Russia Travelogue day 8: Green house and Gucci

June 23, 4 am
today, after a long while, I can say I had good sleep. Ironic considering the fact that I was harping about horrors of the hotel yesterday. We checked out of the hotel at 11 or so and found ourselves at the station in a long line to store our luggage at the price of 200 rubles per bag. I have been throwing money at everything on this trip but I decided at this time that spending on a small bag the same amount as we would on a big backpack was completely unacceptable. So today, both Shaks and I got to carry a bag each. She was not amused by my penny pinching.
I have not mentioned yet that Shaks was wearing an outfit today which is gym leggings, sports bra, and a half translucent white jacket. I dislike that jacket on principle. She can only wear it on a summer day, it’s too thin for any day chilly and though she claims it's breathable, I suspect it's a miniature green house. Adding to that today was a hot day. I was still thinking of yesterday's match and feeling a bit down for it. But there was a town to explore and food to eat. Life doesn’t stop for wins and losses. We tried Uzbeki food in the afternoon. It was good. Plus, the restaurant had its own liquor. I tried their home made mead, which tasted strongly of fermented honey. Then Shaks and I shared their house brew of flavored vodka. All the flavors were nice, like raspberry, honey etc. but I don't know about their horseradish vodka. My suggestion is to skip that double burn of the throat.
After the meal we did more sightseeing around Nino. We went past the square where the fan fest was held. There was a Brazil match being displayed in the big screens there and Neymar had just scored. Curiously, I found a few Brazilian supporters going wild there. How does that happen I wonder? The brazil team is playing in some other city and yet here we have the supporters in Nino watching in in a public square. This is not St. Petersburg or Moscow that they just camped in the city since they liked it so much. I don’t mean to say that Nino is not nice. It’s a beautiful city, but you can explore it end to end over a weekend. Talking of the beauty of the city, we went past the square and came across a panoramic view of River Volga from atop a hill. It was a pretty view as most views of vast bodies of water tend to be. The one thing taking away from the view was sun beating down on us right from above our head. We were constantly thirsty walking near the river with hardly any shade to give us some relief. I was feeling hot in a simple t-shirt so I imagine Shaks must have been boiling sporting her greenhouse jacket. We have walked so much in the sun that I have tan lines on bridge of my nose, right at the portion where my sunglasses sit. Tan lines are sexy, and technically I have tan lines now so it has just added to my appeal. 5 % boost as soon as I take off my sunglasses. I will test this theory on Shaks when I get a chance. It should be easy, I will say something smooth and remove my sunglasses, if she jumps my bones right then, it’s proof enough. I will report back on it from Kazan.

In Nino, the view of the city and the river was worth all the baking we endured. All of our exploring soon brought us back to the Gucci shop, the same where we spend quite a while yesterday. By now, Shaks excitement had dimmed as I did some research in the morning. So, this time armed with the articles on how to spot fake Gucci we walked back into the shop. After going through the bags again, and with me raising doubts, Shaks had enough suspicion to not buy the deal of the century. She was able to spot slight imperfections that to me looked like regular stitching. She was pretty certain that it was a close copy, and the shop also looked legitimate, being one of the big shops in a nice street, but it was definitely a forgery. To get over this revelation and to escape the sun, I wanted a beer so we went to a pub, where I was also able to catch last 30 minutes of the game between Nigeria and Iceland. Let me tell you, the Argentinians celebrated Nigerian goals with more passion than I saw in the whole match yesterday. Nigeria won the match 2-1. Now, depending on the Croatia Iceland match, Argentina have a chance to squeak through. They have to beat Nigeria though and it's not a certainty.
After the match, we just had enough time to get back to station and grab some food for the train. Shaks preferred to use a mall rest room to the rest rooms in train station, so we went across from the station to the Gum mall. This was not anything like the famed mall in Moscow. It was Palika bazaar of Delhi. Knock off shoes like 'Niek' were being sold for 700 rubles. We saw MALENCIAGA and BALFNCIAGA shoes as well. We both found that pretty funny. I had the good sense to avoid any purchases, although I was tempted.

As of now, we are in train ready to leave for Kazan. No confusion this time. Our compartment is shared with two Russians in their 50s who are also going for the same game, to watch Poland vs Columbia.
One last anecdote that happened just now before I leave you, Shaks bought Twix in the train from the vendor. I half paid attention to the purchase as I am writing, and absently grabbed it to have a bite. Shaks snarled at me like a beast seeing its food being stolen or like Gollum seeing his ring being taken, before she recognized that I'm a friendly human and also the love of her life. She politely asked me to only take a little bite of it after that but I had seen the true face of the wild animal that lurks under the civilized facade of my gorgeous fiancé so I wisely left all of the Twix to her. 
Time to crash and I hope I sleep better this time in the train than last time. 

Edit: Forgot to add another interesting note. We were walking around kremlin and took a turn which took us across residential buildings. Most of Russia has similar residential buildings in cities, the non-descript, multi story buildings with bunch of apartments. Small windows, few of the apartments with balconies. So the interesting thing here was that we came across a group of old women who were sitting in the shade in afternoon heat. One was standing and talking to the rest of them. It seemed perfect picture to take for Nino. They looked wonderful in their natural garb so different from all the fans, all the teens and young people out there. We hardly got to see this side of Russia in all the festivities. We asked if Shaks could take a picture with them? Shaks was so happy already that she ran to stand next to them while I got ready to take a quick snap. As I looked through the phone screen, I realized that women actually had not acquiesced to our request. The one standing had started walking away quickly and the ones who were sitting lowered their faces! We apologized for our haste and left the scene as well. It is refreshing to see a generation who still thinks that privacy is something dear. Maybe, people who have lived through direct suppression of communist era better understand what we living in democracy have forgotten. That power corrupts and the power wielders shouldn't be trusted even if they have best of intentions.