Russia 2010 — Day 9 - Auchan and My Trip Back to the Hostel

If you read the earlier post for Day 9, I mentioned that I took a set of Metros and also a special bus (for 28 Rubles ~$1) to get out to a large store (Auchan) that is similar to Super Wal-Mart. Since tomorrow is International Women’s Day (a popular holiday in Russia), the store was really a hectic place. Once I left Auchan (notice the shopping cart in the picture how it locks in when going down to the parking area on the escalator), I made my way over to a small mall that is between Auchan and Ikea to rest my feet and get some lunch. I was fortunate to get a seat right next to the skating rink that is in the middle of the food court. Some of the young people that were skating were really good… making me wonder “is the star for the Sochi 2014 Olympics skating before me?“ I put in a video clip of that below.

After lunch, I ran into Ikea to get a couple of items and then got back on the bus (about a 25 minute ride) that takes you back over to the Metro line, where a 35 minute ride back awaited. On the way to the Metro, it was amazing how many different vendors were selling flowers for tomorrow’s holiday. My fern grower friends/families back home (Pierson, FL) have to figure out how to get more greens into the flowers here as they use little greenery in their flowers here.

On the way home, I went through a Metro station (Chekhovskaya) that is named after a famous Russian short-story writer and playwright (and doctor), Anton Chekhov. There are several pictures on the walls in his Metro station that depict some of his stories. Olga and I have been to see some performances based on his writings. In the slideshow above, preceding the Chekhov picture is a statue of Maksim Gorky, another famous Russian author.

Ice skaters at the Mega Mall in Khimki, Russia (Moscow Suburb)