I just returned home from the one city I had accepted I may never visit again after the first time I laid eyes on her a year ago for my 25th Champagne Birthday.
She is exactly as I remember, simply beautiful! It doesn't take much to fall in love with her either. Just have your eyes open.
I spent 26 glorious hours in Moscow, Russia yesterday. I ate all of the native delicacies I could stuff in, in that amount of time and it was not without trouble!
Borscht, Russian Pickles, Beef and Pork Cutlets with mashed potatoes and Goulash, Russian Salt Bread and Raspberry Nestle Iced Tea. Bowls, plates and cups were all happily licked clean!
I saw Red Square at night, 9:45PM to be exact when all the twinkle lights on Gum Department Store are brilliantly lit up and the Kremlin just shines!
However....what's that in the distance?
Pipes, barricades, bricks and scaffolding?
Seriously?
It appears that Lenin's Mausoleum is again closed upon my arrival. Perhaps I will just need to make peace with the fact and accept that I will never have the clear opportunity to see Lenin's Dead Body.
Sigh. Such a disappointment!
The first time my embalmed corpse adventure was overturned was because of the May 9th Victory Day Happenings.
I have one more shot this month. In three days time I am going to see Lenin whether I have to break into the building or NOT!
We were given $90 USD allowance for this trip which translates into $2890.00 Russian Rubles a pretty hefty amount if I do say so myself!
I have about $700 Rubles left which I plan to spend to my hearts content on more delish food and pretty trinkets in three days time!
Happy Note: I found an Arizona Tea with Ginseng and Honey in the glass bottle in a little Russian convenient store! The less I look for it the more it appears! You Russians really have things together, thanks for that one!
Alright, alright here are some photos! More to come from other crew members cameras! (Which are ten times better quality than mine!)
She is exactly as I remember, simply beautiful! It doesn't take much to fall in love with her either. Just have your eyes open.
I spent 26 glorious hours in Moscow, Russia yesterday. I ate all of the native delicacies I could stuff in, in that amount of time and it was not without trouble!
Borscht, Russian Pickles, Beef and Pork Cutlets with mashed potatoes and Goulash, Russian Salt Bread and Raspberry Nestle Iced Tea. Bowls, plates and cups were all happily licked clean!
I saw Red Square at night, 9:45PM to be exact when all the twinkle lights on Gum Department Store are brilliantly lit up and the Kremlin just shines!
However....what's that in the distance?
Pipes, barricades, bricks and scaffolding?
Seriously?
It appears that Lenin's Mausoleum is again closed upon my arrival. Perhaps I will just need to make peace with the fact and accept that I will never have the clear opportunity to see Lenin's Dead Body.
Sigh. Such a disappointment!
The first time my embalmed corpse adventure was overturned was because of the May 9th Victory Day Happenings.
I have one more shot this month. In three days time I am going to see Lenin whether I have to break into the building or NOT!
We were given $90 USD allowance for this trip which translates into $2890.00 Russian Rubles a pretty hefty amount if I do say so myself!
I have about $700 Rubles left which I plan to spend to my hearts content on more delish food and pretty trinkets in three days time!
Happy Note: I found an Arizona Tea with Ginseng and Honey in the glass bottle in a little Russian convenient store! The less I look for it the more it appears! You Russians really have things together, thanks for that one!
Alright, alright here are some photos! More to come from other crew members cameras! (Which are ten times better quality than mine!)
Table full of Russian Food!!
It was difficult to get everyone to put their spoons and forks down for one clear shot of the food we were that starved!
It's all fun and games until there is NYET MORE BORSCHT! :(
Red Square at Night! That is Gum Department Store all lit up! And down at the end is St. Basils Cathedral!
Kremlin Walls
Really killer window displays!
Well there it is: Lenin's Mausoleum.
Beautiful Red Square amongst all the CRAP!
Loving the bulldozer in the background! Sweet machinery Moscow!
Another killer window display! One I didn't take a photo of was a lady walking dog mugs, all the mugs were attached to a single leash and the mugs had a different dog on each one. So cute!
Dudes famous in Moscow for promoting Lipton Tea. What a handsome devil!
Now for the bad news. I've had this on and off cold the last two weeks and finally it did me in. On the flight back to Dubai my ears totally blocked up and that's usually a very very bad sign, code word for punctured eardrums and the like. I managed to pop one side however the other just wouldn't budge. I was off kilter until landing and couldn't wait to get home and crawl into bed hoping it would work itself out overnight.
A little better in the morning however was still bound and determined to head to the hospital to have it checked out just incase and since it's friday everything but the hospital is closed, or so I thought!
Dubai is a hilarious place. No where else have I heard of a hospital closing on a friday.
I can't even laugh.
It was an expensive mistake to make, but when the phone line is busy all morning there's nothing left for you to do but put your coat and shoes on and head out the door hoping for the best!
Ended up phoning my duty manager at the closed and dark hospital to tell them my life story. Kindly they helped me out, said I needed to phone Evita and explain to them whats going on.
Got Evita lady on the phone (there are real people behind the machine voice don't you know!) and she said it was fine for me to go to the hospital tomorrow and get checked out since I have a day off today, but oh, wait a moment, actually you've been put on reserve crew for the day. Surprise! What reserve crew means I haven't quite figured out yet but the just is that I may or may not be called on for duty at any point from 1pm this afternoon until midnight tonight, even 11:49pm I can still be called out. Evita lady explained that if I get called out for a flight and my ears are still blocked and I feel that it is unsafe for me to fly to call her back and tell her so, and she would take care of everything but I would still have to prove it with a doctors note tomorrow from the hospital if it comes to this. And you people out there all KNOW that this is absolutely going to happen. Because..well you know me. And this kind of thing ALWAYS happens to me!
Anyways, so I am calling Evita every hour on the hour to check if I have any changes and hoping to the heavens I don't get a call. I don't want to have to call in sick at all, whether you are sick for real or not you just don't want a stitch on your record of any kind! Just please leave me alone for three days so I can feel better for my next Moscow flight! :)
Cross your fingers hard for me!
Nap time..
Leanna xo
P.S Really looking forward to my fancy facial tonight at Dubai Mall! Bring on the pampering! :)
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