Trip 2, Night 18: The Train to Moscow

Saturday August 7th:

Kathy, Alan, and Aleks Carda board a train in Kirov, Russia. It's destination? Moscow. The following is an account of the 12 hour trip.

As mentioned in the last blog entry, our trip started out very hectic. Bags were strewn all over the cabin, there was a broken glass sitting on the table, and two people were getting their very first experiences as being parents.

To say that we were clueless would be an understatement. We did get the glass cleaned up quickly, and made sure there weren't any small shards around. Alan got one of the other fathers to help move the large bags into one of the upper bunks. This freed up a lot of space.

The three families spoke for a short time in the hallway, slightly in shock that the children were ours. However, once the train was moving and the air conditioning had kicked in, each family closed their door. We stayed that way most of the rest of the trip.

Aleks was able to entertain himself for a few minutes at a time with the toys that we had brought with us. However, with such a small space to work in, and with two nervous people watching his every move (and nearly panicking if he came close to the metal bed frame), he quickly grew bored and cranky.

We took turns holding him, which he enjoyed. Each bunk had a rail that held a hand towel. Soon Aleks was holding on to the rail, and attempting to pull himself up on it. That was when we first started to realize just how strong he was. He could barely stand, could not yet walk, but he was able to pull himself about 4" off of the bed, using his arm strength.

Eventually, it was time for bed and we started trying to figure out how sleeping arrangements would go. We originally planned on setting luggage around a bunk so it would be crib-like. However, seeing his strength convinced us that he could probably pull any luggage over. We didn't want it toppling on to him, so we gave him a pile of soft blankets on the floor. He seemed to be happy with this, as he could look into the full length door mirror while he was laying down.

Just as we thought he was settling down, he shifted while the train was accelerating or decelerating. He bumped his head (lightly) against part of the train. Surprise turned into crying, which turned into an amazingly loud wailing.

When we received Aleks' referral, it mentioned that he was calm. We weren't quite sure what that had meant at the time. Once we met him, we learned. All throughout our first 3 visits, Aleks never cried. Not once. One time he fell, and started to cry, but we were able to distract him. Therefore, by the time we got on the train, we had never heard Aleks' LOUD voice.

The wailing was loud. All through the train car, we could hear room doors opening as people wondered who was murdering the child in room #6. We tried to comfort him, but he was having none of it. We tried to rock him and get him to fall asleep, but the wailing continued. We realized that we were supposed to have given him a nighttime bottle feeding by this time, but hadn't. Our bottles were packed, brand new, and hadn't been cleaned yet. Uh oh.

Kathy left the room to see if the German couple had a bottle we could borrow, while Alan tried to comfort Aleks. It was a huge shock to find out that our calm, happy, giggly child had one heck of a loud whiny side. Rocking him didn't help, bouncing him didn't help. Alan tried turning the lights off to soothe him, which only made things MUCH worse. Somehow, Aleks found an extra 10 decibels of volume to scream at. Finally, much to Alan and Aleks' relief, Kathy returned with a bottle of formula. Aleks instantly went quiet, happily sucking on his bottle.

After the bottle, Aleks decided he was going to play for a little while before he went back to sleep. Fearing another loud outburst, we let him play for as long as he wanted. When he decided he had enough, there was little warning. He laid down on his blankets, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and was almost instantly asleep. Kathy went to sleep soon afterward, fearing that he would wake up in the middle of the night. She chose one of the bottom bunks, so that she would be just inches from the little man.

Alan had chosen a top bunk, so as wife and child were falling asleep, he moved up there. He read for a short time, then turned off his light. We left one of the cabin lights on for Aleks. It made sleeping a little more difficult for the adults, but it kept Aleks content.

Alan woke up the next morning, before either Kathy or Aleks. He was amazed, Aleks had slept most of the night through. Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as we thought it would be?

After about an hour, Alan heard something wet and sickening from the floor. Aleks opened his eyes, and gave a look that said he was very uncomfortable. Messy diaper. Knowing that the diapers we had bought were a bit big, and seeing the white railway blanket directly under Aleks, Alan jumped out of the bunk to check on the little guy. As he hit the ground, the smell hit him. Definitely messy diaper.

We were able to get Aleks changed before the diaper could leak, or Aleks could start to get fussy again. As we changed him, we realized it was a good thing the diaper was large. It was smelly and FULL. Alan took the diaper to a garbage in the hallway, and washed his hands. After he got back in, Kathy left to wash her hands and make Aleks another bottle for his morning feeding.

