The Last Weekend

Well, I officially finished my last weekend in Moscow. I was really ill this week and while it didn't completely defeat me, it definitely slowed me down. I went out to dinner Wednesday to get info. About leaving Russia and again on Thuirsday with Jason and Amanda because Jason was going home. Other than that, I just stayed at home, started packing, and hallucinated about being a vampire ninja. Yea for fevers... But I couldn't stay in on Saturday, so I went with Amanda and Francesca for one last hurrah at Izmailovo. Finished up sopping, ran into some more friends there, and went to dinner at my favorite little Chinese hole-in-a-wall. It was quite difficult ordering without Hongda, but we managed to order something. Not quite sure what it was, but that's why I love it so much there. It was lots of fun, but perchance a bit too much, for I spent the rest of the evening in my pajamas, hacking up my lungs while my friends force fed me tea in an attempt to make me get better. I love my friends.

On Sunday, we finally got to go see Lenin. Yes, that Lenin. And, yes, we actually got to see him. You see, they actually mummified Lenin and put him on display. For a couple months out of the year, visitors can walk through the Kremlin cemetery, go into this dark, guard-infested building off of Red Square, and look at the creepy, decaying Lenin. Of course I had to go! It was really quite cool, although I am pretty sure he is mostly a wax figure by now. You walk into the building, tripping along the stairs because there is zero light until you finall make yourself into this room. There, laying on this really fancy bed with a red glowing light, is Lenin. I stopped and gapped because it was just that weird. Then I tried to get closer to see if I could poke Lenin and promptly got yelled at and poked by a guard. Assat grabbed me and dragged me away, hissing in my ear that you don't DO that. Hehe. It was fun.

After Lenin, we headed off to do a river cruise around the city. It's a great way to see some of the many landmarks and it just opened up last week for the summer. We got on by the university and toured around the city for about 2 hours. We saw the Kremlin, Church of Christ the Savior, the glass bridge, some monasteries, a few of the Seven Sisters. We thought that we could stay on until we ended up back where we got on but, of course, that would be sensible. And Russia is anything but sensible. So, we got dropped off across the city, in an area neither Susan or Kara had ever been before, with no way to get back and no idea where to go. Fortunately, I had been in the area before (its right near the monastery where Princess Tarakanova was interred), so we were able to get back home eventually.

On our way home, we got a call from Sarah inviting us for dinner. Her parents visited from the US last week and brought tons of goodies. One of those goodies...peanut butter!! Woohoo!! So, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, I know that might not sound very awesome to you all but trust me, over here, its gold. Yum. They also brought cookie mix, which we made and then realized that, hey!, our ovens don't work. So, Hannah attempted to fry cookies in her pan. Yes, fry cookies. They weren't actually that bad, surprisingly enough. Go figure.

Anyways, that was the weekend. Have a marathon of classes this week, one day off, and then I come home. Lots to do and I am still quite sick, so I am going to watch some Russian Winnie the Pooh and go to bed. Tootles!

Oh yeah, I will get around to typing up my trip to St. Pete. Eventually...