My approximately $28 food court lunch and my first visit to ЦУМ

Since I slept in and missed Lenin yesterday, I decided to go today. Francine and I got going a little late and missed our stop on the metro, so we were running late since Lenin closes at 1pm. First of all, for reference, Lenin's Mausoleum takes up one side of Red Square. However, the entrance is so Russia. The entire length of the mausoleum/area around said mausoleum has a fence blocking access and security guards there to make sure you don't step over the two foot high fence. The entrance to Lenin is facing the square, yet for some reason you can't enter that way... because of the fence. We were very confused and so we asked the guard how to get in. He points to the right and says we have to enter by Aleksandr Gardens, which is all the way at the end of the Kremlin wall. So inconvenient. Why? I have no idea. Sometimes, things in Russia have no logical explanation and you kind of just have to go with it. When we get to the end of Red Square we see that that is blocked off as well by police (we couldn't figure out why, unless it's because it's a holiday weekend?). So we had to go around the other way. Then, once we get there, the line is for some reason ridiculously long. At this point it is like 12:20pm. We decided it was a lost cause and so went on to our next stop, the mall Охотный Ряд. We did some browsing and realized everything was ridiculously expensive. We were hungry so we got some lunch in the food court. Basically everywhere in the food court they do things by weight, so you are never quite sure how much it's going to be, especially since my ability to eyeball kilos is non-existent. I got some greek salad, potatoes with mushrooms, and a baked eggplant thing. Admittedly, I was hungry and probably didn't need the last thing. However, when everything rang up, it was almost 28 USD!!! Ack!! Only in Moscow could you drop so much money in a food court. The last time I ate there it was like 15 USD. So yeah. I had too much food and I dropped an embarassingly large amount of money. As I often like to say, "You win some and you lose some". Funny, I only say that when I lose.

Anyway, after that we felt poor and so we decided to go to ЦУМ, the supposedly more affordable version of ГУМ. Or, at least, that's what my guidebook says. However, my guidebook is a liar. I haven't been in GUM yet, but there was no way this could be cheaper since the entire mall was exclusively couture. D&G, Armani, Gucci, Prada, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Emilio Pucci, Marc Jacobs... they were all there. Like, we're talking $2,000 dresses. It was fun to pretend that I could buy some of that stuff. But looking at couture always makes me want it, so I left fantasizing about what it would be like to be fabulous.

While in my reverie, we were stopped by a man and a woman asking us where the nearest grocery store was. We said we didn't know and that we were sorry. That man said oh, that's OK. Excuse me. All the while he was leering at me and as he moved away he said, "krasivaya" (beautiful) loud enough so I could hear. What was weird about the whole semi-pick up was that the woman was on his arm... and they were obviously together, so why would the guy do that so blatantly in front of her? If I were her, I would have smacked him. How disrespectful.

To bring it back full circle, I really want to go shopping when I get home... where things are affordable! Next time I go shopping, I'm going to Vykhino market. I think that's the only place in my price range.