As Alan was bouncing Aleks on his knee, he again heard the wet sound emanate from Aleks' diaper. Say what? The little guy had just filled one diaper that was 2 sizes too big for him, and now he was going again 5 minutes later? Alan went to check, and sure enough, it was another large deposit. Since Kathy had changed diaper #1, Alan decided he'd better learn with #2.

Since we've had Aleks home, we've begun to learn the intricacies and variations of diaper contents. When said contents are larger or smaller than average, or the consistency changes, there is great debate within the household. Those of you without children are probably repulsed right now. How can someone spend so much time talking about poop? Those of you with children are just chuckling and nodding your heads.

By the time Kathy returned with a bottle, the room had become quite fragrant.
"Oh yuck, how does it smell even worse in here?"
"He had a second dirty diaper."
"NNOOOO."
"Yep. He deals in volume"
"Oh, I really hope that's not a sign of things to come"

After the morning feeding, we got Aleks dressed and ready to go. Our first night as parents had been relatively painless, except for our singed nostrils and watering eyes. As we were slowing down and moving through the outskirts of Moscow, we wondered if there was going to be rain. A thick fog hung over everything, and the color of the sky seemed to indicate that a storm was imminent.

We were able to depart the train after everyone else, so there was no rush to get all of our baggage out. As we got out, a pungent odor filled the air (that was NOT related to Aleks). It made Alan think of a combination of a forest fire, and an electrical fire. Alan asked our driver Ilya about this, he told us that there were underground fires surrounding the city.

We would learn much more about the fires over the next few days, keep tuned in to see how different Moscow was from our first few stops there.

Trip 2, Days 17 & 18: Paperwork, Passports and the Gotcha Day

Our last two days in Kirov were a blur of heat, paperwork, and preparation. We were quite exhausted by that time, so we did not do a lot or take many pictures during that time.

After having a chance to clean up at the hotel, we made our way back to the baby home. We were very happy to see Aleks that morning, as we knew that we were finally done with all of the hard work. He was our son, and we would be leaving for good the next night.

We played with the children in the morning, then went to lunch. Guess where we went to lunch? That's right, our favorite pizza place! Looking for something different, we tried their pasta. The pasta and toppings were good, but there was no sauce to go with it. Cooked pasta without sauce isn't very good.

In the afternoon, we alternated between playing with Aleks, and filling out paperwork. We practiced a lot more with the Baby Bjorn, and we also started getting information about Aleks' eating and sleeping habits. That day we also got Aleks' passport, which made it all seem very real. Finally, we made our way back to the hotel for the evening.

At the hotel, the three families decided to have dinner together in the hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant had turned off their AC for the evening. Where it had been warm but dry on our first visit, this time the temp inside was close to 95 degrees. Luckily there was a table just outside the restaurant, where the temp was only 85. We compensated by drinking lots of beer.

After dinner, we decided to celebrate with some additional alcohol. We brought out a bottle of Vodka we had purchased, while the Irish couple brought out a bottle of Bailey's. Somehow, the entire bottle of Bailey's was consumed in short order. The women discussed important topics related to raising our three new sons, while the men discussed alcohol, US presidents, US politics (neither of these topics were brought up by Alan), and the World Cup matches that were going on that month. After a relaxing night of drinking and camaraderie, we retired to our room.

Saturday August 7th dawned sunny and exciting. It was Gotcha Day. We had spent our last night in the Kirov hotel; that evening, we would be leaving for Moscow with our son. We wouldn't be going to the baby home until the afternoon, so we were able to relax in the morning.

Alan spent a fair amount of time in the hotel lobby, using the internet connection. While there, he saw the new American, German, and Irish couples checking in to the front desk. One of the couples were very rude to the people at the front desk. They weren't happy with the rooms they were booked in, and were throwing a bit of a tantrum about it. Alan figured we were probably in the room that they wanted, so he didn't say anything to them.

After another lunch at our favorite pizza place, we went shopping. The first shopping area was the local mall. There were some clothes and souvenirs purchased by the other couples; we didn't really see anything that we needed or wanted. Our second stop was at the "baby store". It was here that our translator loaded us up with all of the essentials that we would need for taking care of a small child. Dry food, wet food, cereal, tea, diapers, wipes; we left with two large bags, and with our wallets significantly lighter than they had been when we went in.

The afternoon session with the children seemed to drag on for a long time. The group overlap meant that there were 7 sets of adoptive parents, and 7 children crammed into 2 medium sized rooms. When you add in the extreme heat and humidity, along with the anticipation of leaving Kirov soon, it made time slow way down.

