The palace itself left something to be desired. Because it was never finished or lived in, it pales in comparison to Versailles or Hampton Court. Then again, I don't really think I'm a fair judge because I might just possibly have really high standards for palaces. Still, there was lots of cool art inside and a couple of rooms that were just amazing. I think, if I understand correctly, that they finished it according to the original plans (plus some additions like the elevators), so that was comforting. Either way, we laughed a lot about the Queen's private lobby to the elevator room. Generally being silly and making fun of the people dressed up in traditional costume (of course!).
The grounds also had a Bread House which sounded like it was going to have food, or at the very least fake bread and ovens and bread making apparati but instead housed millions of platters. The "bread plates" as we called them (to have some excuse for calling it the Bread House) were never ending. About 5 were really cool Soviet-era propaganda, but most of them were called "Flower," "Bouquet," or "Bouquet of Flowers." I was having traumatic flashbacks to Greenwich where Jeff, Cory, and I walked through room after room of boat paintings but we finally finished.
While the inside left something to be desired, though it was a cool experience, the grounds were AMAZING. We were trying to figure out why you would need such a large plot of land and came up with all kinds of ridiculous ideas, but mainly just enjoyed them. It was like being in a forest, randomly populated with old buildings that we couldn't understand. Oh and we also saw 25+ brides, which I think made Zach want to throw himself off the cool old tower we found. Apparently a very popular place for wedding parties, the grounds were absolutely swarming with them. Miriam and I not-so-surreptitiously snapped pictures of the couples and may have actually been featured in one of the videos! But we'll never know.
We headed home exhausted after our romp at the palace and I relaxed a little bit before meeting Dad at the 4th of July celebration put on by the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. It was...not American. The people were Russian, most of the food was Russian (with the exception of corn and hot dogs), and only an American flag banner really marked it as an Independence Day celebration. Either way, it was nice to sit outside and eat food. The place it was at is this huge garden (apparently the theme for the day) and the air was really fresh and for a moment I forgot I was even in the city. We stopped at the local bar for a drink and to talk with our Russian friends before I crashed and went home.
Today I slept in deliciously late (!!!!) and then did some homework and work on my projects that are due in a week and a half or so. Then I spent hours trying to figure out Dad's iPhone and finally figured out what we need to do so we'll give that a shot. We ate in, nothing special, and then hit the grocery store down the street. Lots of food and plans to make salsa later, I'm chilling at home and getting ready to go to bed, dreaming of breakfast because at the grocery story I found....
PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!!!!
Everything I ever wanted and more. And fairly reasonable for Moscow prices too! I am a happy camper. Easily pleased, this one. Add that on top of this next story which I forgot to tell earlier and the end of the week definitely beat the melancholy of the earlier half of this week.
Usually when people stop me on the street to ask me something I am 1. too shocked out of my English thinking to comprehend words in Russian then 2. slowly processing the information and seeing if I understand and then finally 3. trying to formulate an answer. So usually I just tell them I don't know, which is probably true about 50% of the time, when they are asking me for directions to a store I've never heard of. But not Friday!! I was talking to Miriam and this passerby asked me in Russian if I knew where the Kitay-Gorod metro station was. I not only made the language switch, but I understood him and appropriately answered Yes that it was this way. And later told him to turn left at the stoplight.
It was a little thing, but it was the first time I was able to converse with a Russian without really thinking about what I was going to say first. And it came so naturally, I just wanted to dance in the street. Maybe this city is getting to me after all!
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