Moscow

When we arrived this afternoon the sky was grey and there was a bit of snow falling.  Later in the day, after lunch and a rest, the sun came out and Claire and I decided to brave the street with the rest of the Muscovites.  We walked a couple of blocks in one direction (I am not good with directions) found a nice park and took a stroll.  It kinda felt like Paris in the Winter or something (I've just been to the parks in Columbus so give me a break) but the streets were busy, the park was beautiful and snow was everywhere.  We strolled to the end of the block thinking we were close to the Kremlin but we were not.  While in other towns most are fearful of being taken advantage of by those who are less than respectable, however, Claire and I heard while checking in that the Police could stop us at any point and ask for our passports.  Therefore, we ducked and weaved anytime we saw the police.  At one point there were several police cars coming our direction with their lights flashing and they were talking through their microphones.  I told Claire they were probably trying to the stop the two obvious Americans one of which had on a bright blue snow jacket and the man with no hat.  I didn't wear my hat this afternoon because it was a very balmy 36!  We did stop in a bookstore and purchase a couple of Russian children's books that are in both languages.  We thought the girls would enjoy these now and Vasa soon.

We did walk on down and find the Kremlin.  We took a few pictures but didn't walk all the way around what is several city blocks of the compound.  We came back to the hotel, changed some money for our doctor panel tomorrow and are now having a drink before we eat dinner in the hotel.  This part of the day has really felt like vacation.  I so enjoy hanging out with my wife and we are so not well traveled that we make each other laugh at our "griswoldness".

This should be enough for the evening edition to the Josh & Claire's adventures in Mother Russia.  We are off to have Vodka and fish.  Dosvidonia J&C