Russia, Day 19

 

Day Nineteen 

After a great night’s sleep – the fan is wonderful – we walked to our coffee shop.  We then jumped on trolley that circled around the Tsvetnoy Bulvar Park and started going in the opposite direction we wanted to go in - another traveling frustration where having a flexible mind keeps you sane.  We decided just to see where it would take us.  We crossed the Garden Ring and headed in a Northwesterly direction.  At some point, I looked out and saw an Army tank.  It dawned on me that this could be the Central Armed Forces Museum I had given up trying to find or basically had opted not to see because of the bad impression I had gotten off the Internet.  Lo and behold, it was that museum.  Was our luck changing???  We went in and walked through some of the rooms.  I was amazed at what we had stumbled upon.  The focus on the Second World War was just what I wanted to see.  The museum building itself was super nice.  The exhibits were even more interesting.  We stayed there until closing.  On the trolley ride back, I told Kade that losing the camera had been offset by the money we were refunded for the train tickets and the gold mine of a museum we had found.  The momentum was once again ours. 

As if the day could get no better, we jumped on a trolley again, hoping to meander our way through an historical area that we hadn’t seen.  Bulls-eye!  We got off somewhere on Petrovka Street.  We walked in the direction of the Bolshoi Theater.  The street was clean and the buildings were beaming with character – colorful, historical and architectural.  We notice one pedestrian/shopping street that intersected Tverskaya and Petrovka.  There were numerous outdoor cafes and restaurants.  It was a happening place.   

We remained on Petrovska and made our way to another busy intersection.  We then spotted a Ukrainian restaurant that I had read about.  It was built to resemble a typical Ukrainian dacha.  There were chickens inside.  The waitresses and waiters had on traditional peasant clothing.  The walls had bear skins, moose heads and other exotic beast displays.  We waited for our meal: a pork chop with mashed potatoes.  Dessert was pancakes with apricot jam.  The waitress and waiter (he spoke better English) were very friendly. 

After dinner, we walked down the Petrovka, right past the Bolshoi Theater.  Massive reconstruction of the Bolshoi and an adjacent hotel was going on.  As we turned in front of the Bolshoi, on a main street, we walked just behind a lady with long, black hair.  She had the build of a supermodel.  She was incredibly good-looking and had legs a thoroughbred would envy.  She also was dressed in a very sexy and fashionable manner.  Surely she turned many heads that day! 

Realizing we couldn’t locate the Internet café a man in the hostel said was so easy to find, we jumped back on a trolley and went to Triumph Square, just off of Tverskaya Street.  From there, we made our way back to the hostel.