Moscow – We Made It!

We made it! We are in Moscow and are so relived to be near society with signs and prepared food and McDonalds! There’s even a grocery store – a nice grocery store, like the new Papa Joes in Rochester! You can get about 100 different kinds of salami. A sign of culture here. J Dimitry was very surprised when we told him we could not bring any knives on planes. He said, “But, how do you cut your sausage?” J They are infatuated with sausage. When Erik was with Dimitry at the bank in Arkhangelsk, they were looking at some old dollar bills during the Khrushchev administration. Dimitry said Khrushchev’s goal was to make ballistic missiles like sausages. Just crank them out one after another.

Jack was great on the plane. He was exhausted but great. He started to get crabby as Natalia and Dimitry drove us to our hotel. Keep in mind the poor kid did not have an opportunity for a diaper change for six hours. (Erik wants me to add that that diaper was a heavy one. J ) The flight was only an hour and 20 minutes and about 15 miles to our hotel. From the airport, it took us TWO and A HALF HOURS to get to our hotel. Traffic was at a standstill. Cars were on the side of the road – broken down. Semis were pulling over. Then about 2 hours into the drive, the lanes started moving. No accident, no construction, no lane closure, no reason – just a “cork” as Dimitry and Natalya call it. A “cork” is what we call a “bottleneck” in traffic. Only thing is their corks happen everywhere and all the time for no reason.

We checked in and immediately went to McDonald’s! So good to eat beef! (Never thought I’d get that excited about it, but seriously it was the best hamburger ever.) And us being new at this had no idea what to order Jack. We know it’s not the most nutritious food, but thought he’d really enjoy a good American meal. Erik asked, “So how many nuggets should I get him?” J Just so you know the baby with four teeth could eat ½ a nugget broken up. We gave him formula when we got back.

Still no crib. We asked for one and they said they would send one up. Some lady knocked on the door with a COT. Yep, that sure helps. Doctor and visa tomorrow!