Some Duties and a Stroll

Yesterday we decided to relax and get caught up on routine things rather than seeking exotic adventures. So the highlight of our day was getting haircuts. I got a much-needed trim and Tanya had her locks shortened a few millimeters. These non-adventures remind me of a poem I read in the one English book I brought with me: Good Poems, selected by Garrison Keillor. The poem is called “Routine” by Arthur Guiterman:
No matter what we are and who,
Some duties everyone must do:

A Poet puts aside his wreath
To wash his face and brush his teeth,

And even Earls
Must comb their curls,

And even Kings
Have underthings.

This morning I slept until about 10:00. The skies were dark with clouds and the temperature was about 14 C. Nevertheless, all four of us decided to go for a stroll in the city. We visited the Musical Instrument Museum in the Sheremetyevo Palace on the River Fontanka. The Sheremeyev family is one of the oldest and richest in Russia. The international airport in Moscow is named after them. Then we walked along the river to the Summer Garden, a very relaxing place for a stroll along broad paths canopied over with big trees now displaying their full summer greenery. We saw another bridal couple and stopped briefly to admire an artist’s painting. He introduced himself as Vladimir Selantyev. He was kind enough to let me photograph and video his painting. He gave me his mobile phone number and home phone number just in case I was interested in buying his work. He said that he would sell the painting he was just finishing for 2,000 roubles – about $70.
We strolled on at a slow pace set by Tanya’s mother along the River Moyka, by the Church on Spilled Blood (built by Tsar Alexander III to commemorate his father, Alexander II who was assassinated on the site where the church was built). The weather had become warmer as we walked along Griboedova Canal. We stopped briefly on Nevsky Prospect at the place where artists sell their paintings in front of a church and found Vladimir Selantyev’s paintings where the salesman there let me take some photos. Then we took the metro home. Bright sun was shinning when we emerged from the metro station. Tanya and Svyatoslav went off to buy some delicious Russian chocolate (87% chocolate) and I walked Anastasia back to the apartment. It was a very pleasant stroll.