As they set up camp and settled down for the evening, they still hadn't had any food.  The young man picked up his rifle and told his bride that he would return with supper.  He walked through the forest for a long time until, once again, he spied the same goat from the previous day.  It was far off in the distance, so he tracked it and stalked it until he had set up the perfect shot.  Right as he pulled the trigger, the goat jumped behind a tree.  No luck for the man.  He quickly reloaded his rifle and set up another shot.  The goat danced away, the man missed, and he didn't see the goat again that night.  He returned to camp with no food for either of them, and they both went hungry on the second night of their marriage.
  On each of the next two nights, the same thing happened.  The man went out to get food, the goat appeared, the man was right about to get the goat, and the goat would scamper off.  As they grew weaker, they were unable to make as much progress, and so, on successive days, they didn't travel as far as they thought they might.  The big city looked further and further away.  
  Finally, during the fourth night after their marriage, weak and exhausted, the man and woman died from hunger.
And the moral of the story is, "May we never have such goats in our lives!"
And then we raised our glasses and downed our vodka.
Ya gotta love the Russia!

A Day in Rome

We spent Sunday, October 30th, 2011 in Rome, Italy.  It was a good day!

We started our day outside our hotel at about 0845.  The family tolerated my request for a picture to start the day.  Little did they know.

Addy in front of Trajan's markets.  The tower in the background doesn't lean as much as the one in Pisa, but I wouldn't want to live downhill from it.  

Me at Trajan's column.  The column is really cool.  It's a continuous spiral from the bottom all the way to the top.  We couldn't imagine how much effort went into carving it.

Caesar's Forum (we think) at the base of Trajan's column.

Izzy at Caesar's Forum.  The sun was bright, so we were trying to time it so she would look up as the camera took the picture.  We just missed it, but it's not a bad shot.

This was in front of the Vittorio Immanuele monument.  It seemed typically Italian, whatever that means.

The gates were locked!  Curses!  It's cool, though.  We had cooler things to go see.  Our tour guide later told us that the view from the top of this monument is her favorite in Rome because it's the one spot in Rome where you don't look at that monument.

Karen taking a picture of the kids in front of the Forum, or at least a small part of the Forum.

The picture she took.  Whoa...

Another typically Italian moment, I guess.

The Fora--'cuz the Forum isn't actually one Forum but rather a whole bunch of Fora built over hundreds of years by different people.  Who knew?  That said, I shall not be calling it the Fora.  I shall be calling it the Forum.  'Cuz that's what I've always called it and Fora sounds pretentious.  So there.

While trying to find the damn entrance to the damn Forum, we stumbled across this great farmer's market at the Circus Maximus.  We bought some brand new, unfiltered olive oil--the olives had been harvested and pressed that week--and just wandered for a bit.  It was cool.

And the kids got gelato, so that was nice.

Addy thirsty!

As we headed toward the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum, there was a Fiat 500 rally.  It was pretty cool.

Toy car!  I wanted to get in but didn't have the balls to ask if I could.  Everyone looked a little into their cars.

The Colosseum.

The part of the Colosseum that would have been under the stage.  Storage for gladiators, lions, and whatnot.

The family at the Colosseum.  No lions to throw them to, so I decided to keep them.  

The Colosseum.

Addy and Izzy in front of the Arch of Constantine, as taken from the Colosseum.

Addy and Izzy at the Colosseum

My art shot at the Colosseum.  Meh.

Ordering lunch for the family.  

The family eating lunch.  Notice the quality of the meal!

I saw many statues during the week, including Michaelangelo's David.  This...by far my favorite.  Not even close.

This is a view of Rome as seen from the Palatine Hill.  Saint Peter's Basilica is the large dome in the distance.  It kind of drives home the idea of Rome as the Eternal City.  We were standing on a place that was first settled in 1000 BC, went on to become the predominant city in the Western World, had a bit of a decline, and we're seeing in the distance the center of the Catholic church, arguably the most important, or at least the most impactful, organization of the last millennium.  Pretty heavy stuff!

The Forum, as seen from the Palatine Hill

Forum.  Not sure whose.  I have a book that could tell me, but it's by the front door.  Can't be bothered.  I could make something up, though.  Let's see...this was Emperor Frankie's Forum.  The central arch is in memory of his wife, Suzy, and the other two are for his favorite mistresses/concubines.  It was a long time ago.

Remember the Leaning Tower of Trajan's Market from earlier?  That's it.

The Colosseum, as seen from the Palatine Hill, with the Forum in between.

