Journal 102

4-27-10

We arrived in Sochi!! Safe and Sound.

Once we disembarked from the train (and once our bus arrived), we all moved right on to a 3 hour bus / on-foot tour of Sochi. We saw three main sights the whole time:

Park Riviera -- this was opened in 1898, if my memory serves me correctly; and today seems to be something of a combination of a little amusement park and beautiful gardens. Within (and some without), you may find any of the following:

-Pirates and Dinosaurs!!! (Statues)

-Giant Hermit Crabs and Grouper!!!! (More Statues)

-Beautiful flowers!!! (Alive and kicking! … Well, not kicking…)

-An absolutely gorgeous Weeping Willow! (I took pictures with her -- she really was lovely…)

-A mosaic of Lenin right in a row with an advertisement featuring a model sprawled out in a sultry position.

(I found it all kind of ironic, myself.)

- Stray dogs (These, I felt bad for. They followed us for quite some time.)

Hot Springs/Sulfur Bit + Winery?

-- Pretty much what it sounds like -- they took us to part of the spring, where it hit the surface -- the statue was pretty; it smelled like eggs, and Anya took a really nice picture of me. That was about the size of it.

-- At one of the other buildings, there was a lady with monkeys, à la the whole, "Give me money, take a picture with the monkeys," etc. …. I hate monkeys… = O-o = [Except, of course, for my Munky!!! You even have the magnet to prove it! =^_~=]

-- I got my aunt and uncle a bottle of local wine (as this was apparently the place it was sold at, according to John). I *did* try it -- and I think it's pretty good, as far as wines go. The other wine-people in our group seemed to enjoy it, so I hope I have done well. And, supposing that I have not, you can always just pour the wine out, and keep the bottle, for the sake of having a different alphabet hanging around your collection. *laughs*

-- And, in true nature to my, "Oooh, shiny," nature -- I think I had one of my first "impulse buy" occurrences here in Russia, and I bought myself something that is apparently 40% alcohol by weight -- but comes in one of the niftiest, ceramic, bottles that I have ever seen in my entire life. …. So, yes, I bought it for the bottle!!! I will make sure that the liquor is not in it by the time I go to take it back to the US, so that I can still bring back a promised bottle of Vodka for a friend.

The Park Near the Hotel

-- Also Beautiful!!!

-- Seems like it has some cool light set-ups

**********

We got checked in to the hotel after our tour was finished, and once we were settled into our rooms, I proceeded to work on my journal for 2 hours -- ugh!! It was fun, but time-consuming -- as I was writing it Dumas-style! That's what I get for reading "The Three Musketeers," it seems. Fall in love with Dumas' writing, and watch it seep into mine own. Ha ha ha -- don't worry, I'll spare you all a repeat. Journal 100 was enough for anyone!

*****

We met up a few hours later for dinner -- which was at a pizza place!!

John forgot I ate cheese… But it all wound up okay -- my friends gave me some of their pizza crusts, and eventually, John ordered me a burger.

Afterwards, some of us headed to the boardwalk to hang out together. Some were enjoying a few beers, some of us -- like myself -- were enjoying Ice Cream!! Mine had Marshmallows and fudge in the container -- yummy!!!

Also, did you know, that if women sit on cold stone, we will apparently become barren and infertile??

Good, because I didn't either. This is apparently a Russian belief, which I was introduced to today, twice, when some random guy came up to two of the girls in my group, who were sitting on the stone wall of the boardwalk, and told them to get down, for the aforementioned reason!

*****

Whilst on the boardwalk hanging out, the subject of maybe finding a club got brought up -- so I mentioned "Club Platforma," that Nastëna had told me about. -- And we found it that same night!!!! It was soooo funny, how it happened!

Me - "My friend told me about this club; it's called, "Club Platforma" -- apparently, it's on the water?"

Jess - "You mean that one, right there?" (Looks up towards a rather large building, protruding into the water, with "Club Plotforma" written on the side.)

Me - "Uh… Yeah… Fancy that."

Ha ha hah!!!

It's open on Friday and Saturday nights as a club, so we will be going to check it out on Friday night.

*****

Among the Rabble for the rest of the night:

-- There was a very pretty Sunset!! [We watched it on the boardwalk.]

-- We saw a (stray) Cat drinking from a water fountain!! It was rather interesting. (I have a video of it, too!).

-- Some of us hung out with our RD, John, and his friend Sveta. (It seems that it was his birthday last Saturday.)

-- I found out that the Wifi Internet costs 180 Rubles (about $6!) for AN HOUR here!! Ouch. Seems I will be using it VERY sparingly while I'm here...

Now? It's Bedtime!!!!! I think it's supposed to be a long day tomorrow -- we have our visit to the Tea Plantation.

Love,

Moscow Kitty; 12:39 AM

=^__^=