Sleeping It Off.

After some lounging and reading and many cups of tea (for me) and some cake and some cookies with honey on them, Alexandra and I went on a duo adventure today, sans boys. We only managed to wake them around one o'clock, and they didn't seem too thrilled about the prospect of...moving.

And so, we went in search of the Famed Ligovsky DVD stores! Deemed cheap and friendly, by guide books all over the place! They ended up being small and impersonal, more expensive than the Yunona DVD store, and all of the DVD's were only Region 5 and PAL. Which won't work in our players at home. So we left, disappointed.

And went off to the bestest Thai Restaurant In Saint Petersburg. Ok, so I've only been to the one. But that one was wonderful. It had the neatest decor, and our waitress actually SMILED, ladies and gentlemen! We were just discussing last night how we could only recall one friendly wait-person since we had been here (other than the wonderful bliny providing ladies at Teremok), and that was the excited guy at Pizza Hat.

But this restaurant. First of all, called Mops. Мопс. Which I only just now looked up? It means pug. Like a pug dog. Like those bizarre-looking furry little delights that I am increasingly more obsessed with with each alien face I see (not to mention the curly pig tails, oy).

But other than that, there were many things awesome about it. The decor was crazy-fantastic. Dark and stylish, like other places we'd been to, but with weird funky stuff. The bathroom door was (inconveniently, but quirkily) hidden in a wall - the wallpaper had no break in it, so you almost couldn't see it at all! And then the bathroom was just the coolest ever. I put up some pictures of it. I went twice while we were there, because I just loved it so much. A little couch thing across from the fabulous sink and chandellier lights, and then two stalls with toilets and sinks and perfume and face wash, just in case, I suppose? And the stalls were -clean- and nice and beautifully (and darkly) lit, and all the towels were real towels with little woven baskets to put them in after they were used. And the best part was this spooky, soothing, twinkly Alice in Wonderland instrumental music that fluttered around. And Alexandra basically had to drag me out because I was perfectly ready to move in and live there for a time.

And lo, lest I forget - the food! We agonized for a while, because we love Thai food and wanted everything....for free. And then we ordered. and when I came back from my first trip to the bathroom our waters were there, along with a little bowl of sauce with a tiny spoon and some rice crackers. But not just any rice crackers. They were rice puff crackers, a la rice crispies. I figured this out because I put some sauce on, and my cracker...crackled. And then I rested it on my tongue, and it felt like pop rocks. Except the cracker had the same neat sensation as Pop Rocks, without the chemicals and indigestion and terrible before-during-and-after tastes. For dinner, I got panang curry with beef (aaaamazing), and Alexandra got Tom Kha soup, also amazing. We swapped just a little because panang is her favourite but she doesn't eat beef, and I...love food, and am a total food opportunist.

And then we came back here. And it was a good, short, non-foot-hurty, good food adventure. We got some ice cream and some fruit at the market next door. And then lounged, and then had movie dilemmas.
Because my Sleeping Beauty will do Russian with English subtitles, but still has the English audio layered underneath, annoyingly, and has no Russian subtitles. And her 101 Dalmations has no English subtitles. But my Mulan, well, that was awesome.

And now it's absolutely my bedtime.