Sunday, January 21, 2007

A Funny thing happened while in Russia!!

We noticed a few strange things right away upon arriving in Russia, or at least it was strange to us!! 1. While in the plane on approach, getting ready for our landing, as soon as the wheels of the plane touched down, a spontaneous round of applause broke out and cheers ensued!! Is it that joyful to be back in the "Motherland"? Or, were they actually relieved in their confidence of their pilot? 2. When we arrived in Moscow we heard several comments on the weather being very mild and warm with complaints that there was NO SNOW on the ground. The main complaint was that it was not COLD ENOUGH!! Can you imagine......NOT cold enough???? 3. There is no speed limit in the city of Moscow......I guess. Our driver was going 160 kilometers, which, at the time we were not sure how fast that was.......but we discovered it was about 105 miles per hour!! Mind you.....the streets were wet, and others were driving about 55 to 60 mph!! DO NOT attempt this travel on a full bladder!! You WILL be sorry! 4. Also....along the way on the highway (5 lane freeway) we passed at least 2 men pulled over on the shoulder and peeing over the guardrail!! 5. The Russian cleaning women at the airport just walk in and clean while the men are in the restroom and actively using it!! Wayne was so shocked to turn around and find a lady mopping just right behind him!! He said it happened twice!! 6. Every piece of pizza at the Domodedovo Airport had broccoli on it!! I mean, I really like broccoli......but it is weird on pizza! 7. While we were "stuck" at the Domodedovo Airport (our luggage piled up on a cart in front of us)....an older Russian lady came over and sat next to me, and started blabbing away. I told her "Yenya pan-youMY-o Parusky"....(I don't understand Russian) and I was looking at one of those Russian tabloids to pass the time away. Well, she grabbed the paper away from me, I guess thinking that if I can't understand Russian, then I certainly can't READ Russian (Kon-YESH-na nyet) - Certainly Not!! Well, I promptly took the paper back, explaining to her that I was looking at the pictures!!! HA!! She continued to ramble on for 10 or 15 minutes more, probably talking to her imaginary friend!! While we had our 15 hour wait at the airport, we did a lot of people watching for entertainment. Check out Wayne waiting and trying to pass the time away!!

1 comment:

Deb said...

I can't believe your driver was going that fast. Glad you survived.
And the newspaper and the crazy lady... funny!