A proper night out, another Maslenitsa fest day, and Sunday Ski Day!

what a weekend!  went out for a proper night out on friday night...went to a popular club (well, according to Lonely Planet it is popular...so who really knows, but it was fun) called Propaganda.  extremely smokey.  everyone is trying to indulge while they still can...smoking ban hits next month in moscow - thank goodness!!  but drinks were cheap, company was great, and we did some dancing.  and still managed to catch the last train home.  the younger folks stayed out and took "dodgy cars" home...basically, you just stick your arm out as if trying to hail a proper taxi, and pretty much just anyone can stop to pick you up.  you negotiate the price, then they take you!  and if you are with a group (and someone in the group speaks russian...that helps...) it's fine.  i wouldn't EVER do it alone, or even with another woman.  and actually, i probably wouldn't ever do it period, but these guys did and they were fine.  i prefer the metro.  ha ha!

and then this weekend was the culmination of the week-long Maslenitsa festival...the one where we ate pancakes and drank vodka and watched traditional dancing ladies...it keeps going all week.  and every park in moscow had some sort of festival happening.  we went to gorky park.  some strange performance art/outdoor theatre shows, but lots of crafts for kids, kiosks selling home-made crafts (i bought a fab leather bracelet/watch), live music on a huge stage, and more blinis that you could imagine.  we didn't eat them however, were full from a fabulous american-style brunch at a terrific cafe chain called Correa's.  there is one where my apartment will be, so i have a feeling i will be a regular.  it's a terrific cafe.  fresh food, delicious coffee.  and the waiter called my entree "super duper."  yep, it was pretty awesome.  so we wandered the festival, and i had my first drink of mead!  the old honey beer...the oldest alcohol in the world, some say.  i felt like harry potter.  and i bought a "winter"...a doll made out of straw that i am supposed to burn tonight signalling the end of winter and the beginning of spring.  but i'm not going to burn her.  i hope that doesn't mean spring won't come.  there is a HUGE burning in many parks of giant winter dolls...i think that will do the trick.

and then today, i went skiing!!!  a group of us organized a little day-trip to a small (SMALL.) ski "resort" about an hour or so north of moscow.  we rented a mini-bus, found a backwoods rental shop for gear (semi-decent actually!), and made a day of it.  the slopes are definitely nothing to write home about, but the company was good, and it was fun to get out of the city for the day...if not mountains, at least the rolling hills were nice.  and we saw the sun for about 15 minutes which was glorious!  and we had glint vein...(hot wine...tasty...one of my fave things about europe).  and then we stopped fro beers on the way home, and seeing as i don't drink beer, our russian-latvian colleague convinced me to buy a small bottle of cognac and a bar of chocolate. apparently that is very russian.  a swig of cognac followed by a bite of chocolate.  i'm not sure that is a tradition i'll be bringing home with me, but it was fun.

a great weekend overall.  pics of everything below...

on the left...sasha, mike, beckie.  on the right, us trekking out in the snowy cold to the club.

propaganda club!  cafe by day, dance hall by night.

having fun!  sasha (russian), me, julie-anne (canadian), lorenzo (italian), haith (brit), sara b (italian)

funky sculpture on the way to the cafe on saturday

my super-duper entree at correa's for brunch.

festive decor at the entrance to gorky park for maslenitsa!

frosted pretzels!!  well, um, actually, hard-crusty stale frosted white dough rolled up like a pretzel.  disappointing.  not very good.  but we tried them!

amazingness in line for soup.  traditional dressed lady, and lady in a crazy fur coat.  and regular people.

one of the "winters" on display in the park.  not sure this one gets burned...may just be for display.

mead!

the stage...that is made to look like a stack of blinis on a picnic table, with a bowl of caviar next to it, also a jar of jam, and pots of honey.  this was a traditional medieval music band, but they also played cover songs!  they played yesterday by the beatles, and also a cover of a gorky park song...gorky park was a russian band, popular in the 80's or 90's i think.  i remembered that song "moscow calling" and it was fun to hear it in moscow!  played on an accordian and a few lute-like instruments!

i bought my "winter" from the medieval santa claus.  

the ski resort!  and i mean, this shows you pretty much the WHOLE resort.  it was tiny.

the group having a mid-day break.

small community next to the ski hill.

i'm on top of the world!  or, well, at LEAST 200ft above it.

on the left, all the things you are not supposed to do at the park.  on the right, me and elena (greek) on the lift.

the whole map.  yep.  that's it.  the whooooole place.

my apres ski.  i really wanted nachos.  

beautiful wooden church by the ski rental shop.

the dodgy ski rental shop.  but it was fine, in truth.

tho, i would NEVER rent these gloves from the place.  what is it with european places and being able to rent ski gear??  and in russia...it's not like people DON'T have gloves!  it's miserably cold here!  but you can rent them if you need them!

me, excited about the pretzel...and then we opened it.

so that was my weekend.  pretty fun.  a bit of culture, a bit of sport, and more than a few nights spent in the auna.  i will miss this hotel and it's lovely spa when we finally have to move out!

xo's and big hugs to all.