Paris Get-A-Way with friends! (July 5-9th)

I cant’ believe it had been over a year since I had been back to Paris. Such a great feeling to be back! This time I was a tourist, but knew all the ins and outs of Paris. I was even surprised at how much French I remembered! We ate, hit all our favorite spots, ate, did lots of shopping, and ate more. There is nothing better than a fresh baguette or pain du chocolat from a Paris patisserie! I met my friend Erin there (who now lives in London) and also spent lots of time with my friend Elise, who was my first friend in Paris. It was HOT in Paris that week. Hotter than it had been in years. Basically unbearable to be outside, but we did it anyway and had a BLAST! Below is my old metro stop and r. de Rennes was my street! (Sortie means exit)

My apartment building on rue de Rennes…

Smelling (and eating!) fresh croissants and baguettes-one of the things I miss about Paris.

One of our favorite used English bookstores!

Elise, Erin and I having lunch.

Love all the little brasseries with outside seating

Erin and I and Notre Dame in the background

Elise and I and Notre Dame in the background

Seine River and the Notre Dame

Fighter Jets practicing for Bastille Day near Notre Dame

Saw these Russian type Nesting dolls and they cracked me up. It’s a stripper!

Ferris Wheel in the beautiful Tuileries Gardens

Many views from the ferris wheel

Elise from inside the ferris wheel

Elise and I up high in Paris!

 

Erin & Elise

Le Tour Eiffel

Dear God, Thank You for Crème Brulee! Amen.

Luxembourg Garden Palace

Jenn in Luxembourg Garden

Erin in Luxembourg Garden

Eating at one of our favorite crepe places! Oh how I miss Paris crepes!

GET IN MY BELLY!

 

P.S. God, Thank you also for ex-pat friends…my life wouldn’t be the same! Missing Janae and Chrissy though :-(

Jenny visit’s to Moscow! (June 24-29th)

I was so excited when my friend Jenny decided to come visit! You may remember from a previous blog post that I met Jenny last May (2009) when she was here adopting the cutest little Russian boy. She is a friend of a friend of a friend. We have stayed in touch and am so thankful to know her. We had so  much fun~we just laughed the entire time!

Jenny and I at Gorky park on the swings (amusement park)

Jenny flying high!

This Jenny flying high!

There were two sets of these “act like a hamster in a ball on water” and at the first set, they said we were too old. Can you BELIEVE THAT? We are hardly a day over 25! Okay, maybe a bit over 25…They were happy to humor us at the second set.

Jenny getting into the hamster ball.

It was NOT easy standing up!

 

But us 30 something year olds DID stand up! Yes Sirree Bob!

Jenny & I getting ready for the boat tour

Darron and Jenny at TGIF’s doing vodka shots before the circus!

Darron and I sharing an oreo shake at TGIF’s

We have arrived at the famous Nikulin Russian circus

   One Ring  Russian Circus—so FUN! A bit of a mix of Barnum and Bailey Circus, Cirque de Soleil, and some naughty dominatrix dancing…

Darron, Jenny & I at the circus

Evening picture in front of St. Basil’s

I LOVE this picture! Jenny in front of a display at the mall

Jenny in front of Alexander Gardens

Beautiful horse fountain near Alexander Gardens

Us climbing up on the fountain—VERY hot day!

At SVO airport before Jenny heads back home…

What a GREAT, fun week!

Pukh Season

You are probably wondering what the sam hill is pukh?  I realize it looks like snow, and sometimes there’s so darn much of it that it gets shoveled, but it’s been pretty warm here…so, nope, not snow.

So what IS pukh and why is it falling on Moscow? Well, it’s the stuff that poplar trees release when they are feeling, ummm…frisky? Horny? I don’t think there’s a word for that particular situation. What is SUPPOSED to happen is the female poplar tree will stop producing seeds when she gets fertilized.  Enter Stalin. While he was in power many years ago, he ordered that thousands of popular trees be planted because he didn’t think Moscow was green enough. What he did NOT know was that trees come in male and female, and in tree-talk, every female needs a male. No one mentioned that these female trees get very frustrated and as a result, produce pukh in massive over-drive for a longer period of time.  Another brilliant plan from Stalin. So now every June the female poplars release unfertilized seeds: pukh.

