What a difference a day makes

Moscow Day 2: I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine, a nice welcoming since all I have seen this trip has been a lot of clouds and rain. Let me take you to what happened yesterday. Tyler, Ava and I walked down to the Kremlin to find that it was closed on Thursdays, bummer, so we decided to walk Old Arbat street. This is a pedestrian walk way with a lot of shops and souvenier places and restaurants. The weather was about 45 degrees and it had a crisp wind. I was a little chilly and Avas hands were cold, she wouldn't keep the blanket on her. We walked the whole street and found a place to eat at, it had a Cow in front of it. It was really crowded and it is like a cafeteria style place where you point and get what you want. Well the problem is, we really didn't know what any of the food was and the people working really didn't have any english. We did the best we could and Tyler ended up with a good selection. I was a little bit more picky and ended up with soup and a salad. It was an OK meal, not great. We left there and ended up walking to the end of Old Arbat, there was a McDonalds, it was the first one opened here in Moscow. It was quite large and since I was still hungry we went inside. The menu was a little different here than in the states, I asked for an english menu, and then I pointed to what I wanted. I got a cheeseburger, fries, and a hot fudge sundae. I gave Ava one of my fries and she did not like it. She doesn't seem to like texture of things yet. We gave her some of the sundae and at first she made a really funny face again, but then she ended up liking it. I don't think in the orphanage they ever gave her anything cold. Everything she eats has to be warmed. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at a grocery store. It was really nice. I mean really nice. We decided to buy our dinner and eat it at the apartment. We came back and relaxed basically the rest of the night. We did go out to go across the street and visit the toy store. It was a little like a small Toys r Us.

Today however we wanted to get to the Kremlin early since we didn't have a lot of time. We needed to be back and ready to go to the Embassy by 1:15. We bought our tickets and wanted to go into the Armory. We had a difficult time finding the right entrace to get into the armory. This place is huge, nothing marked in English, and no one will help you find your way. It's a good thing that I am a pushy kinda person, because I just kept asking and asking. I think Tyler was a little embarrassed of me, but hey I found the place and he didn't. The armory is spectacular. There is so much to see and so much to know that your head starts to spin after a while. Considering I did a really good job understanding history in St. Petersburg, it was a whole new thing to learn more here. My favorite rooms in the Armory are the "Coach" room, which held all the coaches that Katherin the Great rode in. They were BEAUTIFUL! Works of art in evey detail. Then the second room I liked was the room that held all the beautiful Ball Gowns, and Innunciation Gowns. The detailing on the dress is just remarkable. To think that they would only wear the gown one time, thats it, no more. It would takes months and months to make and then its over after just one night.

We made it thru the rest of the Kremlin, the flowers in the garden were beautiful. I wished I had more time to see all of it, but since we were in a hurry we rushed thru that part.

We made it back, ate a quick bite, and then we were off to the embassy. The embassy is really no big deal. You go to a number of windows, pay your fee, take it to the next window, raise your right hand, swear that all details are correct. Wait about 15 minutes, pick up your sealed envelope, go home.

After we had Michael drop us off in front of Red Square. It is closed today because they are getting ready for the big parade. Huge bummer, I really wanted to take our picture in front of St. Basils. We walked a long time, around the baracades to come out by the "Gum" pronounced goom. It is a huge indoor mall, really beautiful with all high end shops. We walked thru it, to get out the other side, and wa la, we saw St. Basils. It was the back side of it, but none the less. I had Tyler take our picture. We walked all the way home, which was far and now we are resting. I think for dinner, we will go to TGI Fridays. I am tired of not knowing what any thing says, so I'm longing for home.

Tomorrow, we get picked up at 4:00 a.m. to make our plane trip HOME!

I'm clicking my heels, and saying, THERES NO PLACE LIKE HOME! THERES NO PLACE LIKE HOME! THERES NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

Outside of the Kremlin,

flowers in the shape of the

St. Basils Cathedral peaks

Flower Garden inside the Kremlin

GUM shopping mall

St. Basils Cathedral

Back side of it

Shoes that the women wear here

how about this style ?????

Our apartment building