Venturing out into Red Square
After sleeping until 2 in the afternoon, trying to fight off my cold, I woke up starving. Leftover breakfast pastries just aren’t going to do it, so I put on some clothes and go out in search of lunch. The map says there is a collection of fast food places across the street from my hotel, so I decide to head that way.
It turns out that the security for NYE is already in full effect. They have barricaded off Red Square essentially in concentric circles and a series of one-way paths, each circle with another security checkpoint and bag check and metal detector. Outside of the pedestrian barricades they have all of the salt trucks and garbage trucks forming a perimeter a block away from where pedestrian traffic starts.
Suddenly my trip across the street is much more complicated. My hotel is already within the circle, so when I walk outside, anywhere I go I have to go through a security check, or if I go the wrong way, I might have to go around the block to get back in. It’s very confusing. I give up on my plan and just start following the crowds. Further and further in, around and around.
The party here has already started and the streets are full of costumed revelers. There are ladies passing out paper 2018 hats, trampoline acrobats, actors on stages, bands performing. Everything is fun and energetic and colorful. People are dancing and it isn’t terribly crowded yet.
Lunch
I eventually end up at the entrance to a mall, where everyone seems to be going. I go inside and look for the food court. The entire mall is underground and the food court is the -3rd floor. Here is another ‘normal’ mall, not a super expensive designer mall. The entire mall is covered in advertisements for the food court, mostly for McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC.
However, when I get there, there are at least 30 people in line at KFC. Georgian restaurant? no one. Russian food? nope. Lebanese cuisine? no line. KFC is very popular here, but I didn’t realize just how popular. I got in line, but then I noticed the menu. Only buckets of fried chicken, chicken sandwiches, and fries. There’s no mention anywhere of sides or mashed potatoes! What kind of KFC is this?! It’s certainly not worth waiting in line half an hour for fried chicken with no mashed potatoes. So I look around and end up going back to the Kroshka Kartoshka, a place that serves stuffed baked potatoes. Apparently I was in a potato mood. I thought I would walk around the festivities some more after lunch, but I am still sick and walking here was exhausting. But when I try to go back, everything is one-way. You have to exit the mall through the second floor, which exits to the metro station. And the metro station street exits put you outside the security checks and I have to go back through security to get back to my hotel. At least I didn’t have a backpack with me.
Getting ready
I went back to my room by 5 o’clock and I thought I’d take another nap, but my brain just wasn’t having it. So I warmed up another bath in the jacuzzi tub, hoping to re-energize and clear my sinuses. In the end, I really had to drag myself out to get dressed and I didn’t want to at all. If there was a way to cancel, I would have. Well, I didn’t cancel and I’m glad I toughed it out. Because all of the roads are blocked off, a person from the hotel escorted me to the nearest pick-up point for my driver to take me to the event.
The Venue
I arrived and the venue did not disappoint. The theme was ‘Ice Party’, so they requested everyone wear white, blue, and silver. The venue was decorated in all white with ice and snow everywhere. The people working the event were all in costume. The ticket takers and reception desk ladies all had fake snow in their hair and white dresses and white contacts. Everyone arrived and immediately just started taking photos of everything. There’s a reindeer outside to take photos with. White huskies inside to take photos with. Canapes, hors d’oeuvres, and of course caviar upstairs with champagne and other drinks.
The Show
The evening’s show starts with a guy in period costume singing “Oh What a Night”. Then over the next few hours, there is a complete reenactment of the movie Frozen, dancers, a light show, and then a fire show. Dinner is served while all of this is happening. There are 8 courses to dinner, and they are served at a rate that will have them completed when the party ends at 6 a.m. That is to say, it isn’t dinner from 10-11 and then party. The dinner is part of the party. Salad and then 45 minutes of watching a show. And then bacon wrapped asparagus and another 45 minutes. It was awesome.
My table
We go into the main ballroom where the dinner and show will take place and it is also beautifully decorated, with appetizers on the tables and bottles of alcohol everywhere. 2018 is the year of the dog, so there is a little gift of a doggy keychain at each setting. At my table there are 10 places. There are 3 couples, myself, and 3 older ladies who are there together. I am the first to sit down and each time new people come to the table, they introduce themselves, and we all go around the table saying our names. The lady sitting to my left asks me a question I don’t understand and then tries to speak some English with me, asking where I am from.
The people at my table are jovial and having a great time. There is one lady drinking red wine. Myself and the lady to my left are drinking champagne, and everyone else is hitting the scotch….hard. The three old ladies each fill a wine glass with like 8 ounces of scotch each. The guys drink scotch from old fashioned glasses. Every few minutes, someone gets up, makes some speech about the new year, and everyone clinks glasses and drinks. Sitting at the table, if I make eye contact with anyone, they clink glasses with me and then everyone joins in and we drink. All night. If I’m watching the show, the lady to my left calls my name so I don’t miss out on another toast. One of the older ladies tries to tell me to put something in my champagne. She keeps saying for ‘the morning’, so I think she is saying that adding this will keep me from being hungover. One of the guys picks up a bottle of some sort of schnapps and offers to add it to my champagne. The lady to my left is like ‘no, she doesn’t understand.’ I tell her it’s ok and I try it. It’s some sort of bitter, so it’s fine. I appreciate the lady looking out for me. She tells me ‘We are your friends’. And then announces to everyone at the table that I’m from California and I am taheir guest for the evening. Everyone cheers and we toast again. The old lady, now quite far into her scotch, comes over and starts re-arranging my hair, looking at my wedding ring, trying to get me to dance with her. Eventually she sits back down, almost passing out in her chair. Someone sends over security and she yells at them. 2 guys stand behind her for a bit to keep an eye on her before escorting her out. Her 2 other lady friends are like, ‘Look Sharon, you aren’t ruining another night for us. Enjoy your cab ride.’ They don’t help or go with her at all. Everyone else is fun and invites me to dance and refills my drink and I feel welcome and included. It’s a very fun night. While masses of people in the city are quite harsh, individually, people have been so incredibly warm and welcoming.
I stay out until about 3:30 a.m., after all of the performances are finished and there’s just a live band playing for everyone to dance to. Now it’s just a normal party and people are starting to go home.
