The Exploration Continues

Back to the Red Square

This last week I had two more clients added to my schedule, so now I must get up at 6:30 AM on Wednesdays and Fridays to make it across the city to the clients by 9:00 AM. I was pretty upset about this at first because on Tuesdays I don’t even get home until 10 PM and my roommates have Fridays off so Thursday nights are stay home and drink night. But once I discovered that my client lives three apartment blocks down from me and has to make that commute every day and work until 7 PM, I quit my whining.

Because of these new clients, I have four hours to kill. This is not quite enough time to go all the way home and do anything, so I have been picking metro stops and exploring them. I managed to find a couple of decent malls with Gap, H & M, a tiny Uniqlo, and TopShop. All are highly overpriced, but the sales make them somewhat affordable. I also found a Starbucks and am strangely excited for this discovery. I even approached a man on the street to find out where he had found Starbucks. Of course he didn’t understand me and thought I was crazy and ran away. I don’t blame him, really. But I managed to find it on my own.

I took Oliver to the Red Square yesterday. We took a few pictures and then, having realized we hadn’t eaten at all, went on a mad food hunt. Prices are crazy expensive near the Red Square, so we went back to that mall where I accosted the Starbucks customer. I ordered us some “Gamburger” and “Kartofel Free” and a drink for a decent price of 175 rubles (almost $6).

I then met up with Katy and Kieran for a trip to the Wine Factory. It is probably one of my favorite spots in Moscow so far. It is an old red brick wine factory turned art compound. It is full of artsy cafes, tiny little shops selling jewelry, handmade passport covers, awesome journals made from copies of medical journals, school books, and magazines.  There are many art galleries to get lost in and a random Mustang Jeans store.  There is also an art supply store down where the wine barrels were stored. I think that it would make a better café, to have the chairs and tables placed under the low arches…but that is a bit too mainstream perhaps.