Finally, it was time for us to pack up and leave. We changed Aleks' out of his orphanage clothes, and into the clothing we'd brought for him. We said our goodbyes to his caretakers, and got some final photos with them. We said goodbye to our coordinator, driver, and translator, and thanked them for all of the work they had performed on our behalf while we were in the country. Driving away from the orphanage, it began to dawn on us: We were parents, and we were CLUELESS!

When we arrived at the Kirov train station, we received a pleasant surprise: the train to Moscow was a newer train. Each of our previous trips had been on the "old" train, so this was a nice change. There were more media options, the decor was much nicer, and the AC worked a lot better (and faster).

Alan's Gripe of the Blog:
I got so flipping frustrated getting onto and off of the trains (dealing with luggage). The hallways are no wider than a standard large bag, so it's a pain to get to your room. We had 2 large bags, 2 computer bags, 2 smaller bags, a child, and his bag. There is always a rush to get on the train, so I wanted to wait and load things slowly. Kathy was holding Aleks, so she stayed outside where it was cooler. My plan was to get on and off the train, loading one bag at a time. Unfortunately our coordinator decided to help, tossing our bags onto the train all at once. That meant our bags were blocking the hallways for everyone else. So I had to rush through the hallway, cramming the bags into the room. In the mad rush, I broke a glass sitting on the table in our room (broken glass and new parents aren't a good mix). Why the heck did he make me hurry up so dang much, the train doesn't leave for another 30 minutes!?!?!

With all of our baggage packed into the room, it was time to go. How would our first night as parents go? You'll have to wait to find out!

Trip 2, Day 16: 3 Cities, 2 Trains, and no luggage

Our last day in St. Petersburg started very early thanks to thunderstorms during the night. We had the windows open, due to the heat and humidity the night before. The pounding rain rattled off the tin roofs of the surrounding buildings, and the thunder boomed through the courtyard. As the morning came, the sun came out. It was much cooler than it had been the past few days, finally approaching a comfortable heat and humidity level. Our train did not leave St. Petersburg until 1pm, so we were able to have a leisurely breakfast, and read while waiting for our transportation.

During our two trips, we each spent a lot of time reading. Kathy mostly stuck with her favorite genre, TRN (Trashy Romance Novels). She also used "Eat, Pray, Love" as a sleeping aid. Alan decided to spread his choices across a few genres. He read books 4, 5, 6, and 7 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. He also read two Dan Brown novels, two Steve Berry books, and the first two Stieg Larsson "The Girl" books. Lots of free time meant lots of reading.

Once our driver arrived, we made our way to the train station. We were happy to board the train, and head back to Moscow. Our second trip on the "fast train" was fairly sedate; we knew that we were going to have a hectic 90 minutes in Moscow before we left for Kirov, so we rested.

Around 5pm, we arrived in Moscow. As we got off the train, we quickly realized that the rain and cooler temperatures had NOT made it to Moscow. It was nearly 100 degrees as we exited the train. Our mountain of bags trailed us out of the train berth, through the train station, down a flight of stairs (NOT FUN), out to the sidewalk, and then 1/4 mile to the coffee shop on the opposite side of the station. That was where we would be meeting our coordinator, his son, and the two other couples we had made our 2nd trip with. We were nervous making our way over, as we knew that the other train was scheduled to leave by 7pm, and our coordinator had our tickets.

When we arrived at the coffee shop, we discovered two things. First: We were the first to arrive. Good news! Second: There was no place for us to sit downstairs. Bad news. The idea of lugging our bags up a narrow flight of stairs to a smoking room (for 10 minutes) was not appealing, so Alan volunteered to stay outside with the bags. Soon, the German couple arrived with our coordinator's son Ilya. They relayed some bad news: The Irish couple's luggage had not arrived in Moscow, so they would not have any supplies for the next 3 days!

A few minutes later, they arrived. Sure enough, they had made their transfer in Hamburg, but their luggage did not. They now faced a 12 hour train ride on a very hot and humid train without a change of clothes. As we made our way to the rail car, all of the families loaded up on water, snacks, and soda. With the heat beating down on us, I believe we each bought 2-3 liters of liquid per person.

After settling in our rooms, we looked for offerings we could make to our Irish friends. Alan lent a pair of shorts, Kathy lent some of her shirts. The German couple also found some clothing they could lend, so no one would get too overheated. We visited for a short time, talking about all of the adventures that we had encountered in the nine days since we had separated. Their experiences were much different from ours, as each of them had been able to return home, and even work for a few days.

