Winter Wonderland

It's 4:41 Thursday morning, Moscow time. I had every intention of writing this blog posting about eight hours ago, but my body gave out eight and a half hours ago and Renee and I both wound up falling asleep as we discussed what to do about dinner. (The lack of consciousness dictated the menu of cold cereal and hot tea when I awoke around 2:00 a.m.)

So we're back from our little jaunt to the coast — the Baltic coast, that is. St. Petersburg was great — a gorgeous city in the style of Western Europe and well preserved given that it recently celebrated its 300th birthday (a baby next to Moscow's 1000-year history). The core of the city was condensed enough to motivate us to walk everywhere, but expansive enough to provide a sense of awe. And while Renee and I both appreciated the opportunity to get some much-needed exercise, I did something to my Achilles tendon our last night in St. Petersburg that continues to hurt — not ideal for our current walking-intensive lifestyle, particularly through the ice and snow.

We took quite a few photos of St. Petersburg, both walking around the city the three days we were there, as well as a considerable number of photos inside the Hermitage — one of Russia's premier art museums. Rather than subject you to them here, I am working at creating a photo gallery on Flickr.com, which I will include a link to once it's available. (This preview is of Renee in front of the Pushkin Theatre just beneath the statue of Empress Catherine.)

In the meantime, however, here's a view of the spire of the Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral located within the aptly named Peter & Paul Fortress. The fort is across the Neva River from the heart of St. Petersburg, which was nearly completely frozen over when we visited. The ice had been broken up by shipping traffic and refrozen so that it was ultimately composed of sheets of ice as large and as thick as doors jutting up from the river at random angles. It was also snowing pretty steadily, so everything was dusted white, adding to the Arctic effect.

While it was wonderful to get away from the drudgery of apartment living in Moscow, we missed our time (however limited) with Syevinch and were concerned that interruption of our consistent daily visits might affect the bonding process. This was not to be the case, however, and is mentioned below in further detail.

We spent quite a bit of time just walking the city to take in the surroundings and sights. Unfortunately, however, the first morning and much of the third and final day were consumed by killing time. Because hotel check-in was 2:00 p.m. and our train arrived at 8:00 a.m., we spent much of the first morning sitting in cafes (granted, I could think of much worse things than drinking coffee in a European cafe!) and wandering the streets around the hotel in a frozen delirium. The final day had the reverse effect in that hotel check-out was noon — a full 12 hours before our train departed for Moscow. Fortunately, we were able to store our luggage at the hotel until much later that evening, but it still meant that we were homeless for the day, wandering at the whim of the travel gods.

[I know that Renee will ask me to edit this posting after-the-fact if I don't also mention such things as our amazingly overpriced taxi ride the morning of our arrival (he quoted me 35 Euro for the 8-block drive from the train station to our hotel, which I mistakenly heard as 35 Rubles — a difference of about $40); of our eerie dining experience Tuesday evening in an expansive, two-story Russian/Chinese restaurant in which we were the only two patrons (the food was surprisingly good); or of our multiple book-buying excursions in which she found an English version of Harry Potter 4 (she finished book 3 far too quickly earlier in the trip), I bought Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in the city in which it was set, and together we bought six or seven Russian picture books in support of our intentions to provide a cultural link to Syevinch's place of birth.]

All in all, it was a wonderful three days and was a great break from our Moscow routine. We were also delighted to discover that the train ride "home" Tuesday evening officially marked the halfway point in our extended Russian adventure. And now, a day later, the tally is: 11 days down, 9 to go (not counting the two full days of travel serving as bookends to this life-altering journey).

Upon arriving in Moscow first thing Wednesday morning, we were delighted to be greeted by Vlad, our primary guide to all things Moscow, who saved us the trouble and expense (and potential hilarity of ensuing communication difficulties) of hiring a taxi for the 20-minute ride across town. We also got the opportunity to talk through with him the schedule of events for the remaining week or so of our stay.

The good news: We will take physical custody of Syevinch next Monday, December 3 (the day after Russia's controversial national elections), two full days earlier than we were initially led to believe! (This is not meant to imply that there is bad news associated with this announcement, but there is now a countdown to when our lives will forever be changed — a concept difficult to fully grasp from this side of parenthood.)

The schedule for next week is therefore as follows:

Monday, 12/3:
• Visit the vital statistics office and apply for Syevinch's Russian passport.
• Go shopping (with Vlad) for all the basic necessities: diapers, baby food, etc.
• Return to the orphanage (for the last time) and bring our baby home.

Tuesday, 12/4:
• Figure out how to be a parent (one day should be enough time...)

Wednesday, 12/5:
• Take Syevinch to the medical clinic for a physical exam.

Thursday, 12/6:
• Visit the U.S. embassy (next door) to obtain Syevinch's U.S. visa.

Friday, 12/7:
• Panic.

Saturday, 12/8:
• Head home!

This leaves us the next four days (Thursday–Sunday) for our daily ritual of traversing the city by foot and metro to visit Syevinch at the orphanage. While it had begun snowing in St. Petersburg on Monday, Moscow didn't get it until yesterday (Wednesday). The snow is expected to continue here through the weekend, so our walks will be just a bit whiter, wetter, and slower, but will help prepare us for the coming holidays. (Renee has already taken to singing "Winter Wonderland" as we traipse through the bleak urban landscape of northwestern Moscow on our daily orphanage trek.)

Yesterday's visit (our first since being away for three days) was nice. Syevinch again reached out for Renee when we first poked our head in the door of "Gruppa 8" (her co-ed living quarters) and cried when we returned her to the caregivers for her nap. We continue to search for appropriate and effective distraction strategies in preparation for the plane ride home and have discovered that, regardless of a toy's degree of initial captivation, Syevinch seems to find the greatest amusement in throwing it on the floor. I'm hoping that this pattern doesn't continue through feeding time, as that could get old really quickly. This photo shows Syevinch having great fun with one of her favorite new toys, just prior to launching it.

We are still hoping to make the most of our free time and plan to return to the Kremlin on Friday or Saturday for the full tour, and although the Bolshoi Theatre was sold out for the entire duration of our stay, I'm still hopeful that we might be able to snag a couple of tickets to one of the ballets later this weekend. We're also hoping that Sunday's elections here don't disrupt the status quo to the point that our routine is affected. It may prove interesting to be at the center of this internationally observed event, but I'd feel better if it remains the uneventful event that it is projected to be.

Well, this took a lot longer to piece together than I had anticipated and I will be hard pressed to get another few hours of sleep before preparing for a limping return to Syevinch later this morning.

Until next time,
Larry & Renee