End of the Road

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Trip Start Jun 15, 2012 Previous
Entry Trip End Jul 27, 2012

  Reno, Nevada
Sunday, July 29, 2012

Well I made it back to Reno Nevada after a very long day of flying. The last day in Moscow was fun. Went out walking (again...) down the famous Tverskaya Street which isn't that great for a stroll. Extremely heavy traffic, but it is the oldest street in Moscow. Headed over to the Old Arbat district which is an old historic street that also starts near Red Square. It is a big shopping street that is closed to traffic and has lots of cafes, restaurants and shops. We ducked into an outdoor covered patio for some coffee when the rain started to come down. It rained pretty good for about a half hour then cleared up. Street is very cool in spite of what I had read on the internet.
Then we headed over to the famous Bolshoi Opera House and got a couple pictures as it started to drizzle for a short time. Stopped at Eliseevsky, a famous grocery store that is incredibly opulent inside. The food (and the pricing) was as opulent as the store. Oh, I tried caviar during the trip. Not for me...too salty.
On the last night we headed over to the supper club next door. They had this all you can eat special that is a Brazilian Churassco . It is basically a constant stream of meats cooked on skewers and delivered to your table. The skewers were more like swords. They trim pieces off while you grab them with a pair on tongs. Pretty cool interactive eating. We had different sausages, turkey, duck, and roast beef. Didn't want to ruin the meal and get full with beer, so I had a number of shots of vodka. Fitting for my last night in Moscow. Before dinner was almost done, this band had set up and began playing. It was Caribbean style Jazz and Latin. It was quite good and then these dancers came out in colorful and sexy Caribbean dance outfits for an hour or so. Very entertaining. It was time to move on to the Margaritas. I was impressed. It was the first time on my trip that I actually had ice in a drink. One thing I really missed on the trip.
Well then it was time to pack. We were up until 2 am, got two hours sleep, and then up at 4 am for the ride to the airport. Everything went smooth, except my bag was overweight and I was trying to stuff clothes into my carryon. She finally said the weight was close enough. More passport control checks, two security checkpoints.   I think I remembered to take my bag of liquids out once.  One thing I noticed though is that security in the US is way worse than
overseas. More security at the airports, more police on the streets here. I guess our country has really gone paranoid. But it is good to travel and feel reasonably safe from those fanatics.

I was worried that I would miss my connection in Paris since I only had an hour. I was transferring in the same terminal, but it was more passport control, security checks and then I fortunately found an airline person that gave me the correct gate number. It was a long trek to a train shuttle over to the departure terminal. But I got there in time, and they had a nice outdoor smoking area where I was able to cool off and relax for about twenty minutes.

Well the flight didn't look like it was going to be a good one. I made the mistake of sitting up near one of the bulkheads. That is where they put the parents with babies. Jeezus... three babies around me and they were balling for a good half hour. Fortunately, once we got flying, they seemed to sleep most of the way in the little beds they hung on the bulkheads. After one movie, I took a walk to stretch out my legs and was in the back of the plane looking out the window. Just so happened we were up over the Arctic Ocean and there were only a couple clouds. The icebergs were so cool looking from 5 miles up. You could even seen the greens and different shades of blues around them. Truly awesome. Well I wasn't able to sleep and so I  watched more movies. I had downloaded the new Mission Impossible movie on my iPad and it was ironic that in the beginning they were in Moscow breaking into the Kremlin. Some nuclear terrorist plot, and the bad guys were blowing up the Kremlin and the Old Clock Tower trying to kill Tom Cruise. Turned out the Russians were chasing the Americans who were actually on their side. Times have changed... It was quite funny to see all of these scenes since I was just there the day before. So I think I did go 24 hours straight without sleep. Have to recommend Air France if you travel overseas. The crew are so nice on all the flights and the food is very good. The morning flight from Moscow to Paris was only 3 hours and they served a full breakfast. On the long haul to SF,  I flew economy (cheap) class, and got two full meals, free wine; and they put out drinks and Hagen Daz ice cream bars - cakes, cookies, chips for anyone who walked around to their serving area. They also had lots of new release movies on the LCD screens which are mounted on the back of each seat. The flight was relaxing and enjoyable.
But I am tired of hauling baggage, sweating constantly, and no ice in my drinks. My joints and muscles ache and I got home and found out my company's email system was hacked, the tribe is on a blacklist now, and the weeds grew faster in one month than is reasonable, and I left the place in a mess while packing for the trip.  But it is good to be home... Paris,  Eastern Europe and Russia were spectacular and truly an eye-opener for an American. But now I have to re-learn English. On the plane the crew would say something in English and I answer in Russian. Then I switch to French, which I already forgot, and when I spoke English, I sounded like some foreigner with a thick accent. LOL. But I do remember what a dollar is, and now I have to figure out how much damage I did to my credit cards and bank account...

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Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Bolshoi Opera Theatre	Lena	Me	Famous Grocery Store in Moscow
Famous Grocery Store in Moscow...	River View	US Embassy Moscow	One of 7 Monster buildings
View from the top of Peking Hotel	Sunset on an Old Building	Fountain	Near Red Square
Opera Fountain	Peking Hotel	Lena Relaxing in the Hotel	Two Thinkers

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