The ride to Kirov that night was surreal. The heat inside the train was oppressive; the first two hours of travel felt like riding in a sauna. Outside of our train, the sky was streaked with many unnatural colors. This was caused by the setting sun, and the fires moving through the countryside. In addition, we swore that our train took a different path from our previous trips. In each of the 4 previous rides, there was a large town that we stopped in about 2 hours outside of Moscow. On this trip, the large town appeared much later, and was not laid out anything like the other. In addition, at one point we passed a very high, long bridge that crossed a river. The bridge was strung with red, blue, and white lights along it's entire length.

In the morning, we quickly gave ourselves baby wipe showers (not particularly effective or fun) and made our way to the Kirov hotel for the last time. With all of the tension of traveling and court complete, there was a lot of joking going on in the van. Our coordinator Andre (who did not speak or understand much English) was howling with laughter after Alan acted out a joke about Andre's wife only being happy to see him until after he gave her everything in his wallet.

At the hotel, we learned that there would be 4 more families arriving in Kirov the next morning. They would be coming in for their 2nd trip. It was very odd to finally be the veteran families, who knew what to expect, and where to go.

Next up: Paperwork, Passports, and Gotcha Day

Trip 2, Day 15: Pushkin, Catherine Palace and a Naval Tour

When last we visited the story, Alan drank 3 glasses of soda at the local fast food restaurant. By the time we made it back to our apartment, he was regretting the decision. He realized that although he had built up a tolerance to Moscow tap water and ice cubes, St. Petersburg water had a bit funkier smell (most likely coming from the many canals and rivers running through the city). Soda fountains typically use tap water that is run through a carbonation machine, then mixed with the syrup. UH OH.

It was a long night, and Alan was extremely worried he wouldn't be able to venture out to Catherine Palace the next day. After a visit to the Apteka (drug store), he decided to risk it.

Once we arrived in Pushkin, we walked about 1/2 mile to reach the gates of the palace. We could see the iconic Blue and Gold building ahead of us, but it seemed like we were going around it, rather than directly to it. Our assumptions were correct. The palace is not laid out like the rest of the city, running at an angle to everything else.


Apparently, to allow everyone equal time to visit, they separate local and international groups entrances and times


We were happy to hear that we would be allowed to take pictures inside the palace. The first room we entered was the ballroom. Seeing the decorations, patterned wooden floors, and paintings in the room were very interesting, as were the stories. Apparently, wealthy Russians like to rent out the room for wedding receptions; Elton John has played private shows there many times over the years.

About 2/3rds of the way through the tour, we saw the room Alan had been waiting for. The Amber Room. After watching 2 hour long HD specials on the room, seeing it in person wasn't as impressive. However, it's hard to have a chance to be impressed when you are confined to a 4ft wide by 15 ft long section with 40-50 other people, and are given 30 seconds to view the room before being herded on to the next area.

With walls covered in pieces in decorative patterns, the Amber Room is one of the ongoing mysteries of World War II. The Russians were unable to evacuate the walls of the room before the Germans invaded. Yet somehow during the occupation, the Germans tore down the walls and transported them out of Russia. Somehow, the knowledge of where these gigantic sections of Amber were located was lost. Through large donations from the German and Russian governments, the walls have been recreated.

Another room we visited was more disturbing than impressive. One of the dining rooms was labeled the Hunting Room. A long dining table was laid out, but on all of the walls of the room, large paintings gave an eerie feel. They were scenes of deer, rabbits, and birds laid out on tables, dead but not yet field dressed. Very odd.

The final stop on our tour of Catherine Palace was a museum dedicated to documenting the restoration process. There were many photographs and paintings of the destruction left after World War II, along with the reconstruction process. It was a stark contrast between the burned out shell found by the Russians 65 years ago, and the beautiful restoration that exists today.

Outside the palace, we wandered through the many gardens and buildings on the palace property. There were many places to visit, but between the heat, the dehydration, and the pace we had set for the previous 3 days, we decided not to explore too much.

On our way back to the city, we passed many monuments and statues commemorating battles during the siege of World War II. I believe we may have passed the only remaining statue of Lenin in the city. It seems many residents are eager to forget the days of Stalin and Lenin. Today, very few monuments remain.

Once we returned to our apartment, we rested for a few hours. The weather was starting to change, and we wondered if our final plans would be canceled. We ate another fabulous dinner at our favorite restaurant, and then made our way to one of the canals.

