On Thursday (April 10^th), Almeda and I decided to look for the Arbat a second time, and this time, we were successful. In a way, it was what we have been told to expect – a wide street dedicated to walking with stores and restaurants on both sides. But, instead of humble shops and cafes, most of the street was filled with chain restaurants and souvenir stores. This should not come as a surprise, since the Arbat is prime real-estate for selling souvenirs to tourists. If you accept all the fliers and ads that are handed to you, you will have enough reading material for the whole walk. We went on a rather dreary day, and the Arbat seemed rather deserted.

In general, the street that these modern-day chain restaurants and stores are on does not seem like the same Arbat we heard about in Russian 204. However, on parts of the Arbat there are stands selling paintings and tables filled with old books, and there are artists sitting on off to the side offering to draw caricatures. I believe this is what helps make the modern-day Arbat special.

We hoped to eat somewhere unique, and avoided all the chain restaurants we knew of (such as the countless Shokolodnitsa’s and Coffee House’s). Eventually we spotted an interesting café with a glowing neon sign hanging on the window, saying “24 Hours”.

There are places open all night on the Arbat? Cool. It’s great to know that if I get a craving for their food, I can eat anytime, as long as I find transportation. (Don’t worry, I won’t actually go there at night). It sold chebureks, which start out as a thin, tortilla-sized piece of rolled dough with a generous dollop of potatoes, cabbage (which Almeda and I highly recommend), meat, or with whichever other offerings there are. It is then folded in half and fried. Delicious and inexpensive.
Last week, the Russian praktikantki students took us on an Arbat tour. There we learned that Andrei Bely, a writer who lived on the Arbat and now has a restaurant with his name, and saw the mansion that Pushkin and his wife stayed in.