The Old Arbat Street is one of the oldest roads in Moscow, dating back to the late 14th century. It is a cobblestone pedestrian street that spans 1.25 kilometers and is famous for its lively showcase of street artists, rows of souvenir shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and theaters. We went to Old Arbat Street many times during the summer of last year, but there is always something to look forward to each time we visit.
One reason is the diversity of people teeming along this famous street. We have the red, the black, the yellow, the white, and of course, the brown race being represented here; everyone garbed in their most fashionable outfits, making this bustling street their informal runway; everyone here dressed well, in case I haven't mentioned it yet. It felt like walking down the streets of Paris or Rome! (Though we've never been to Western Europe before.)
Another reason we looked forward to going here is the opportunity to just walk in a leisurely manner—slow-walking, if you please—and stop at every public installation that local Russian artists showcase here for free; the art exhibits, the magicians, the singers, the musicians—this is the place to be. Too bad we missed Steven Tyler when he visited here not long ago, when he walked up to a street artist and did an impromptu "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" duet with him.
When we arrived here a few weeks ago, it was the A Capella month for the street performers. Here's the link to my post, which featured a video snippet of the performance of their Barbie counterparts. What do you think?
The Russian chocolate Alyonka. Two things I know about these decadent chocolate bars:
- They're non-GMOs (genetically modified organisms) because GMOs are totally banned here (yay).
- The wrapper that has the picture of a blue-eyed, cuddly-cute baby girl wearing a colorful traditional Russian scarf has been a subject of debate as to who it really was; some Russians claimed it was them when they were young when it was first manufactured in the 1960s, and some claimed that it was the daughter of the first woman cosmonaut in space. Maybe it was me?
We had bolshoi (Russian for "big") green olives from the land of Canaan!
Emporio Armani Caffe inside GUM.
Our Ken (Barbie's male counterpart) baristas were dressed to kill in their Armani suits, to the point of being intimidating. Rico and I were only outfitted in our rather touristy, casual, and comfy strolling uniforms.
But this? This happened. So, thank you, Kuya Ken for photobombing our last photo of the day, which erased all the intimidation we first felt in your sosy coffee shop. Now, can we also put our tired feet up?