Our final tour of St. Petersburg was by boat. Since so much of the city is made of canals, boat tours are able to show nearly every landmark of the city. We found a tour for English speakers, and off we went. The first thing that we noticed was how gritty the tour was. Since the streets were at a higher level than the water in the canal, all of the sand was blown into our faces. Most places were fine, but there was one area where the wind was very strong.

When our boat reached the Neva River, we suddenly felt very SMALL. The river is close to 1 mile wide at that point, so many large boats travel freely back and forth. Our 40 seat tour boat was tossed around a bit, luckily neither of us get seasick. Despite this, we had a great time on the boat, and would gladly take the tour again. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and had a very good sense of humor.

By the time we had returned to our dock, the weather was clearing up some. Since we still had a few hours of sunlight left(gotta love being within a few hundred miles of the Arctic Circle) we decided to walk to the Church on Spilled Blood.

Along with St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, this is one of the most easily recognizable "Russian" style churches. Built on the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander II, this site was more of a monument than functioning house of worship. As we toured the outside of the building, we noticed a mural that looked like Jesus flipping the double bird. Alan was more amused than Kathy was.

Our final stop before heading back to the apartment was Kazan Cathedral. We were both completely exhausted by this point, so we satisfied ourselves with taking pictures, and agreed that we'd check it out on our next trip back. Neither of us have any doubt that we will return, as visiting St. Petersburg has become a highlight of both our lives.

Since we were still about a 30 minute walk, we decided to venture into the subway system for the first time. Although not as extensive as the Moscow subway, St. Petersburg has a system that runs 6 or 7 lines. Unfortunately for us, these lines mostly avoid the historical areas. So in all of our walking around the city, this was the first time that riding the subway would be quicker than just walking there.

As we entered the subway station, we purchased our transit coins. I believe the trip cost a little over $1 US for the two of us. We dropped our coins into the slot, and made our way to the escalator. As residents of a city without subways, we weren't quite sure what to expect.

Impression #1 - This escalator was MUCH steeper than we expected. #2 - It took longer than we expected. Some of the stations are 325 feet deep!

Once we were underground, a train quickly arrived to take us to our apartment. We made our way back above ground (sighing in relief that the power didn't go out as it had a few days before), and walked the short distance to the apartment. We were a bit sad, as we would be leaving St. Petersburg the next day. However, we were also happy: We would be heading back to Kirov, to get our little guy!

Trip 2, Day 14: Peterhof, St. Isaac's, Hermitage, and Disaster at Carls Jr.

Tuesday morning, we departed on our 2nd tour in St. Petersburg, Peterhof. Built as a vacation palace for Peter the Great, Peterhof was located about 40 minutes outside of the city, on the Baltic Sea.

We met our tour guide for the day, Ivyetta. She was much older than our guide from the previous day, and had a very different outlook on Russia, and the former Soviet Union. Ivyetta was in her mid-60s, and it was fairly evident that she had been a member of the Communist Party back in the day. As we drove through the city, she pointed out many monuments, praising "the spirit of the working people", and speaking of the great architectural marvels built during Stalin's reign. We just listened and nodded.

On our way to Peterhof, we passed a palace that (former President and current Prime Minister) Putin had rebuilt in the early 2000s. It was intended as the Russian Presidential Palace, so it was currently in use by Medvedev. However, we got the impression from Ivyetta that Putin really wants his palace back.

Our first view of the palace was the cathedral (the first picture). Words and pictures cannot come close to describing how vibrant these buildings are in real life. In the bright morning sunshine, the gilded spires seemed to reach out to the sky. The day was starting to heat up, but we were very excited to see the inside of the building.

Waiting outside, Ivyetta navigated her way through large tourist groups, taking us to the front of the line. Alan's Minnesota blood was cringing at cutting in line, but as a small group, we got priority. Unfortunately, there was a "no pictures" policy inside the palace. So while we went through one amazing room after another, we were unable to take pictures of them. However, if you Google "Peterhof Palace Interior", you can see what we saw.

After our tour inside, we were led through a number of small gift shops. We stopped to buy a DVD and some books, and were amused when our tour guide received a receipt also. Soon after, she showed us where the restrooms were, and told us we would meet up again in 5 minutes. With that, she took off like a streak, back to the gift shop (to get her commission, I'm sure).



Once we were done with our palace tour, we were given a few hours to walk the upper and lower gardens. This was where Peterhof became very impressive. Hundreds of fountains and ponds are laid out in geometric patterns behind the palace. The 2nd picture shows the grand staircase, descending to an extremely symbolic fountain of Sampson (aka Peter the Great) prying open the jaws of a lion (the King of Sweden, whom Peter defeated in battle when St. Petersburg was founded).

