So... Wednesday, June 11 was an eventful day. It started with me meeting with an old friend, . Academician Aleksandr Ivanovich Konovalov, and then Sasha, Gene, and me taking Gulnar Melnikova, the director of the Butlerov museum, to lunch at a fancy Tatar restaurant in Baumann Street. Gulnar was an absolute godsend on more than one occasion during our visit.

DEL with Academician Konovalov in the Butlerov Library of the museum

same shot, moments later

On the balcony of the restaurant, with Baumann Street in the background. I don't know why I am the only one smiling...

Same shot moments later from a slightly different angle. I'm still the only one smiling -- I think my students have become more Russian than me!

In this one, the sunshine got to Sasha, making him want to sneeze.

After working for a few hours after lunch, I decided to go down to Kol'tso, the local mall to find something cheap to eat. To get to the mall, you go down a flight of stairs, cross the underpass, and then head into the basement of the mall itself. We have done this dozens of times while we have been here, so no problems, right? Yeah, right!

We have had a running joke here that I keep avoiding a fall on the uneven pavement here, and the guys have been keeping count, at least on the bad days. So of course, when they were not there to witness it, I came down the wrong way on a hole in the pavement. I didn't think too much of it at the time, so I got up and kept walking. Of course, within 30 minutes, my ankle had swollen, and I was in serious pain with each step. Sasha came and saw me back up the hill to the hotel, after we found that the Apteka (drugstore) did not carry canes. When we got back to the hotel, it was clear that I needed something, so they gave us the address of another Apteka that carried canes, and Sasha accompanied me to the Apteka. I chose a fashionable copper-colored cane to complement my eyes. Sasha stayed in the area for supper, and I got a cab back. Bt the time I was back in the hotel, I was practically immobile, so Gene came with me in a cab to the University Clinic, only to find that it was closed except on Wednesdays.

A taxi ride back to the hotel showed just how bad things had gotten, so they called an ambulance to take me to an open clinic. The paramedic and Gene carried me (approximately, given my weight!) down the stairs to the ambulance, and as the one who speaks the best Russian, Sasha got to come with me to the Clinic. At the clinic, I was seen by a very business-like, and very solemn doctor who never said a word to me. He did order X-rays, and they showed that I had broken my ankle. I have never had a cast put on before, and the way that they insist that the joint to be properly placed by twisting it every which way but loose would work well as a means of extracting information -- at times, the pain was exquisite (and much worse than my broken rib last year. -- Is Kazan trying to break every bone in my body?)

When we got back to the hotel, I came up the stairs tbackwards, on my butt. When we got to the top, I had to stand up; now Sasha acted as an excellent walking stick -- much better than the metal one. He is much stronger than appearances would suggest. It only took 5 minutes for me to get into my room, typically a 30-second to a minute journey, and the Hotel staff gave Sasha and me both a major break by finding a one-armed swivel chair to function as a wheelchair.

Fortunately, I was able to sleep with the cast, and this morning I have been able to walk on my own (very slowly, and with my fashionable dark copper-colored cane, of course). When I got down to the restaurant, they were all over themselves to make sure I had all the help I needed (they were very worried that my breakfast of oatmeal (old-fashioned porridge, really), cocoa puffs with milk, coffee and ice water was not enough, and that I also needed meat, fish and eggs. Apparently they have not observed my profile!

Today I have a follow-up appointment at noon. I may lose the cast, but I am not going to bet on it. Of course, our trip to the zoo today is now out of the question. The Kazan Zoological and Botanical Gardens have a breeding program for rare animals, and a program to retain the genetic information of the vanishing group of rare plants. It began in the 1830s as an offshoot of the Botany Department of Kazan University.

Maybe Sunday for the zoo...?