Ice cream + (at least possibly) successful negotiations in Russia = a good day

For one reason or another (end of radio festival, possible resignation from internship), today was my first free day in a while and also a beautiful one. So I put on my summer dress po-russki (which is to say with fuchsia lipstick), the lovin' spoonful, and my frowny face (just like stockings, de rigueur in public Moscow) and headed out to "run errands." This is what I tell myself/my records I'm doing when I want to do neither research nor sight-seeing but just enjoy the day.

First up:
GUM: The huge mall in Moscow (see here for details) Some people like to shop here: you know, look at clothes, go in the fine gourmet stores. I like to buy ice cream from the ice cream carts. Here's my little cone in front of GUM...

[It's klubinka/strawberry, and it tastes pretty much like American strawberry, but – you guessed it – sweeter. Also, a little airier in a not unpleasant way.]


...and here it is in front of red square:






Look, I'm not trying to visually equate Russia's ice cream with any of Moscow's architectural wonders. But if that's the conclusion you choose to draw, I won't take issue with it.



Pochta: The post office located nearby must get its share of tourists. But when I ask how much it costs to send a letter within Moscow, and I've addressed it to a place within Moscow, I mean, how much does it cost to send a letter within Moscow. The other customers in the post office were very nice and helped me argue with the attendant, so we'll see what happens.
Also, those of you who have not given me your address should do so if you want to be, like everyone else, disappointed when the postcards don’t arrive because she was wrong about how much postage to use.


And I finished up my outing back in our neighborhood









with cherries and Argumenty i Fakty.




Now Argumenty i Fakty is not an especially reputable source, as you may have gathered from its cover. But I desperately wanted to read, "Can V. Putin knock down prices at stores?" because I had heard on good authority about his trip to the supermarket. And in fact, here it is, reproduced in full as a dialogue on the pages about prices of meat. [Poor translation all mine but punctuation faithfully adhered to.]

Putin: And why do the sausages here cost 240 rubles?!
Manager: These, obviously, are sausages of higher quality. But there are also ones for 49 rubles! Sometimes we even sell them at a loss.
[Some joke I don't get. Moving on...]
Putin: I can show you your markups: here, bologna.* 52% mark up. And let’s go on to the pork… (to the vendor): And what is your wholesale price on meat?
Vendor: 150-160 rubles
Putin: So (he exhales**) that means you buy it at 160 and sell at 335. A 120% markup! Is this normal?
Manager: What, a large markup?*** Tomorrow we will lower it. (He smiles).

* As you know I’m not a big meat-eater and I don’t eat pork products at all. So I’ve never come across the term used here: “doktorskaya kolbasa,” or doctor sausage. Can someone please confirm this is the word for bologna?
** This could be my favorite part, not that Putin exhales during the intensive part of this exercise but that A&F chose to record it.
*** This is the THIRD different Russian word for "markup" used in this dialogue.


The dialogue ends there, and it's not clear if we're supposed to assume that the store owner is full of it or if Putin's intervention has made life for the common man a little bit easier.

Kstati features other presidents making trips to supermarkets, and I know you want to know what Medvedev did:
"President D. Medvedev in March of this year unexpectedly stopped his motorcade at a store in order to buy the local gingerbread (?). He took interest in whether prices had strongly increased recently. The sales clerks assured him that prices had gone up a little. Incidentally, Medvedev refused the suggestion that he take the gingerbread as a gift -- he handed his aid a thousand-ruble note and asked him to break the bill at the register."