Retail therpy time!

Lisa took us to GUM (pronounced goom) yesterday – a HUGE department store in Red Square. This was on my wish list of things I wanted to do. I remember seeing pictures ages ago. It is a gorgeous 3 story, Victorian gingerbread, city block monster. But it’s more like a mall than one store. Very high scale boutiques. There are up escalators, but none going down! The one place we really wanted to look at - the food emporium - was closed – drat. They seemed to be stocking stuff so they might be open if we get a chance to go back next week. I didn’t buy anything as I’m holding off getting my Hermes scarf until I can pick one up in Paris. lol
We had lunch in new mall one subway stop from the house. The restaurant is owned by a German brewery – decent food. There obviously aren't any age restrictions on alcohol or tobacco - a table filled with High school kids were having a great time. We had soup – cream of mushroom and a sausage one from St. Petersburg then chicken schnitzel and stroganov. Stopped in the attached supermarket and headed home. Just missed the shuttle bus so we had to wait an hour for the next one – sigh. It wasn’t THAT bad but at -2’C, it seemed to take longer. We made a pot of split pea soup for dinner and went to bed early to be ready for today.
Mike took us to Ishmalova (Sp?) today – an outdoor craft fair open weekends all year. It was amazing. Booth after booth of anything a tourist could ask for – and they will bargain! I got lots of goodies – but I’m not telling so I don’t ruin any surprises. This is the place to go if you want a medal, a jet pilot helmet or a gas mask – we didn’t get anything military or antique as they can give you a hard time taking it out of the country. The best part was the food stalls – a 2 story cottage structure open on the ground floor with barbeques and enclosed seating upstairs. We had sashleek – marinated chicken, veal or lamb with a great sauce and terrific warm bread. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a bathroom. Sigh.
On our way out, I couldn’t resist anymore. I picked up a shawl for myself – one of those white cobweb wonders that I can’t remember the name as an incentive to make my own. And I got a fur hat! It was hard trying to decide – there are so many styles, types of fur and colors – I picked a hood type in a dyed fox – a mix of lavender and black. It made Mike laugh so it’s probably a good choice. The most important thing, its warm – needed it during the walk to the car as it started to snow.
Tomorrow starts our last week in Moscow – it’s the big holiday so Mike has off so we’ll try to cram in as much as we can.