Red Square was Closed

We drove by Red Square and it was completely closed down. Apparently, June 22 is the date that Russia got involved in World War II. On one side, a group of communist party supporters were congregating. On another side of Red Square, a group of monks in their black hats and black robes were congregating. It all looked very interesting but we couldn't get in to Red Square. So ... we went to lunch at Academia.

Academia was a very nice restaurant (located on the pedestrian street behind the Marriot Royal Aurora and close to Red Square). It was bright, clean and we had the perfect spot to watch the Russian fashion network. One particular line that was presented I like to call "the "Famous Women" collection which included an outfit that looked like Marie Antoinette was the first owner and sheer black harem pants and a sheer, blousy top that I like to call I Dream of Jeannie". Very interesting.

We dined on ultra thin pizzas which were yummy and mushroom risotta which was very well done. It was a nice lunch and it was great to spend time with Toni and John. There were two young women that seemed enchanted with Mia and began chatting with her.

We all headed home after a quick, unproductive stop to the Apteka. Mom has had a sinus-related migraine since she arrived possibly due to the pollution here. I had some pseudophedrine but only had a couple caplets and the Sudafed PE just doesn't work as well. And, while you can get valium over-the-counter, you can't find Sudafed. Crazy. So .. we found some pain killers that have codeine in them instead so we'll have to give them a try. I impressed myself by being able to decypher the active ingredients by sounding out the words. Obviously my ability to read Russian is improving now that I'll be leaving soon :) For those that will come after me, please take some time to learn the cyrillic alphabet. I promise it will make you feel so much better and many of the words, once you sound them out, are the same words the we would use - restaurant, supermarket, 24 hours, etc.

We stayed in last night and enjoyed just chilling out. The tvs channels here aren't really what we'd want to watch so we've spent a lot of time just chatting. It's really nice to just be able to talk to someone, not fighting the tv or the normal daily chaos of our lives.

We're off to the jewelry market today with Toni and her driver. Should be fun.