The day of false starts

It was great that I had yesterday off too. The first thing I did was head to the post office. There was only one person ahead of me in line. Got a package and mailed postcards. Then, since the VTB bank, which deals in Turkish lire was right down the street, that was my next stop. But wait. After I go in and tell them what I want, they tell me that they only deal with dollars and euros. I should go to Ak Bars bank down another street. Geez, this is all beginning to feel very familiar. But, OK. I will do that when I come out of town.
What I’m really looking for today is Velomania, the bike museum in Kazan. So I hop on the subway with my bike and go to the pedestrian zone where the museum is supposed to be. There’s a robot museum there but no bike museum. A guy tells me that the museum doesn’t exist anymore. But it still has a working website and it says the museum is open! So, down to the tourist office. I find a lady who speaks English very well and she starts calling around for me. She says the museum has moved to another location. I jump on the bike and pedal over. There’s a museum there, all right, but it’s a museum for Gorky, a writer, and Shalyapin, and opera singer. The ladies there also tell me that the museum does not exist. Back to the tourist office. I tell the lady about it, she makes some more calls, but nobody knows where this museum is. Rats. I was looking forward to this. But she did steer me to a vodka museum. I’m going to visit that one something me soon.
Headed back home, I run into a guy I know. We head for a restaurant to have a cup of coffee. A young lady at a table near us hears us speaking English and she joins in. It turns out she will be doing a work-study program in Massachusetts starting in June.
So I finally got back on the subway to head home. When I got off at my stop. I headed in the direction of the Ak Bars bank. I knew where it was, but do you think I could find it? Rats, again. So I ended up buying a few groceries and peddling home
GOOD ADVICE: Don’t ride through a puddle unless you know how deep the pothole is! I’m speaking from the voice of experience.
Later that evening, Sonia and I went over to Matthew’s and Valeriya’s to give him his birthday present. Of course that turned into a longer visit. It was nice to catch up with all the news from school.