Part 1 of 4: The Road to Kirov

“Of course I am sure. You go tonight. You be in Kirov already tomorrow morning.” With those words, our well laid plans for our first Russia trip became irrelevant, and we stepped through the looking glass.

We left St. Paul on Sunday morning, the 13^th of June. Our first flight to Atlanta was uncomfortable but also uneventful. Upon leaving the gate on our Moscow flight, the power promptly failed, necessitating a return to the gate, and a wait of over an hour. Finally, we departed the US, and after a 10 hour flight (and 9 hour time change), we arrived in Moscow on Monday at approximately 11 AM.

Our original schedule had us resting in Moscow for just over 24 hours, and then traveling to Kirov Tuesday evening via train to arrive early Wednesday. Less than 3 hours into our hotel stay, the phone rang. It was Ilya, a representative from the adoption coordinators:

Ilya: “We will be there at 5 PM to pick you up.” (It was 3:30 at the time)
Kathy: “Today?!?!?!?”
Ilya: “Yes, you go to Kirov tonight”
Kathy: “Are you sure? We were told we were leaving tomorrow.”
Ilya: “Of course I am sure. You go tonight. You be in Kirov already tomorrow morning.”

We had been warned that plans could change quickly, once we arrived in Moscow. Even so, we were a bit grumbly that we would not be able to use the comfortable bed we had just used lots of Marriot Rewards points to purchase. Eventually we decided that meeting our little man a day early outweighed the value of a bed, and we were off. We showered quickly, re-packed our stuff, and headed out.

At the train station, we were introduced to another couple heading to Kirov to adopt, Cara and Gene (from Houston). They were traveling to adopt a 3 year old boy. Just before 7pm Monday evening, we boarded the train. Our driver Constantin gave us a few words of wisdom before the train took off:

1. Andre (our coordinator) would be in a room a few cars ahead of ours.
2. We should speak to the attendant if we wanted to lock our rooms while we went to eat dinner.
3. We would arrive in Kirov at approximately 7:50am the next morning, Andre would meet us on the platform at that time.
   
4. (This would prove to be most important) When using the bathroom, all paper products must be thrown in the trash.

With those words of wisdom, our 500 mile journey northeast to Kirov began.

The train ride itself was quite an adventure. For those familiar with the Harry Potter books, think “Hogwarts' Express.” We were lucky to have a Russian gentleman that spoke some English in the room next to us. He pointed out landmarks along the way, that we would not have noticed otherwise.

Since we were traveling very close to the summer solstice, the sun did not set until about 11 PM, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, sunrise was around 3 AM, a mere 4 hours after sunset. Along with the constant motion of the train, this made sleeping quite a challenge.

We were up early the next morning, ready to get off the train at the designated time of 7:50am. Fortunately, the nice man in the room next to us stopped us from exiting the train. What we didn’t realize was that the train had encountered some delays during the night, so our arrival in Kirov was postponed. Had he not stopped us, we would have gotten off the train a few towns (and approximately 75 miles) early! Cara and Kathy spent the next 90 minutes gazing longingly out the train windows, waiting to see Kirov roll in to view. Finally, at approximately 9:30 AM on Tuesday, after more than 14 hours on the train, we arrived in Kirov.

Tune in tomorrow for our next entry, meeting our son.