Fall Out Boy at his Fall Out Shelter

The fall out shelter, as Peter called it, was a mound with enterances in a couple of corners. Children various ages and their parents take their sleds, or tires to slide down the hill. It usually has an iced slope to assist in breaking your neck(?). 

There are no steps to climb up. It's not that difficult to climb up, except if you are three years old. Loki can't figure out how to walk up the hill, but then I have a difficult time on some of the approaches. At this point we tend to carry him up. Loki doesn't use his disc, but will slide down on his tummy/belly. 

Adjacent to the shelter is a basketball court?  Tennis court, that's fencened. Apparently the kids/older kids have already broke the fence this year. It looks like someone smashed it with their sled, tube. I don't know Who is responsible for fixing the fence. 

Look for the orance plastic disc, and you will find Larisa or one of us from our party. The apartment on the right of the screen faces the main road that goes through our part of town. Also the point between the two apartments there is the park that has been featured in previous posts. 

Same night just different view or whatever from my camera. 

My photo bombers, are probably under 18, but not quite high school. They are sharing an ill gotten bottle of beer. It is a very large bottle 2, 3 liters maybe, and pretty crappy. 

Different view this is a pile next to the "shelter".

Basketball/Tennis court. 

A reader of blog, inquired on how people here deal with the snow. They just ignore it over time. 

What's it like inside of a Russian McDonald's?

Many people frequently wonder (Okay just me and my dad.) what it is like inside of "foreign" McDonald's. The only experience I have had with eating at a McDonald's outside of the states was in Mexico back in 1989. What was it like, I don't remember. We have been to McDonald's about 4 times since we have arrived here. Most of them are located on Nevsky Prospekt, the "main drag" through Saint Petersburg, and in an "upscale" mall called Galleria. 

It never occurs to me to take a picture of the menu board, because it's crowded and everything is in Russian. Though the first thing I noticed was that they did not have numbered "Value Meals". So you can walk up or drive up to a number of McDonald's and get a number 1 consistently. I can't read the menu, can't say I'll take a number 1 or 5, and usually end up blurting out HAPPY MEAL CHICKEN NUGGETS SOK (Juice). Want Ketchup with that, it's extra, want sauce with that, it's extra. 

The photo above and below are of Loki and Larisa looking at the Happy Meal display. Notice it's not a stand alone thing. I am pretty sure in the past or the reason why they don't do that is to cut down on theft, because I could see someone walking in and walking out with the display. 

This is our meal, Larisa and Sergey refuse to eat McDonald's food, generally ordering Coffe, or tea. They also don't drink American soft drinks, though I think Sergey will drink energy drinks, like RockStar but with a name like el torro, or synergy fuel. 

This is the interior. Most people who eat at McDonald's have money to eat there. I think for Loki's happy meal it is about 300-400  rubles, 10 -13 dollars. Clearly those with extra rubles to throw around are the ones who eat here. 

I wanted to eat the burger, but loki was upset that there was no sauce for the nuggets or fries so instead he ate it. 

This is my large coke no ice. 

This is the toy Loki got, last time I didn't look at the receipt and I ended up paying for the toy, and he barely ate his food. Eating out with him in Russia, like America is hit and miss. Now if it were Mexican food.