Arrivals

I met Mom and Dad at the airport today. Their flight was late, so I watched all the interesting things going on at the airport; Taxi drivers milling about and occasionally getting chased off by the cops. That got boring, so I went to a café for lunch. Pretty good food, surprisingly, but take it all in context – a stray dog wandered in and sat under the table next to me, staring at me lazily until he dozed off to sleep.

Mom and Dad arrive – and we head into town in a cab. Dad, of course, tried to read every sign he saw despite no Russian education. A lot of the trip was translating by letter - the H is an N, the C is an S, the lower case b is a – well, that doesn’t really make a sound and I won’t be able to explain that in a cab on the MKAD.

We met up with Charles and Claire at the hotel, and after a quick bite headed to Red Square for a nighttime excursion. Red Square is one of the most beautiful places, and at night it takes on a completely unearthly glow. Breathtaking.