From Russia With Love

And our multi-entry visas are being processed so I can leave the country and come back!  

Anyway.  Yesterday we had a very relaxing Saturday.  In the evening, Becca and I went to this huge bookstore that's kind of famous here called Dom Knigi (which means House of Books in English) and they have English books!  A lot of them! And I mean, Russian books too, obviously.  And I saw the whole Harry Potter set in Russian!  I wanted to buy it but since I can't exactly read it...well. I didn't.  So Becca and I each bought a book and walked down the street to meet Julie and Julia for coffee.  And let me tell you about this street.  It's called New Arbat (I told you about Old Arbat, the pedestrian street with all the touristy stuff on the way to church) and it makes you feel like you're in New York or Chicago.  There are big, bright, stores and music playing and skateboarders and just big hotels and skyscraper-esque buildings.

When we got to the coffee shop we sat in the plush leather chairs and had mochas and chocolate eclairs and muffins.  Julie ordered hot chocolate which, if you've ever ordered hot chocolate in Europe (Erica...) it's more like melted chocolate.  It's really thick and is more like warm pudding.  You have to order Kakao if you want American type hot chocolate.  

On the way back to the metro there was a lady with two boxes full of kittens that she was selling and we stopped and petted them (bad idea...I wanted to take one home with me so bad.  I even started picking out names for them). Then as we were walking under the street (on busy, major streets they don't have the crosswalks on corners but instead have underground passes) there was this concert going on!  Under the street!  Ha there are sometimes people singing or playing their guitar but this had microphones, keyboards, drums, guitars-everything.  And all these people were standing around (we couldn't even get a good view because it was that crowded) and some were dancing, and oh. my. gosh. one lady was so into it and dancing like it was nobody's business.

It has gotten pretty cold here, too (I'm talking coat and scarf weather).  The leaves are all changing and it feels like fall!  Which I just love.  But it makes me a little nervous that winter will be here soon...I mean it is Russia so of course winter will be here soon but, goodness, I don't know if I'm ready for that.  All the Russians that we talk to say that the past couple of years winter has been very mild and that snow turns into slush pretty fast but I'm hoping that it doesn't get too slushy because I love the snow!