Snot-Freezing

Today, i was told, was the coldest day in the Russian winter so far. While i can attest that it was down right cold, i cannot confirm if it was the coldest day so far. But that is irrelevant in this post. The main point is that it was COLD. Snot-freezing-to-your-face-cold. Today was the pilgrimage to the out door market, Izmailovo. The best finds are found on the weekend and give two days to choose from, we chose today. Tomorrow was, according to the forcasts, supposed to be the colder day. Which is why we chose today. When i woke i checked the current temperature, which was a stunning 17 degrees F, with a windchill of the loneliest number, 1 degree F.

I don't know what the temperature was at the open market, but my guess is that it was a little colder...due to being kinda out in the middle of nowhere. I lasted nearly 2 hours before i had to head back to the relative warmth of the Metro. Wow...it was cold. I spent my money...didn't do much bargaining, for i figured those people deserved what i was paying just for being out in the cold. This one guy i was talking to (the guy who tolded me it was the coldest day so far) said he had to stay until sundown. Ughh...it's wicked cold here. Current temp is 9 degrees F with a windchill of -2 degrees F.

We were also able to meet up with Shannon and a few others from Houston. So far, i have done pretty much everything i have set out to do while i was here. The one lingering box that i need to check off is going to see the impressionist paintings at the Pushkin. I think Al and I are going to cover that tomorrow.

Needless to say, i'm having more fun than i thought i would out here. But i'm eager to get back and play some guitar...