Almetyevsk

So, here comes the good part. I had been to Almetyevsk a month ago with the bosses and was so impressed by the bike infrastructure here and Claudia had always wanted to see the city, so we had chosen this weekend to come back for a visit. It was a great ride down because the sun was shining and the landscape was beautiful. I had booked a room at the Sultanmurat hotel with free breakfast and free WiFi for .........wait for it.........$21.50 a night per person, mostly because I liked the name. It turned out to be one of those places on the fourth floor of and apartment building where the entire floor is converted to a hotel.  It was a great room, lots of space and clean. We checked in with the nice young man at the counter and asked for directions to the museums I had checked out online. Turns out one was closed permanently and the other one was just down the street. Ok, it’s only about 3:30 in the afternoon so off we go. We get to the museum and the sign on the door says it’s closed for the Women’s Day holiday weekend. Great. So we head down to the mall because we figured we would go to the movies. Keep in mind the the ground is covered with inches-thick ice because of what has collected all winter, plus the fact that it had rained and frozen on Thursday.
We get to the mall and it is absolutely PACKED with people. It’s a very attractive mall with a food court and all the stores you can imagine. We were even able to find birthday presents and souvenirs for people we know.
 We first went to the food court because Claudia hadn’t eaten all day. She got Sushi and I had a pizza. Both were actually very good. And, since all the table were continuously occupied, there was a security guy walking around, kicking out anybody who didn’t appear to be consuming food.
Then we headed down to the other end of the mall, bought our tickets for Captain Marvel (Don’t ask!) and looked around the mall some more until the movie started.
The movie ends and we start to walk back to the hotel. And wouldn’t you know it, I step on a patch of ice and slip. I didn’t even fall hard, but I twisted my ankle. I couldn’t even get up for 5 minutes. That took care of walking home, so Claudia called a taxi. When we got in the room, She went outside and got me a bag of ice. That certainly kept the swelling down but the ankle was still sore. We texted a little bit, then got to bed around 11. I have to say, I really slept well in spite of the ankle.
This morning we wanted to drive over and see the ski resort before we headed home.  We got to breakfast at shortly before 9. The mother of the young man who was the receptionist made us, porridge, French toast, three eggs each, plus yoghurt, coffee and homemade relish.  Then the young man came in and we started talking. And talking. And talking. We didn’t get finished until 2 o’clock. He had all sorts of questions about America and Germany, from “Do you throw garbage on the streets,” to “May the police entire your house without your permission.” It was such an interesting conversation and since just about everything was closed anyway, we didn’t mind sitting there and talking with him. I think we learned a lot about Russia too.
But now we figured we had really better start getting ready because we had a 3.5 hour drive, it was snowing, and Claudia wanted to take a short nap before we started out. She wakes up, we load up, say goodbye to the nice people and get In The car. And......wait for it...... the car doesn’t start. By this time it’s sleeting and getting dark. Claudia calls the nice young receptionist, whose name is Ramil, and he says he will be over to try and tow the car.  We look at each other and decide we aren’t driving home tonight, in any case! So we check back into our room.
I’m sitting here nursing my sore ankle and Claudia is downstairs with Ramil trying to get the car going. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.