It's a rainy night in Moscow...
Just got back to the hotel from a great show with Liza where I got to play drums, instead of my usual keyboards. It was a blast! She was just fantastic on-stage as she made an outdoor show, done in the pouring rain, into an evening that, I'm sure, the audience will never forget. (Luckily the stage was covered so there was a minimum of water in our vicinity, although the floor was continually being mopped).
We were driven to the venue with a police escort through major rush hour traffic. Our van lost the rest of the motorcade & was pulled over for driving as though we were in an action film. The event was an anniversary celebration for one of Russia's biggest radio stations. It included tons of performance artists, dancers, circus-type performers & music. A real indication of how varied the entertainment was can be summed up by the fact that as soon as we left the stage, the music that started coming out of the PA was avant-garde jazz!
Earlier we were able to do a little sightseeing although the major attractions were closed. Still, we did get to see all of the biggest sights, at least from the outside.
The other main impression I had was the complete confusion (to the point of dizziness) as to the Russian alphabet. I'm going to do a Google search on it but, let me tell you, it's rough. Plus, there's hardly ever even a word of English anywhere to give you a little clue as to what's going on. Did you ever look closely at Russian letters? Give it a try. You'll see backward N's, backward R's, backward E's (or 3's) right next to normal letters, in addition to symbols that resemble tennis raquets, triangles & footstools. I'm sure there's a very intellegent design to it all but, for an American, it's total confusion.
In any case, I'm so happy to have had the chance to come here & experience yet another place that, up until now, I'd only seen in photos or on TV. Thanks so much to everyone here who made this short trip so enjoyable & memorable.