Back at Friday's

They didn't have the network up by 5, so we headed out. Pitr said that the Moscow State folks were coming to troubleshoot the problem, which may be confined only to our subnet now, we didn't get a clear statement, but in any case, we were done for the day. We went back to our rooms, where I promptly fell asleep, waking up just in time for dinner at the on-campus bar. The salad was strips of beef and ham, which was good, but I think they put in some mushrooms just to spite me. I ate around them. The next course was a spiced pork fillet, kidney beans, and french fries. What a great meal, the best we've had. I really like the Russian mustard too, I spread it all over my pork, it's good 'n spicy. I washed it all down with an orange Fanta, and the three of us headed out to face the night.

Alexey got directions to Gorky Park, which turned out to be only a couple blocks from MISA, so we walked down there. Most of the amusement park was shut down, but we walked around the whole thing for a while. Alexey won a doll in a shooting gallery, he's a crack shot, he missed one out of 30 shots, by my count.

Gorky Park was sort of surreal, in all. Being in a deserted amusement park at night is odd, through in the Russian twist, and it gets downright weird. We eventually made our way over to the Moscow river, which was absolutely beautiful at night. I remarked to Chuck that I'd love to load some color film back in my 35mm, dig up a tripod, and do some time-exposures on the river. The lit-up bridges and the Church of Christ the Savior looked amazing at night on the water.

One of the Russian Space Shuttles is parked nearby, and we talked for a bit about our space programs, and how obsolete the US shuttle fleet is, and how well the Russian Soyuz capsules have worked for servicing the ISS. Their shuttle looks a lot like ours, though I'm not sure of the size difference, as i wasn't able to get this close to the Enterprise when I saw it at the Air & Space Museum in March.

We walked back, as I found myself wishing I hadn't drank that Fanta at dinner, I really had to go, and everything in the park was closed. We made it back okay, I read some more Larry Niven, and then headed over to TGI Friday's, where you find me now.