Summer in the City...Moscow style!

who knew that july was the rainiest month in moscow?!?  apparently lonely planet, and any other guidebook, but i guess i didn't read that part.  oops.  oh well. we've managed to have a pretty decent time of it, despite the torrential downpours that happen near daily.  seriously.  it threatens to storm every day, and it pretty much makes good on the promise.  and the skies are crazy beautiful here because of it!  summer here reminds me of summer in nyc.  everyone is desperate to get out of the city...and if they can't, they are desperate to FEEL as if they are.  terraces and rooftop bars are all the rage.  park life is buzzing.  music festivals abound, as we know from my last installment.  my russian summer is about friends, food, and never knowing what's going to happen around the corner.  just like you never know when it is going to storm.  so i always have my umbrella, and hopefully my sense of adventure.  here are some pics:

vodkas ready for tasting at a dinner party we hosted in our apartment.  Drova is a nice one...but I think Baikal is still my fave.  

i made cookies!!  it was a bit of a challenge without proper brown sugar, but no one seemed to mind.

campbell, hugh and trish.  some of our resident aussies.

gerri and matt (canadian) and valie (greek).

gerri made her own chili-infused vodka!  apparently it was very strong.  i didn't taste it that night, as i was still in recovery from the intestinal thing.

ok.  i have NEVER seen this before.  so apparently there are these stations around town where you can get your own natural milk.  it's like getting the milk directly from the cow...but thru a machine.  so this is jason, self-labeled food nerd and health nut, getting some fresh milk.

first you buy the plastic bottle.

then you buy the milk.

and the machine "moo's" when the milk starts to pour out!!  incredible.  right in the middle of the city.  i don't know how they do it.  

the view from my kitchen!  of a sky, after a passing storm.  that is one of the seven sisters buildings on the left, and the russian white house on the right.  we see putin coming and going in his fancy helicopters.

fruit!!  summer here is full of delicious, sweet summer fruits.  russian cherries and strawberries are the best i've ever had.  and i've never had a donut nectarine before!!  tasty.

this is the hot look in Moscow Summer '13.  i haven't cut off any jeans...yet...

dark-chocolate and sea salt covered fresh fig.  at one of our new fave restaurants.  Oldich Dress and Drink.  it has a vintage clothing store at the front of the restaurant.  very fancy, fun clothing.  it's kind of like if an anthropology had a bar attached.  totally hipster-trendy, but very tasty.

we came across the protests the day Navalny got convicted!  reports said 10,000 people were there...um, not what we saw.  but we didn't stick around.  we were a group of americans, working for a governmental agency...prob not a good idea to get caught up in it all.

but i did get a sticker!  it says "change russia.  start with moscow.  NAVALNY."

police cars and buses ready to round up any miscreants.  allegedly they hauled off 58 people.  but i didn't see any violence.  they also said protesters shut down traffic on a major thoroughfare.  again, i didn't see that.  i saw people holding signs and clapping, and cars honking in support.  pretty tame.

dressing up at Oldich Dress and Drink.  Jason and Jess (american) and our new russian friend Nikita.

pre-gaming it on a friday night in moscow.  i don't think i'll drink vodka on ice again!  i like it cold, straight up now.

it looks JUST like the picture!  again, fresh fruit is everywhere.  this is in a jazz club we went to to hear fantastic ragtime jazz.  one of the best performances of When The Saints Go Marching In that i've heard.

the band.

drinks out on a rooftop terrace.  liza and sasha (russians, sisters), zheniya (russian), and nikita (russian).  

oh yeah...when my russian failed me.  i ordered a latte with 2 shots and a piece of cake.  and that is what i got!  sigh...

stormy sky over the seven sister that is the former hotel ukraine, now a radisson, and located right across the street from me.

cocktail on the rooftop bar of said seven sister.  looking at the new moscow "city center."  new business district.

view of the white house.

me at a very exclusive table.

sasha (tired from the previous night's activities) using jason as a pillow in the very fancy rooftop bar.

sunset and stormy sky is a gorgeous combo.

the science and technology building bathed in sunset rays, under a threatening sky.

more storm and sunset...from our evening cruise on the river.

campbell, sasha, jason and i crusing on a boat!

the church of christ the savior.  scene of pussy riot's arrest!  it is a very imposing building.  and it is gorgeous at this time of night.

coming up on the kremlin and st basil's at night.

so there's a little bit of what we've been up to the past week, when i'm not working, or watching episodes of damages with gerri.  (we are hooked!!).  it's a pretty fun city in the summer, actually.  you never know what is going to happen.