Happy Pancake (Blini) Week

Sasha on the Metro Escalator

Lenin in the Metro

Cosmonaut Monument
Larry solo blogging today:

Moscow went back to work today, after a three-day weekend for
Defenders of the Fatherland holiday. It is also now Pancake Week, a
pre-Lenten celebration, which apparently focuses on pancakes because
they look like the sun. Pancake Week also celebrates the impending
arrival of spring, although we've heard it's a ways off.

We took Sasha today to an American doctor to make sure her broken left
wrist had healed. It had, and we're relieved. Insurance didn't cover
it, but the visit was $33. Gotta love that.

On our way back to the subway, we had time to visit a city park that
is full of ice sculptures. Today it was maybe 17 degrees Fahrenheit,
so the sculptures are doing fine.
There were a variety of sculptures, including an Eiffel Tower, a bear
hugging a tree, a nd a couple dancing a ballet. We forgot our camera,
so no pictures.

We finally made it to the famed Ukrainian restaurant chain, Yolki
Palki, for lunch. It was excellent, and we'd return. It was the kind
of comfort food both our grandmothers used to make, along with such
things as cole slaw made from beets, and the ubiquitous cucumber and
tomato salad.

We next took the subway to Mega Mall, on the southern outskirts of
Moscow, home to an Ikea, a Finnish department store, and Auchon, a
French supermarket that reminded us of Costco meets Wal-Mart meets
Target. We had never seen so much merchandise in Russia before.H