Now, to get on with our posting. When we left Southwest Regional Airport on January 10, 2009 we were full of anticipation and a bit anxious. Neither Don nor I have travelled over the Atlantic or the Pacific. We have only travelled in North and South America. This was a great adventure for us. Here is Don at the airport - why did I take this picture in front of the restrooms!!! I never even noticed them - like I said we were a bit anxious! We traveled from Fort Myers to New York on Jet Blue. Our flight was very nice and the plane was comfortable.
We then flew from New York to Moscow on Aeroflot. Our backpacks (see Not Just Another New Year's Eve) and carry-on fit well in the overhead compartments. 
We were happy to have our clothes for our meeting with the Ministry of Education with us. Loosing luggage is always a worry.
We were happy to have our clothes for our meeting with the Ministry of Education with us. Loosing luggage is always a worry. We were very impressed with the flight and the service. They fed us a lot! My only complaint was that there was the cutest little girl sitting behind me who kicked the seat the entire trip. As much as it kept me awake, I kept telling myself "you'll have one of those cuties soon, so let it be."
Actually, we had a wonderful experience every step of the way. We arrived in Moscow late afternoon on Saturday and we were greeted by our driver, Max. He was very friendly and took us to our hotel and helped us get checked in. We thought we learned enough Russian to be able to get by but we soon realized we had no clue what people were saying unless they said,"Hello"; "Goodbye"; "Thank you"; or "Please"!!! Thank heaven we learned to say, "I don't understand" and "Do you speak English." Note to self: Learn more Russian before trip #2!
We stayed at the Marriott Tverskaya - it was lovely. We were so exhausted, we ate at the restaurant off the lobby and went to bed by 9:00pm. Although our budget was tight, we promised ourselves we would try some caviar. Little did we know they serve caviar with everything. Here is our meal - actually appetizers - caviar with blinis (pancakes), assorted fresh fish, and various accompaniments for the blinis. Everything was very tasty! The service was excellent and the servers got a kick out of us taking photos of the food! What can I say, we're tourists and I'm a scrapbooker - just got to chronicle everything!
I think Moscow is very cosmopolitan - it could be any city in USA. Here is the view from our room. 
On Sunday, we were met by our facilitator's wife, Anna. She took us on a tour of Moscow. It was very cold but we enjoyed our sight seeing. We rode the subway and visited Red Square, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, the Cathedral of our Saviour, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We walked most of the day and the temperature was about -10F. It was quite cold when we stopped to look at the sights. We were warm as long as we kept moving. We noticed that everyone seemed to walk very fast. At first we did not understand why but after our tour we realized it's the only way to stay warm! Note to self: Wear toe warmers next time I take a walking tour in below freezing weather! 
We really enjoyed visiting the Cathedral of Our Savior - it was magnificent. We were able to go inside but could not take photos. It was absolutely amazing! A must see when in Moscow. This is not the greatest photo - it was snowing and quite cold - trust me, it is beautiful.
While on our tour, we just happened to arrive at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when they were changing guards. Apparently, they stand in the shelter for one hour then change. It was very interesting.
After our tour, we went back to our hotel to rest. We tried to sleep but we both could not stop thinking about our little angel. We had her bear on the table holding our favorite photo of her. We shared our anticipation about meeting her and about the Ministry of Education meeting. We both felt very excited to finally be at this point in the adoption process. Max picked us up at about 10:00pm to take us to the train station. We were going to take a train overnight to our region. I will post on that tomorrow.
We are just full of praise and joy to have been to Russia to meet our little Angel. We know that it is faith that got us this far and we have faith we will return to bring her home.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
Until tomorrow,
Don and Elizabeth
1 comment:
I love it- makes me feel I was there, I wish I was!! Can't wait to read more...
-Fellow AW Mom
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