It's a small world

I can hardly believe that we only have two days left in Moscow. Our time here has passed by so quickly. After the adventure of getting our tickets things have gone far more smoothly.

We spent an afternoon/evening at Red Square and the surrounding park. We were there early enough that it was still light out, and we stayed until it got dark and the lights turned on in the square. It is beautiful at night. There is a completly different feeling about the place. Yesterday we went to Ismailova which is basically a souvenir market, but there are all sorts of wonderful things to see. Basic souvenirs, art, antiques, etc. Elizabeth and I both decided that if we weren't traveling by train we would have each bought a samovar.

We had planned to go to Novodevichy Convent after Ismailova, but realized that it had closed by the time that we were done. So instead we went to Victory Park which is a HUGE war memorial with really fun fountains. It was nice to just wander around and do lots of people watching. The current fashion for men in Russia seems to be capri pants and a pseudo-mullet hair cut. Slightly frightening.

As we returned to the hostel last night I had sort of a weird moment of confusion. The gal sitting at the counter looked very familiar to me, but she was totally out of context. As I fully entered the door she smiled, laughed and said, "I work at this hostel." She had been one of our roommates at the hostel in Prague. It's a crazy small world.

Today Elizabeth and I headed in different directions. Elizabeth went to see her friend Boris and his family (she never actually saw him, but I'll let her fill you in on that) and I was able to spend the afternoon with my dear friend Masha. I met her family and we spent some time catching up. Masha is one of the people I became closest with when I was in Russia last (eight years ago).

As I was on the metro on the way back to the hostel I was doing some thinking and realized that I could stay here in Moscow. I'm definitely excited about the rest of our trip and can hardly wait for our continued adventures, but I could stay here if we weren't continuing on. I'm not sure what will become of that, but I see more time spent in Russia in my future- not that that will surprise anyone.