It honestly looks and like it’s snowing again. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the best I could do that day. But it doesn’t feel like snow—it feels itchy. And it gets everywhere! I am not kidding you. EVERYWHERE. You have to lower your head when walking or it hits your face and itches your eyes. You constantly see people smacking their faces trying to get the pukh off!

Worst of all, you can NOT get away from the pukh! Open a window and the room will immediately fill with flying pukh (not too many screens over on this side of the pond). I was at the mall the other day and it was even floating around in there!

I hope it pukh’s off soon!

My Mother visits the Motherland!

I was so excited for my mom to visit and see where I call home now! She arrived on May 1st and stayed until May 17th. We took a bus tour of Moscow, went to see a ballet, she came with me to my women’s group, met some of my friends, went out for lunch, shopped, visited Red Square, went to Izmylavo (open market) and just had fun!

St. Basil’s Cathedral. Beautiful!

 

Old KGB building. Now it's the Federal Security Service. One of the metro stations that was bombed is underneath this building.

 

 

 

 

Christ the Savior Cathedral from across the river. It’s amazing inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the Kremlin from across the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom taking a rest on the path around Novodevichy Convent

 

 

 

 

 

Mom in front of Novodevichy Convent

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty green church on Sparrow Hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a church in my friend Jamie’s “hood”. We spent the day with her walking, seeing beautiful tulips, seeing the “lock bridge”, and eating at an American Diner!

 

 

 

 

The “lock” bridge. Newlyweds put their names and wedding date on a lock, lock it, and throw the key in the river for everlasting love! Very cool tradition!

 

 

 

Close-up one of the newer metal trees with locks. When the trees are full, they move them to the sidewalks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Mom & my friend Jamie.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful tulips in a     garden across from the “House on the Embankment”

 

 

 

 

 

Mom & I and the tulips. It was HOT and bright that day!

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn’t believe Moscow had flowers this pretty! Not quite Holland, but still beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

Quick pic of mom and some tulips on the way back to the metro.

 

 

 

 

 

Mom “rubbing the dogs nose” for good luck at the Ploshad Revolutsi metro station. It’s not just a touristy thing…all the Russians do it!

 

 

 

 

 

Mom in a fancy Russian hat at Izmylavo market.

 

 

 

 

 

Mom & I made homemade oreos—they were DELISH! I mean, ridiculously good! I really think she should have her own show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch with my friend Krista & Pebbles!

 

 

 

 

 

Bedtime snack. Vanilla ice-cream in a bag!

 

 

 

 

 

Mom’s last full day in Moscow. We went back to Red Square for a few more pictures. This was taken in Alexander Gardens near Red Square.

 

 

 

 

Mom in Red Square with the Historical Museum behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My beautiful mama with St. Basil’s behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Mom and Me. I Love you Mom!

Two firsts….

I am enjoying having my mom here. She’s really trying to learn all the different letters of the alphabet-and she’s doing well! She’s had some serious jet lag, so we’ve been taking it easy. Today I had my AWO meeting and my mom decided to stay home to watch movies and play on the internet.

After the AWO meeting, my friend Jamie needed to stop at the pet store for some medicine for her cat. Not just any medicine…medicine to help her cat who was in heat. Since I’m the one taking Russian, she decided it was going to be me who asked for this medicine. Of course, we had no idea what it was called. So, we looked up a few words and I was all ready to go. My goal was to not have to use cat and sex in the same sentence. We got to the store and went to the pharmacy area. I tried first to say in Russian “My cat is hot” and waved my hand in front of my face. Lady looked at my like I was NUTSO! Here goes… I said “Моя кошка хочет sex!” (when we looked up sex in the Russian-English dictionary, it was the same) Translation…My cat wants sex"! Jamie was trying so hard not to crack up. Luckily I didn’t have to use ANY hand gestures! As soon as I said it, the lady said “DA DA DA”! (that’s yes-they usually say it three times) Problem solved! Hammie the wonder cat now has medicine for her “problem”. Think they make something like that for husbands? :-)

The second first was ordering Pizza Hut online for delivery-It worked! Couldn’t believe it! We ordered cheese pizza and breadsticks-YUM!