Max helped us find our compartment. We had 4 bunks, two uppers and two lowers, and a table. It seemed fine to us but, apparently, we were supposed to be in a "classier" compartment. We would never have known the difference. However, the train ride back to Moscow was much more comfortable. I'll discuss that later in this post.
Here we are -
don't we look cozy?
The train ride was uneventful until about 5:30am when I decided to take a nose dive off my bunk. I am such a klutz! All I kept thinking was, "Great, I'm going to break my neck on a train in the middle of no where in Russia!" The bunks were so high that I had to step up on the table to get on it. Standing, the bunk was taller than my shoulder. I really hurt myself and ended up with large bruises under my arm and on my side. It hurt so much I had tears in my eyes but I felt so stupid I was laughing at the same time. Don woke up and couldn't figure out if I was really hurt or not. We still laugh about it.
We arrived in Nizhny about 7:30am. Our facilitator, Julia, picked us up at the train station and took us to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Oktyabrskaya. It was very nice. We checked in and thought we had time for breakfast and clean up before we went to the Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, our appointment was at 9:00am and we thought it was at 10:00am. We had less than an hour before Julia would pick us up. Sometimes, I wonder why I try to plan anything. I wanted to eat some breakfast, shower, put on some makeup, and put my contacts in. I had this hangup about our Angel seeing me with glasses on - I feel like they make me look old and matronly! Needless to say there wasn't quite enough time to accomplish all that. Of course, Don looked like a million bucks! Men, they have it so easy! We made it to our appointment on time and that is what was important.
We have already posted on our experiences at the Ministry of Education and spending time with our Angel (see She's the One God Chose for Us and Our Last Day with Our Little Angel).
I wanted to give some highlights of the region in this post.
We absolutely loved Nizhny Novgorod. The hotel was across from the Volga river and it was beautiful; very different compared to Moscow. Here is the view from our room.
We absolutely loved Nizhny Novgorod. The hotel was across from the Volga river and it was beautiful; very different compared to Moscow. Here is the view from our room.
We told them we want the same room when we come back!
what they call the pedestrian walk.
It is a brick walk and no vehicles
are allowed. There are shops, banks,
restaurants, and street vendors
selling arts and crafts. We really
enjoyed walking and checking out
the shops.
We also visited a grocery store - we actually spent close to an hour just walking up and down the aisles trying to read the labels and checking out the different items. We bought some brown bread and cheese for dinner one night and really enjoyed our meal. We have no idea what type of cheeses we had but they were very good.
The walk back to our hotel was very enjoyable. Everyday we walked along the Volga river. It was very cold and snowed several times. Somehow, we did not mind. I think we were on such a high spending time with our Angel and anticipating our next meeting. The snow and views were beautiful. 
There were Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. The Russian Christmas Holiday is the first two weeks of January. A short walk from our hotel was a plaza with ice sculptures. They were beautiful and many had lights inside them so they seemed to glow.
Remember, from our previous posts, we met our little Angel on my birthday. Here is a picture of the gift she gave me.
I have it sitting on my dresser. I look at Santa every day when I wake up and I think about my Angel giving it to me - my first birthday present from our daughter! Wow, that seemed strange - to call her "our daughter". How amazing is that!!!!
Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Nizhny and look forward to returning. The city was so beautiful in the snow, we can't imagine how beautiful it would be in the spring time. However, Julia told us we may be coming back before their spring starts. That will be okay with us. We are happy to have spent time in Nizhny and we really want to make sure our Angel knows about her culture and the city where she was born.
After our last visit with our daughter, we went back to our hotel to pack. We were both feeling very sad. We hated to leave. Julia's husband picked us up at the hotel about 10:00pm and took us to the train. What a different experience. Our compartment was beautiful with flowers on the table and only two bottom bunks - whew - I didn't have to worry about falling again!
As you can see, this compartment was very different from our previous trip. We were quite comfortable but we both had trouble sleeping. We talked about our visit with our daughter and discussed plans to get back to bring her home.
We know that God was responsible for getting us this far and only He can provide for us to return and complete our adoption. We made a promise to our little girl that we will be back to bring her home. We will be praying without ceasing.
Therefore, I tell you , whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
Thanks for following our journey,
Elizabeth
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