Passing the Time in Russia

This trip started as a 5-day short trip to Russia. We are now on day 16! We are not complaining at all...but don't be surprised if I have a ceremonial burning for the 1 dress, 4 shirts and 2 pair of pants I brought. I keep reminding myself that there are many people in this world who would consider that an extensive wardrobe. We are so spoiled. 

So you may be wondering how we've passed the last 13 days of waiting. There is no shortage of things to do in Russia! But first, you have to have a fabulous American family invite you to stay with them because they have all the good tips. :) What? You don't accept email invites to stay with complete strangers? Well, that's how we roll around here. We were SO BLESSED to have an American couple contact us and offer to allow us to stay at their apartment while we were in Moscow. If you've never priced hotels in Moscow, lemme tell ya...it ain't cheap. You can easily drop $200/night on a very modest hotel a good ways from the downtown area. The closer you get to Red Square, the more expensive it gets. So we took the American family up on their offer and we are so thankful we did! Not only did they give us an awesome place to stay, but we made new friends that will forever be a cherished part of Kirill's story and our lives. I just can't express how much they mean to us now!

Our friends' apartment in Moscow where we stayed

Like I said, if you find an awesome family, they can tell you lots of great places to visit and eat without breaking the bank. But if you don't happen to know an awesome family in Moscow, here are my suggestions:

You could visit St. Basil's...no, wait...you SHOULD visit St. Basil's and tour the inside:

Then, you could take a tour of the Metro Stations...because they are like mini-museums:

Greg and I found this statue to be our favorite because granny is packing some major heat.

Inside hall of a metro station...this one is actually kind of plain compared to some of the ones we saw.

Mass chaos that is the metro in Moscow

Then, you have to go shopping:

Izmaylovo Market where they sell a lot of handmade things...and some complete crap as well.

You might also need to find H&M to buy your new son some clothes!

 Are you hungry yet? If so, there are some good places to eat, contrary to popular belief:

Honey Cake

Outdoor cafe near our hotel. Yay English menus!

Japanese food with our new friends Inna and Dima. Inna translated our court documents! 

Stand where they sell a type of drink made from honey. The guy at the top is playing drums and the girl is dancing. 

 Make sure you see Red Square at night:

Take a walk by the river and play:

Our sweet American friends!

Tour Sparrow Hills for a fabulous view and to see the University of Moscow:

University of Moscow

 There's lots of great free music if you look around hard enough:

Harpist in a hotel lobby

And fantastic views:

Looking out onto Red Square from St. Basil's

You can even go hang out with dead people:

Novedichy Convent and Cemetary

Boris Yeltsin

Chillin' in the cemetary

Novodevichy Convent

There are crazy cat ladies everywhere I guess.

Novodevichy

 Then go to Gorky Park and meet the locals:

Walk down the river in the ritzy part of town and see some beautiful old buildings and monuments:

Visit the toy stores:

Greg LOVES Singamajigs!

Search for the nicest bathrooms (I also found the worst earlier at the cemetary, but I won't post that pic):

And find all the foreign embassies that you can because their buildings are usually pretty cool. 

French Embassy...actually this part is the French Ambassador's residence

We did a lot more stuff, but I am not patient enough to load all the pics. We ate some good Mexican food and also went to the American Medical Clinic...not in that order. HA! So if you're desperately in need of either one of those things like we were, I can give you the 411 on them. :)

This is all I can post tonight. I'm tired and I need to try to sleep before our boy gets here tomorrow morning! I want to post about our time in Pskov too because it's been lovely, but that will have to wait.

From Russia with Love,
Tesney