father's day in moscow


today we did little of real consequence: just a few groceries and books in the morning, and red square in the afternoon, followed by a dinner at akademia.

Another hard morning, with both kids waking up at 5:30 a.m. and me getting out of bed with them. The best part of the morning was that it was cooler than it had been for the last few days.

So what to do on Father's day 2005? Father's day isn't celebrated here or at least not today, so it's not like in the states where you spend the day surrounded by tired-looking wives with smarmy-looking husbands. In the morning Mom and I walked up to the Moskva bookstore and after browsing (and buying two more non-fiction books on Chechnya), I walked up to Yeliseev's and Mom went back home.

I found out that four of those brick-like one-liter milk cartons will fit in my small backpack, so the trip home was more comfortable than usual. The first plan was for Mom to watch the kids while Monica and I went to a special brunch somewhere in town (many of the better hotels in Moscow boast expansive/expensive brunches). But each time Monica called for a reservation, the place claimed it didn't offer brunch and never had (this might have had something to do with an annoying feature of Moscow eateries, which is a direct prejudice against families).

So we gave up. Instead we ate a wonderful lunch at home with stuff I bought at Yeliseev's (including great french bread), and decided to make our special Father's day meal an early dinner at Akademia cafe instead (after which Mom and Monica would go to the Bolshoi to hear Wagner's Ring cycle).

After lunch we avoided the nap abyss (barely) and roused ourselves to get out of the house and enjoy the weather and Red Square. Sam had been a stinker all day; refusing to eat and napping oddly. This after-lunch outing proved no different. He was fussy and disobedient most of the time.



Still, after he got a chance to run around (Ingrid too) a bit his spirits lightened and he and Ingrid double-teamed some poor pigeons on the Square. I snapped photos and took video, and generally enjoyed the kids. I also wanted to pick up a Romanov-pattern coffee cup, but it turned out the cup i had in mind was actually a soup bowl; and the coffee cup (smaller but still very nice) could only be bought as part of a set. So bumpkus.



After about an hour we walked back to our apartment and left the kids with Mom. Then Monica and I walked up to the cafe to reserve a table outdoors. While we waited, she had a margarita (not bad) and I had this delicious thing called a lime cooler. I think the waitress gave me a look when I ordered it to the effect that "men don't order such drinks in Russia." Ah, so what, it was great. Soon our table was ready and we sat and ordered more drinks as we planned what to get for dinner. Won't bore you with all the foody details, but I'll summarize and say dinner was very expensive and very good.

We got back just in time for Monica and Mom to get to the theater. Monica and the kids gave me a Father's day card (really cute Dr. Seuss thing), then Mom and Monica left and I played with the kids (Ingrid really howled when Monica left, she wanted her mommy).

Both the kids were tired and spent the rest of their limited energy reserves pretending they weren't tired. I got them showered (Sam's hand is raw from a mosquito bite he's been scratching, and the water makes it sting so shower time was less fun than usual). In fact both the kids had multiple (upwards of twenty each) bug bite welts today from our dacha outing yesterday.

Ingrid was next and I made them their milks and got them into bed within ten minutes of 8:00 p.m.

Now I've got to call my father and uncle to wish them both a happy father's day.

Then I just don't know what I'll do with myself for the next two hours... Good night.

Posted: Sun - June 19, 2005 at 08:36 PM          

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