...to get to The Other Side of the World. It's presently 10:30 in Moscow as
I write this (and still light outside) and 1:30 pm Texas time. I have been
up now for almost 34 hours straight-- We (5 students and I) left Dallas at 3
pm on the 19th... 9 hours to Frankfurt, 3 hour wait, then 3 hours to Moscow.
We landed at Moscow Sheremetevo Airport at 4:15 pm local time and waited
for the last group (of four, from Houston) for more than three hours in the
airport! Then an hour ride to our hotel near the popular and uber-touristy
Ismailovskiy Park on the northeast side of the city.
Our tour director (in Russia) is a twenty-something young lady named Gillian
who teaches English in Poland and has a most distracting Scottish brogue. I
haven't met the remaining two group leaders, but the guy leading the Houston
group is a retired Marine Corps captain who teaches social studies. He's an
interesting character who has a dream of one day cashing in on the lack of
self-service laundry mats in Russia. He's been to Russia once or twice, so
he's familiar with the layout, but doesn't speak the language.
This hotel is full of English-speakers, which detracts from the overall
ambience of the country we're in (but it has its advantages, too,
particularly for our students).
Tomorrow the bus leaves at 10 and we are off to The Kremlin (going inside, I
hear), which takes us to Red Square, of course, then off to the circus
(somewhere)... If I can send pics, I will. If not, I'll post them after I
get home on the 27th.
So all is well in Mother Russia tonight.
More tomorrow, hopefully...
Poka, ya'll!
E.B.
