We hurry-skurried throughout our morning & our first stop was a gas station to up the status of our not-so-useful map we bought from a vendor in the streets of Moscow on our first excursion there many days ago. This new map is super--showing every building & house of Moscow--of course it's a thick book, but if you know the area you're in or going to (& can also read & understand Russian), you can navigate anywhere you want to go. I also used the facilities here since there aren't very many free, public toilets anywhere. We often have to pay 10-15 rubles to use a porta potty that may or may not be clean or even have toilet paper available. Yee Haw! We brought "The Emporer's New Groove" as the kids entertainment for our long trip.
Our main reason for going to Moscow today is the circus, but it's always nice to fit in a couple other sites since it's a trip there & back. So. . .we started at the famous Ismailova open market to hunt for souvenirs. But before our shop-fest, we had the traditional Russian shoshleek (another name for cooked meat that is often shish-ke-bobbed. The men there cooking in the first stall were very jolly & spoke a bit of English--for the tourists. One was a bit too friendly & I warned Patrick he was trying to get me to his lair--up the stairs. Since I've been apprehended more than once by men on this trip, 
my guard is up a bit & I become highly suspicious of most everyone--not to the point of paranoia, but for safety's sake. Patrick laughed at me when I told him about the guy's lair. He was just pointing for me to go upstairs to the dining area & he'd bring my food when it was cooked. Tee hee! Out of pork, chicken, salmon, & lamb, I opted for the less-common-to-find-in-Kingman, KS lamb. It was out of this world, I must say--even in the happy man's lair!From here with our full tummies, we were armed with our rubles & big eyes as we passed booths of Russian ware; however, Patrick & Christy said it wasn't as crowded or as full of vendors as on a weekend & thought we should go back when there were more people, even though it's more work to make your way through the throngs. Things are over-priced & meant to be bargained for, but I wasn't so great at it since my mind was working so hard just to convert their stated prices to my dollar mindset. Patrick helped me with the bargaining process & many of them speak enough English to get through to us. After walking through to get a feel of the goods, many were closing down for the day--not enough business for their taste, I guess. Both Patrick & Christy got items for free here without evening buying anything at the booth. I guess they looked cute. I guess I need to perfect my Puss-in-Boots (think Shrek), whoa-is-me look a little more. There are plenty of hand-painted, or intricately-carved pretties, but it took a while for me to find something that was out-of-the ordinary enough for my liking. I finally settled on a couple of santa matrushka sets & some wooden puppet toys for a couple of my friends. I did find out that Christy doesn't like orange on this outing--she kept laughing at me when I was buying my Santas cuz one of them was not a true red color, but "orange" in her warped eyes. I took the jeering from her, but I've been taking every opportunity since then to point out the many things I see that are orange. She's a funny duck. It may be a tinge of orange, but a very bright red-orange at that. Madeleine took a long time & went to several booths with beautiful jewelry to finally decide on a pretty necklace. It's hard to describe, so I won't, but it would use up most of all her personal spending money--that's what made it hard for her. In the end, I helped her some & she still walked away with a beautiful souvenir of her stay in Russia.
In order to meet our circus friends by 5 for supper at Rostiks (KFC, basically), we left the market with very little to show for it at 4 p.m.-ish. We got to the circus with 20 minutes to spare & I laid down in the backseat of the van for a snooze-a-gram while Christy read & the kids stretched their playful limbs in the huge parking plaza area outside the circus dome. By our 5 p.m. meeting time, we found Eric, Gwyn, Hannah, & Daniel Jones lolling at the fountain/pool area & mosied on the jaunt to supper. I haven't been that impressed with Russian fast food so far (McDonald's & Rostiks) & thought the food here was okay, but not spectacular. It did get the job done of nurturing us for the rest of the evening, though. It was fun to talk to the Jones' as they are only a few days away from moving their entire life back to the states after 17? years in Russia. I talked a bit to Hannah about school (she'll be a sophomore in high school & this will be her 1st experience with public school since 2nd grade I think she said). Daniel is more Ethan's age, so they had good, rambunctious boy fun running amuck on the walk back to the circus for the evening's show.
Other than the phenomenal "Cirque du Soleil" performance that Seth gave me this year for my b-day, this was the first circus I've ever been to. The show was amazing & had me smiling, oohing & ahhing all night long. Thanks, Neiferts, for this gift in honor of Mad's 12th b-day celebrated in Russia. My favorite acts were the opening trapeze troupe, the goofball clowns that did silly acts between things, the aierial/gymnast troupe, the trampoline artists from norther Siberia, & the clown who had trained hedgehogs & a skunk in his mini-show. It was a hoot & very energetic in the stadium.After our 7 p.m. circus show ended a few hours later, Patrick had wanted to take us to see a great panoramic view of the city at night. Since Russia doesn't get dark 'til 10:30--at the earliest in the summertime, we lolligagged our way there, fitting all 12 of us (Roes, Nefierts, & Jones') into the Nissan Quest. The street to cross was treacherous, but by the time we got there, we could watch the sun going down a bit & I took several pics to help me remember the skyline of the city; it never ends. There were plenty of maker-outers there for the view & a band of motorcycles parked at the end, so I took some pictures of the marauders there, too. Then we all braved the street again because right across the way was the magnificence of the University of Moscow--Wow!
It was beautiful, even though Eric thinks it's staunch & industrial. I was mezmorized by it's strength & magnificence. And the darkness set in while we were there, so I got a couple pics with the lights twinkling in the windows. We also staged several family vignettes for prayer cards, etc. with the university as the background. Madeleine & I had our picture taken, too, & will send out prayer cards later--not really, but we joined the fun in the picture-taking extravaganza.With darkness & lateness already set in full motion, we drove the Jones' to their apartment (very empty because they leave for the states on June 10) to say our final farewells & use their "free" toilet facilities before heading home.
We hadn't been out this late before in our trips to Moscow to date, so it was interesting to see how many people are still out late at night. And . . . this is the time when all the street cleaning machines & road construction crews are in full force because the traffic is much less at night. But the drivers out are still just as kamikaze as during the day, so Patrick's guard can never be let down.Whew! Home by midnight & willingly to bed.
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