Salt Life

Good-bye Kras, Hello Moscow!

View from our hotel room in Kras















Posing by the infamous Kras bridge (it's pictured on the 10R bill-they're proud of this fact!)
















Roman - a big helper on our way to the lobby at 4:15 a.m.















After about 2 hours of restless sleep (I was terrified we'd oversleep!), we showered, dressed and got our luggage together. I shot down the hallway to Chris and Penny's room to help with getting the boys ready for the 5-hour flight to Moscow. Amazingly, we got to the lobby before Sergei and Yelena! But, like clockwork, they arrived on time and we were in their boxy, right-side driver, mini-van at 4:30 a.m. headed to the Kras airport.

Yelena was a huge blessing! She took care of the whole check-in process and she & Sergei even helped us through security check-point #2. She made sure our seat assignments were right across the aisle from each other which made for a much easier flight.

After about an hour in the "holding pen" we finally made our way to the aircraft via the standard bus system. Roman was in awe! "Samaylote!" he would say excitedly, over and over again each time he saw an airplane. His eyes were as big as saucers, absorbing all the new and strange and wonderful things he was seeing. Once we made flight, looking out the window he said in Russian, "That's where I live!" I thought to myself, how smart he is and how gracious that God took him out of that place and he'd soon be in the home he was created for!

Breakfast soon came around 7:30 a.m. By the smell of it I could tell it wasn't going to be pancakes and sausage! Our choice was fish and rice or chicken and potato...hmmmm, decisions, decisions....I'll pass, thank you very much! Everyone else had their fill, including the boys, who were starting to get tired.

After filling his little tummy, Roman slept for a couple of hours and did well overall. Jadon was a different story! Penny got him to sleep but it only lasted about 20 minutes. The rest of the flight was spent wrestling or pacifying him. Five hours is a long flight for anyone, especially a baby used to prompt schedules and naps. I tried my hand at baby JJ, standing and gently bouncing him for about an hour. It did the trick at keeping him calm, but he never fell asleep.

Five hours and four time zones later, we found ourselves landing in Moscow. It was much to our relief to get off of that cramped Aeroflot flight! We made our way through the EXIT security check where they made me open my carry-on....they needed to see what was in it--chocolate, lot's of it. Then they let us leave.

We made our way through the doors toward our next obstacle; a barrage of taxi drivers vying for our patronage. Much to my delight, we were able to avoid that nightmare, as our aforementioned friend, Lucy, had made arrangements for us. I wanted to kiss the man holding the sign with our name on it! Igor, who knew not a lick of English, was expecting us.

He took us about 50 feet to his waiting Toyota LandCruiser...a welcome sight! He helped Dave load the bags and off we went. (In case you're wondering, Chris and Penny had their own ride waiting which had been provided by their agency--we would hook up with their driver for the ride back to the airport.)

The ride was long. Long and excruciating. I was fighting an almost unbeatable nausea at this point. Dave took the front seat and I the back where I could put my head back and close my eyes for what turned out to be an hour long maze through horrendous traffic. Dave and Igor & his two cell phones kept busy talking while I tried to push the Russian disco beat dance music out of my mind. We arrived at our hotel, Maxima Slavia, none too soon. Thank the Lord I didn't upchuck all over the beautiful interior of Igor's SUV!

Igor kindly helped Dave unload the bags and carry them in and then assisted us in the check-in process. Sadly, I know we will probably never see this man again, never mind be able to repay his kindness. Tears welled in my eyes as I thanked him with a two-handed handshake and said good-bye.

Our room was on the 9th floor, room #906, the top floor. It overlooked some industrial buildings and just beyond that a cemetery and birch forest. It was beautiful if you covered up the buildings in the foreground with one hand and the smokestacks in the distance with another hand, squinting and tilting your head to one side all at the same time. I didn't care, though. The room was new, clean and simple and the bed was the most comfortable one yet. I sank under the covers and slept hard for two and a half hours. I'm not sure what Dave did during that time, but he seemed happy when I woke.

After I showered and took two Advil, we made the quick decision to try out the trip to Chris and Penny's hotel, The Marriot Grande on Tverskaya Ulitsa. That's a story all in itself and I'll continue with it tomorrow...

Labels: adoption

posted by Kushmama @ 1:54 PM