Elliot Pascoe’s Blog

 (with apologies to L. Frank Baum). Lots and lots has changed in Minsk in the 7 years since I was last here. Here we are at Stolitsa (“Capital”) – a modern shopping centre right under Lenin Square in the centre of Minsk. It looks brand spanking new. Several shops are vacant but nonetheless this is quite something new for Minsk. Some of the shops are upmarket outlets for the country’s best known goods – eg. designer children’s clothes, vodka, champagne, women’s clothes (of course) and locally made cosmetics etc.

Elliot had another first today – the highly polished tiles were all a bit scary and he refused to walk on them without us holding his hand. For this newly independent tot, it was quite something to demand a finger to hold. Perhaps he was worried that the floor might suddenly move and throw him down like that trampoline thing did yesterday …

Another  new Minsk experience is  “Korona” or Crown. This is a chain of supermarkets that are just as impressive as a large Coles, Sainsbury or Tesco. We don’t really have an equivalent style of supermarket in Perth and certainly can’t match the opening hours of 9AM – midnight.

One of the Minsk delicacies that I like is Cirok – a small piece of cheesecake covered in chocolate. They are sold in glossy wrappers, supposedly for breakfast. Elliot is not no sure about them, too sweet or too thick perhaps. Anyway Korona had a totally awesome selection of Cirok – must have been 40 to choose from. Cirok heaven (this last paragraph is dedicated to Valeri, a fellow Cirok aficionado).