Stary Arbat, Egyptians & Capoeira (not)

On my third day in Moscow, I'd taken care of the most "must-do" tourist crap, and had some time to relax. I decided to wander over to Stary Arbat, the Haight street of Moscow. I made my way there through the Garden Ring, happening upon an incredible 2 block long outdoor exhibit of nature photography. It was unbelievable. Pandas, horses, elephants, sharks, monkeys, polar bears. If it moved, there was an unbelievable photo of it. I was quite humbled by the exhibition. I think I need a better camera. :)

Well, I made it to Arbat and found the usual array of portrait and caricature artists, as well as a large number of tattoo shops, cafes, street kids, and street artists (musicians, jugglers, etc). At one point, I had climbed up on a rather unsteady pile of bricks in the hope of getting a better picture. I don't know if the picture is any good, but I got a henna tattoo out of it. I was helped down by none other than an Egyptian from Luxor. After I'd greeted him with "sabah el kher" (bright the day/good morning), he insisted that I sit and talk with him for a little while. He asked if I wanted a henna tattoo, I said no, he said for free, I said sure, why not! Sam comes to Moscow every summer to work Stary Arbat as a henna artist. At home, in Luxor, he co-owns three spice shops with his brother. I forgot to ask, but the spice shops or the temp tattooing must pay well to be able to get out of the country and travel. Oh, he was also the first Egyptian I'd met who loves our President Bush. He admires that Bush is so strong. It turns out that Sam is a Coptic Christian and he agrees with Bush that Muslims are very bad people! He said that Hilary definitely would not be strong enough to be the President, and supports "a senator, what is his name?" Funny.

After saying goodbye to my Egyptian friend, with a parting invitation to meet him at 8 when he quit for the day, I continued down the street admiring the universality of the street punk mentality. There was a whole crew in goth and punk garb hanging out by a wall with loads of graffiti, smoking something, maybe tobacco, maybe not. I decided against getting a Russian tattoo, and had to tell various people with signboards that I would not be visiting their fine establishment. I stopped to listen to bad singing and amazingly good guitar playing. Of course, there were three people spinning poi. The global fire spinning phenomenum is hysterical!

That took the afternoon. I stopped off for one more serving of caviar blini and then went back to my hostel to prepare for....capoeira!! I was sooo excited. I'd googled Moscow Capoeira and found the Inbi Center which has a few global locations. Transcendental center for global understanding. Very hippy-like and in Moscow, hosting Axe Capoeira. I was thrilled. I asked the girl at Godzilla's to call the number for me and find out if/when they were having an all-level class. Being Russian, she said no. Nice. I called myself and lucked out (seemingly) when the man who answered the phone spoke English. I asked if there was a class soon, and he answered, yes - at 8:30. Wow! I verified, tonight? He said, yes. I asked if it was at the location given on the website, his English wasn't up to it. We hung up.

Well, I was on the metro by 7:30 (it was only 2 stops down the blue line), and looking for the place by 7:45. I had an address, and an intersection. from there, it was a mystery. I managed to find the place in an off-street courtyard, behind a playground, by 8:10. I peeked in the workout space and saw a bunch of women doing yoga. Cool! I want to do yoga! Well, I settled in to wait for capoeira.

After what seemed a very long time and a collection of new mosquito bites, I finally found someone who spoke English to tell me that it was now 9:15. Yoga was still going. When asked about capoeira, he told me that TriYoga shares space with the Inbi Center and that Inbi wouldn't have the space for another 3 days. Great. Either the guy on the phone meant that there would be a class on 8/30/2007 (this was the 27th), or tonight's class was at a different location. I headed home in defeat.

But wait! There's a sushi restaurant! At least I can drown my sorrows in sake and/or bury them in spinach salad. Nope. I was refused admittance by a caucasian Russian man dressed in a samurai costume. Remember, I was in workout gear. In Russia, women wear full makeup/hair/outfit/torture shoes to go out. I was told that the restaurant was full despite the clear view of many empty tables. Ouch. Blocked by a guy in a Samurai outfit. That was it. I gave up and went to bed early.

For pictures, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/christine7world/Moscow