in Mockba

Hi all. Alright. Its really cold now, snowy, dreary, dark, and gloomy in Moscow. Anyway, here are some photos of Red Square with shots of the Kremlin entrance and St. Basil's Cathedral. We did a bit of sightseeing but not a lot. Of course, had to take a photo of Emma's car in Moscow. Also are shots of the 1980 Olympic stadium and ski jump.

A lot more to tell. I believe Moscow has the world's worst traffic. On my way to a meeting with the Chekhov Theatre Festival, we got stuck in it. At one point, we moved 1 foot in 1/2 hour. It got so bad, and I was so late, that my driver, jumped out, talked to some security guard, then tried to communicate something to me in Russian that I couldn’t understand, and started to back up and backed into a driveway that led into a courtyard. When we parked, I figured out what was going on. He handed the rent-a-cop 300 rubles (~$12)(read: bribe) to let him park there. He then proceeded to walk me to my meeting.....He also refused to take a tip! It was crazy!

Tom and I also had dinner last night at Café Pushkin, a famous hot spot. Anyway, David Eden, the Russian producer who we're working with in 08-09, told me we should have dinner and ask to be seated on the first floor and not the second floor as the first floor was more authentic.

Well, so we did that. The host asked if we spoke Russian, and when we said no, he proceeded to take us upstairs. It turns out that the first floor of the restaurant, a loud, dark, smoky restaurant with a mix of old, young, business and social oriented patrons, was for Russians only, and served a different menu that upstairs, which was French/Russian. And of course, the prices were higher for us non-Russians! The upstairs room looked more of foreigners (French and Italian from what we could tell) and of course, they smelled of green. I took some photos of the Russian 1st floor menu that we were denied.

Incredible, anyway, after an evening of sinful eating of caviar, blinis, sauerkraut soup, venison, dumplings, and baked sterlet (apparently a relative of the sturgeon that lives in the river not the sea), the bill came to over 19,000 rubles or $800!!!!! (for two of us!) Thank god our hosts foot the bill.

Off to the Bolshoi and then on the overnight train to St. Petersburg.