Well...here was a fun day. It started off a tad late in the day at like 12:40pm. I got up and got the room organized which is the norm for me. I talked to Jens to see what the plans was for the night as I told him that we may want to leave earlier than was planned due to how things are here on Saturday. So we planned on leaving at 5pm.
I decided to due some of my school work so that Sunday wouldn't be so stressful. I started pacing the room around 4pm as I knew that I would be smoking the Opus X Skorpio and have been looking forward to this since Feb when I got them. I got dressed and made sure I had everything I needed. Everything in check, we head to take the Yellow Trash Can on Wheels so we can save a 15 minute walk to the Metro. Its hard to pass up at times when it costs you only like $0.50. We get off and head to the Metro station which wasn't to packed yet.
We get off at the Red Square Metro and head to the book store. I picked up the Том 4 Достоевский. I still have 5 more volumes to get and I have the entire set in Russian. I found out that the 3rd one is Crime and Punishment. I may have to try and get War and Peace in Russian. Since these 2 novels is one of the greatest works and especially from Russia. Anyways...After I paid and Jens paid for his books we head upto the Pushkin Metro and head South East 2 stops. Well, we got off on the first stop and had to get back on. But once to the correct station, we managed to stumble into the Ukranian place we was going to eat at.
We get on the waiting list and sit down. They offered us refreshments and she said Vodka. We said in return. "Да." How can you turn down a free drink right? Especially when you saw her. They gave some fatty thing wrapped around 2 small pieces of green onion. I guess its a come practice but I knew better than to eat it. It looked like the fat off a piece of bacon and not cooked. But the Vodka was nice. It seemed to have a spice taste to it. Finally get seated and they pull out a English and German menu.
Now this isn't some "normal" sized menu. You could beat someone to death with this thing. It looked to be like maybe 24" long by 12" wide by may 2" thick. Yes, it was freaking huge. Once it was opened it took up nearly 1/2 the table which could seat 4 people. Well, take 1/2 of one side. :laugh: I ordered this salad that was of cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow peppers, and some onion. It was pretty good. I had a 1/2 of Duck for the main dish. It had a side dish of Saurakrat and rice. Again, a nice damn meal. I was told they cook it all to order. Well, most of it was. That was pretty cool. The Waitresses was dressed up as if they would in the Ukraine which is pretty unique looking outfit. But the service was better than at other places I've been. For my poor dessert, I had a Cappochino. Now here comes the fun part.
So we are just chilling and waiting for our meal. A big group of people started talking to us. Naturally, they have been drinking and wanted a picture of me. Damn my beard. Not the first time I've ran into that here in Moscow. People are not used to a beard like mine so many photos have been taken of me. I think its funny. But they offered us a glass of Vodka. Again, you really can't turn it down. So the guy goes on this long ass speech and finally we chug the shot. This was actually Pepper Vodka and it was way better than I thought it would be. It had a subtle spicy taste to it. Pretty mild but it was damn good.
So the table behind me joined in the conversation. So it was one hell of a good time at this Restaurant. Ok for the bad part. We had asked for the smoking section and even asked if it was ok to smoke Cigars. They was like Да, Да, Да. We are like cool. So its like after 8pm Moscow time so I called Tony in Kansas City in hopes to talk to Carlito since I couldn't be there for the event. So we pulled out the Opus's and started out little Mini-Herf in a Ukrainian Restaurant in Moscow, Russia. Of course this took place over 7000 miles from The Outlaw. Naturally I got the bad news he hadn't showed up yet. A waitress came upto us and said, "Нет Сигары." I put mine down and Jens was like just smoke it and relax. We puffed on the cigars very lightly so the area would get accustome to real cigar smoke. As everyone else was pretty much chain smoking cigarettes. Gah!!!
Finally this dude comes up and says in Russian that we have to leave the place. So we asked for the check and paid. It came to 1710 Roubles which is like $75. Which is pretty cheap in Moscow for 2 people. Unfortunately, for the discrimination, we left like a 5% tip. I hate to do that but I also hate the fact that we sat in a smoking section and was discriminated again. Oh well...So a Opus X Reserva D' Chateau and a Opus X Skorpio got us kicked out of a Restaurant in a city that is SUPPOSED to love cigars. Oh yeah...NOT!!! So you learn something new every day after all.
Anyways...we head back to the Red Square as I know the way since I have walked the whole entire area. We finish our Opus up there and get on the Metro for the ride back to the University Metro station where we had to walk back to the campus since it was a tad past 11pm here. We ran into the girl from Kazakstan(sp?) and chatted with her for a bit before heading up for a Midnight Coffee. Then called it a night.
Unfortunately I couldn't sleep so I grabbed my other Opus Skorpio and headed outside as Tony informed me there was a huge crown around Carlos. I finally got to talk to Carlos over 7000 miles away while smoking the Skorpio in some nice weather in Russia. It was a hell of a way to end the night. I got told the story behind the cigar which was cool. I loved the Skorpio and hope to get some more once I am back in the States. :laugh:
I finally got to bed after 7am Moscow time.
