After a hearty midnight meal of kasha and broiled potatoes, I boarded my overnight train to Moscow. I was in a nice "Coupee" for the overnight train down and I surprisingly slept just fine. We got in at around 10 AM and I went immediately to my friend of a friend's parent's house up near the university. An old man with no shirt on answered. Valentin introduced himself and then took me to meet his wife, a very nice Jewish grandmother-like lady. She promptly fed me, and I couldn't say anything to keep her from serving me a nice, hearty Russian breakfast of sardines, tomatoes, eggs, and cucumbers. Yum! Mike, my friend Dan's friend came to pick me up later in the day after I went all around the Kremlin. In tourist mode, I dutifully stood in long lines, avoided other ones, and tried to see as much of the main sites that I could with the small time I had.
Today (Sunday) after a nice sleep at Mike's house, I saw one corpse (Lenin), two Ferraris, and all three buildings of the Pushkin museum. I also saw the beautiful Synagogue here, and I will post pictures of it all when I finish working. This city is really amazing. It's very much like New York, but with the spansiveness of LA. There are tons of what they call "New Russians" that have endless money to spend on food and luxury items. The reconstruction that's taking place here is similar to what's going on in St. Pete but the size of it all, is just eye-opening.
I don't know how much time I'll have to post over the next couple days but I hope to catch up when I get back home.
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