P'ka Mokba

Alison's last day in Moscow:

I visited the New Tretyakov Museum again to see a poster exhibit. It focused on the period from right around the revolution to contemporary times. I went with a Fulbright art history professor and Cyprus-bound expat friend. Great fun, but sadly the signage was all in cyrillic, so I had to puzzle my way through most of them. Visually the pieces stood on their own.

I ate a last lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. It was 30 degrees, but they had good French food, iced lattes and air conditioning. What more is there to say, but ahhh!

I sat in the worst gridlock traffic jam of my life on the way to the airport. It took us over 3 hours to drive to the Domodedovo airport from VDnKh. Larry took an earlier flight and his airport ride took him 1 hr 10 minutes. I was miserable, I had to pee, I thought 'I am never going to be able to leave Moscow." Yet we somehow made it the plane.

The plane was a regular booze cruise, mostly Russians who were drinking heavily. Some had brought on their own hooch. The British Airway flight attendants were not having any of this and managed with a firm command and an arm on the shoulder to scold the drunk Russian males on board into submission. "We're not going to have
any trouble this evening, are we?"

Sasha made many friends wielding her tattoo skills and distributing Russian chocolates to seatmates and crew alike. Upon entering the immigration, our new Russian friends let us cut to the front of the line. We were in the UK at last.

And so you have it: as we decompress in England and gather our wits about us, I am sure we will post some final thoughts. What a long, strange trip it's been.

Larry:
Leaving Moscow wasn't quite as exciting. My flight left at 5:50 a.m., and I rode to the airport under cover of darkness on the MKAD, Moscow's version of the beltway. I had hoped for a scenic tour to the airport, past all the Stalin high rises, over the bridges, tripping memories of our four months in Moscow. But instead all I saw was car dealerships and lots of apartment buildings. During the flight, I followed progress of our journey on the plane's screen. I thought how far away we had been. Plenty of time for deeper thoughts later.