For the first you have to know the Moscow subway. They have a dozen different lines running all around town. A ways out from the center is a line that runs a complete circle, connecting to most of the others. It looks like this:
See the brown circle line? The circle line was the fifth built, after the red, blue, green, and something else.
How did it come about?
What happened is that the engineers put the plans, a map of the city and already built lines, down on Stalin's desk and asked where the next line should go. Stalin looked at them, looked at the map, sat his coffee cup down in the middle of their work, and berated them for inadequate planning. He then picked up his mug and ordered them out.
Frightened for what would happen now that they had incurred Stalin's wrath, they put the brown line right where Stalin had left the mark with his coffee.
That one was not true, but at least Irena said some people call the circle line the "coffee line."
Here is one that is true, and I've heard it in several places, not just the Internet!
Change of plans. .....
I just left Moscow. There are three Russians in my cabin and the daughter speaks excellent English.
I am going to try to send this up over Russian cell service.
I'll tell more of Irena's stories later.
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