Addy and Izzy at the Forum

Addy and Izzy on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.  Couple of interesting tidbits here.  Mussolini wanted a road on which he could show off his armies before said armies went off to conquer the powerhouses of Ethiopia and Eritrea.  Or something like that.  Regardless, he drew a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum and had himself built a road.  Never mind that in the process he either dug out or covered a huge chunk of the Forum.  There are apparently archaeologists who still have nightmares about the whole thing.  Nowadays, on Sundays, they close it off to traffic and make it a big pedestrian area.  That was alright.

Family hungry!  Must eat!  We found a nice little spot on the way to the Pantheon.  Pizza and gnocchi for all!

The Pantheon.  When we were there in April, 2010, we had the place practically to ourselves.  This time...not so much.  We've all agreed that the Russians and the Italians should never be allowed to be in charge of lines of people.  

Piazza Navona from the south end.  Piazza Navona is a very cool place.  The south side of the piazza is mostly street performers of one form or another.  The north side is mostly artists selling their creations.  When we came through in April, 2010, our walking tour didn't stop to give us time to look at the art.  So we put it at the top of our list when we returned.  We ended up not finding anything that really spoke to us, but it was a lot of fun to wander and look at everything.

There was a lady making huge bubbles.  Parents would put kids on their shoulders to try and pop them, but this one escaped.  I really like the picture.

Family tired!  Need rest!

Piazza Navona from the North end

On our way to the Spanish Steps.  There were a whole bunch of people.

Towards the Spanish Steps.  Did I mention there were crowds?

Made it!  Addy's eyes are closed.  I shouldn't include this shot.  But I look fabulous!  The picture stays!

Addy and Izzy at the top of the Spanish Steps

The Trevi Fountain.  We really wanted to go down and toss a coin in over our left shoulders, but it just wasn't going to happen.  Even all of our Russian line-breaking skills were of no use.  So we came to this spot and the kids chucked their coins towards the water.  An Italian lady next to us shook her head at us and pantomimed the whole throw-it-backwards-over-your-left-shoulder thing.  We pantomimed the whole we-will-kill-someone-if-we-do-that thing.  It all worked out.

Wine and chocolate.  Not a bad way to end a day.  Karen's blurry, but it's a great shot of Izzy.  The picture stays!  What you can't see in the picture is the television screen right above Karen's head.  It had a soccer match on it. Addy was happy.

From there, we meandered our way back to the hotel and got some rest.  As mentioned 45 pictures ago, it was a good day!

BAD DOG!!!

Sasha found a pillow.  That is all.

Sunday Stroll with Sasha

Local transportation

Walking the path to the road

"Cafe Restaurant--Lunch Menu"

Looking back at our building

Babushka in the park

Sled hill--you pay to play

Little girl at the end of her run

Sled hill--Crazy people way up on the right

Same sled hill, different angle

Pretty blue church

Crazy dog and pretty blue church

Shadow=Sun!  Yay!

Moscow in the distance

Sasha in the woods

Pretty

1980 Olympics rowing venue

Used in the winter for ice-driving

Driving Range/Cross country Skiing

Moon over Moscow River

Sasha next to Moscow River

Crazy banya people in the distance

Family feeding ducks

Pretty

Sasha in the woods

Crazy dog

Grandpa frightening the kids

Crazy soccer people

Sunday stroll

Down the home stretch

Waiting to go in

In the elevator and home again

It was a lovely day for a stroll--about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but sunny and crisp.  We walked across the street to the "Blue Church Park."  I'm sure it has a real name, but that's what we call it.  It was a winter wonderland.  Families out sledding.  People gathering holy water from the spring.  Old ladies out for a stroll.  Bicyclists--no kidding!  Snowboarders.  A little of everything.  We made our way through the park to the Olympic rowing venue where cars and motorcycles were racing on the ice.  A motorcyclist tried to get from one track to another by cutting through the snow.  His bike stopped and over the front he went.  The snow made for a soft landing, so nothing was hurt but his pride.
Then past the golf driving range that's now a cross-country skiing area.  Down to and along the river for about a mile.  Past the little ski area (two hills) and the crazy banya boys.  Must have just missed the polar bear plunge.  Watched the fishermen  and the family feeding the ducks.  We then cut up the hill along the stream and through the forest.  Watched grandpa have a good time and almost kill the kids on the sled hill.  Went back to the apartment via the soccer field.  I love that it was 15 degrees out and the guys were sliding their way around the pitch.  And then we were done.