September 22nd : Moscow Day 3

Overnight, a miracle happened.
11:45 pm and the phone rang in our room. We didnt know we HAD a phone until it rang and in the darkness, I stumbled around and found it under Marks stuff on the desk. The receptionist informed me that my luggage had arrived and I got the distinct impression that she needed to me to come and collect it right now. So I did.

The next morning I had the pleasure of choosing what to wear, then we hit that amazing breakfast buffet and checked out. The hotel stored our luggage for the day so we could once again be tourists in Moscow.

It was a spectacularly pleasant day. A tour of Saint Basils Cathedral was first on the list - actually it’s 9 churches melded together, which explains a little bit, the appearance.

Then we bussed, hiked and floundered our way to Gorky Park. Gorky Park is huge and it frequently finds itself on the 10 most wonderful things to do in Moscow, list. We were not discouraged even after overhearing other tourists tell us what a non-event it was and I’m super glad about that in hindsight. The park is amazing… and on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, it is filled with Moscovites and their families enjoying picnics, boat rides, games, gardens and kids play equipent. Trails are wide and paved. Flowers are perfectly pruned. People are smiling and laughing. The vibe is… well… excellent! There are almost 12 million people who call Moscow home. It thrilled me to learn that many if not most of them appear to have a firm grip on enjoying the free things in life... they hang with family and friends, eat cotton candy and ice cream, soak up sunshine and stop to smell the flowers. 

Mark and I found a cute little cafe somewhere in the middle and stopped for lunch.

The menu was out of this world, translated to English and featured artistic photography of many of the dishes. We both enjoyed unusual salads, but mine was so good and so interesting that I had to take some notes! I plan to try and recreate it at home and in case you want to, here you go:
Crispy eggplant bites
Cilantro leaves
Mint leaves
Soft mild cheese in little firm dollops
Tomato chunks
Sunflower seeds
All tossed in a sweet chilli sauce

It was served with an Armenian bread and a tomato based dipping sauce - slightly spicy and smokey in flavor.

After lunch we walked along the embankment of the Moscow River and through the Artists Center. 

The plan to tour the Kremlin fell by the wayside as walking in the sunshine become the activity of choice. Rain looked like it was coming… and somewhere around dusk, it arrived. Us and 5000 of our new friends hanging out at Red Square and in front of The Four Seasons Hotel all of a sudden felt big drops. Everyone scattered sooo fast! Mark and I took shelter at the entrance to the Four Seasons just as the heavens opened up and torrential rain and wind battered the city. It was crazy and all the doorman could do to keep the riff-raff out of the hotel lobby! LOL

When it passed, the sun had set and the wet stone pavement of downtown Moscow reflected city life and lights like nothing you can imagine. It was beautiful!

I stopped at a puddle near the Bolshoi and shot this one….

And then these:

Then we headed back to the hotel. Coffee was on order… It was another 3 or so hours before we needed to head out to Yaroslavsky Station and after a long day with lots of walking, caffeine was in order. 

What is it they say about idle hands?

Hanging in the cafe of the Budapest Hotel was our last event in Moscow unless you count the adventure that followed; Getting to Yaroslavsky station.