Time for an update. Obviously, the activity of at least one member of the group has been significantly curtailed. I see the doctor tomorrow, and I expect the news to be better than I was afraid of. There is still pain in the ankle, and the cast itches like crazy, but I can now walk (slowly, with my fashionable bronze-colored cane imported all the way from the USA!), and I can move my toes and (to the degree permitted by the cast) my ankle.

Yesterday, the lads and I went to the zoo (by taxi -- it is a 2.5-mile walk, and the cab cost 100 rubles ($2.00). The zoo really shows the other side of Kazan. For the Universiade in 2013, a huge amount of work was done repairing major parts of the city, but the zoo has remained in pre-Universiade condition. It's sad, really, because it has a good location, and could be quite an attraction. Strangely, also, there is no Zoo shop with souvenirs. So much for adding to our zoo coffee mug collection! It's the only zoo on 3 continents that I have seen that does not have at least a shot glass souvenir on sale (and where but Russia would you expect a shot glass souvenir?). Once we got back (it only took us an hour, really, to see what we needed/wanted to), I moved to my room and put my leg up.

I managed to walk some, but spent about half my time sitting on a bench with a black cat using me as a sunshade. As far as I can tell, black cats are viewed as very lucky here -- everyone wanted to pet it.

Tonight, I managed to get part of the way down the hill to the Rubai restaurant, an Uzbekh restaurant  that is one of my favorite eateries in Kazan. They serve both liver and tongue with just a smidgeon of a sour cream-based sauce that is to die for. The tongue was a slip of the tongue (pun not really intended), but I'm glad the foul-up happened. It is so much more enjoyable as a hot meat rather than a cold meat, and it tastes just like any other kind of beef. I also had an unusual tea, which is flavored with something I cannot place; it was very good. And to cap everything off, I had a dessert of small honey cakes shaped like cones. They remind me of sort of crystallized cotton candy that has been compressed into a conical shape, and then soaked in honey. Just what an old diabetic needs!

The batteries in the camera died yesterday, so there aren't many pictures from me. Fortunately, the lads are still taking photographs, and we now have two large photo albums that we will need to edit into a "best of" collection. This photo, however, will give you an idea of the booths in the Rubai. The small stool at the end of each table is not for people, but for a hookah! Generally, we have been surrounded by non-smokers, but even when someone was using the hookah, you couldn't smell it.

I photoshopped this to make it lighter, so you can see the divans on each side of the booth, with the cushions and a hint of the curtains. The little stool at front is for a hookah. The street outside the window is Universitetskaya Street, where our hotel is.