We had a full day to wander and do some shopping before the conference, so after indulging in the opulent buffet breakfast at the Metropol, my boss and I headed up Tverskaya Street. Rusty wanted some Russian stamps and Christmas/New Years cards so first stop was the Main Post Office of Moscow (Glavpochtampt). The bright red post box on the building seemed like a confirmation that we had found the right place, but there were no lines and no workers, for that matter. I finally noticed the sign saying that the office had moved next to the McDonald's (just across the street), but we saw nothing that remotely looked like a post office. We took a chance and went inside McDs to ask for directions. I scoured the room for a friendly face and found a lady clearing tables. Luckily, she knew where the office relocated to and went to grab her coat. She led us up some hidden stairs and through a courtyard. I saw the familiar ПОЧТА sign just beyond the trash bins. Success. Once inside the building we went through a maze of mailboxes and found a woman who reluctantly sold us pages of 1 and 2 ruble stamps (she was dumbfounded as to why two tourists wanted so many...) I tried to get a smile out of her before I left, but was unsuccessful.
It was a typical winter day. The snow and buildings and mud all melted into a thousand possible shades of grey. We continued our walk up Tverskaya Street...next stop was the book store - Дом Книги. We needed cards and a few calendars to take back with us. On the way we spotted a small church dwarfed by a concrete apartment building. For a moment I was back in 1985 and my very first trip to the then Soviet Union. I remembered this church and the stark contrast it was to the rows of unsightly apartments leading up to the sky. I think I even took a photo of it back then.
On to Arbat Street.
We both needed to pick up a few souvenirs, but a bit of hot chocolate was in order first. Starbucks to the rescue. They also had free wi-fi, so it was worth the overpriced drinks. One of my favorite shops is just across the cobblestone street from the cafe. We filled our baskets with staking dolls (matryoshkas) and brightly painted khokhloma dishes. Jet lag was kicking in, so we opted to take a nap back at the hotel before meeting up with Rusty's friends from TsAGI.
Refreshed and ready for a first class dinner we met up with Sergey and his family at the Pushkin Cafe. I should have guessed from the cascade of lights that covered the restaurant that this was a high end place. Rusty had been here many times, but on my typical travel budget, I usually only get one nice cafe per city. This place was a step back in time. Hard wood everything. Upstairs the walls were filled with books and I half expected Pushkin himself to poke his head from behind one of the columns. The food was as grand as the restaurant itself, a bit exotic even for my tastes. I tried the smoked eel but declined the fishy something that came afterwards. All was made right once we got the main course. Mine was a plate divided into four sections - mushrooms in sour cream, pelmeni, and beef stroganoff. The fourth dish escapes me, but the Morc (a forest berry drink) was just as good as I remembered it to be.
A good friend of mine from my Kostroma days, Olga, now lives in Moscow. I was able to connect with her on short notice for some tea and sweets at the Anderson Cafe around the corner from the Pushkin restaurant. We caught up on life over jam "tea" and a decadent raspberry pistachio tort. Olga gushed about her new one bedroom apartment, still in the process of being plastered, tiled and having all the pluming and electrical installed. It will be small, but it will be all hers. 
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