As impressive as Peterhof was, it suffered greatly during the 20th century. During the Siege of Leningrad, both Peterhof and Catherine Palace (tomorrow's trip) were captured by the Germans. Most of the artwork and furniture inside were evacuated, but the statues and the building were not. The Germans destroyed much in the 3 years they occupied the area, smashing statues, cutting down trees, even gutting and burning down part of the palace. The cathedral that is so beautiful from the outside, is still being renovated on the inside. The German soldiers used it as stables for horses.

Eventually, it was time to leave. On our way out of the city of Peterhof, we stopped at a small orthodox church to take a picture. Churches of this style are found ALL OVER Russia, but we felt compelled to stop at every one we could. The stylish exteriors just called to us.

Once we returned to the city, we asked our tour guide to drop us off at St. Isaac's Cathedral. This worked well for everyone, as our apartment was much deeper into the city than they needed to go. Although we had already been sightseeing for 6 hours, we were very excited to see St. Isaac's up close.

There are two different areas you can tour at St. Isaac's. The one most people choose is the interior, where you walk through the church's interior. We also chose to climb the 300+ steps up to the dome exterior. This climb provided us an impressive 360 degree view of the city.


Although Alan has an intense fear of heights, most of the 300 steps are in an enclosed circular stairwell. There wasn't anything to compare to, so the only worry was keeping up with the crowds in front of and behind us. The last 30 steps were a different matter. They were in a metal cage, rising at a very steep angle above the building. The stairs were metal grates with nothing below, so we could see the building drop with each step we took. Not surprisingly, the trip back down was worse.

Inside the cathedral, we marveled at the Stone Columns, the painted frescoes, and the gilded statues that filled the building. We didn't think that church services would have been good there; with such a large open space, and so many columns, most of the building would be considered "Obstructed View".

After getting our fill of St. Isaac's, we decided that we had time to visit one more historic location. The Hermitage is one of the largest art museums in the world, housing MILLIONS of items. Knowing that we had less than an hour before the museum closed, we decided instead to enjoy the immense plaza, and admire the exterior of the building.

Finally, it was time to head back to our apartment. We hadn't planned well for food that day; Kathy had skipped breakfast, we did not have a chance to eat lunch, and snacking had been sporadic and spread out. On our walk back, we decided to stop someplace that we don't have an opportunity to visit in Minnesota: Carl's Jr.

No, it wasn't authentic Russian. We really didn't care. As we walked in and saw the signs advertising Bacon Cheeseburgers, Fries, etc., our mouths were watering. Kathy was very excited to find that fast food restaurants in Russia serve beer. So while she was happily sipping away at her beer, Alan filled his soda cup.

Ah, the taste. So sweet, so cold. Soft drinks in Russia are usually served warm, still in the bottle. Ice is provided only by request, and some servers give you "the look" if you do. Filling one of those cheap paper cups with ice, and letting the soda spray into it made Alan very happy. So happy that he drank 3 full glasses of soda while they were in the restaurant.

BAD IDEA. (To be continued)

Trip 2, Day 13: Our St. Petersburg City Tour

August 2nd:


Monday morning, we started our day with (what we thought would be) a quick hike to the apartment rental agency. The primary reason we were visiting the agency was so we could register our visas. In Russia, you are required to register each place you visit. Since we were there for such a long time, and stayed in so many places, this meant that we registered 4 times. Unfortunately, registration is not a cheap process.

On our way there, we stopped and took pictures in front of a very large monument to Catherine the Great. This picture gives a pretty good perspective, even though I was still standing about 20 feet in front of the statue.

On our way we walked through Gostiny Dvor, which is a gigantic open air mall, built in the 1750s. Kathy was tempted to stop, but we were on a timeline. At 1pm, we would embark on our city tour!

After returning to the apartment to freshen up, we made our way to a nearby "hotel" to be picked up for our tour. When we got there, we realized that the Russian interpretation of hotel is much different. We went into one of the courtyards (described in the last blog entry), and saw a sign on a door, tucked back into a corner of the building. This seemed odd to us, as there were many entrances that looked like they would have been better suited to hotel lobbies.

As we got to the door, all we saw were stairs, leading upwards. Interesting. So, we began to climb. The hotel was a locked, secured door, branching off of the stairway on the 4th floor. We rang the bell, were let in, and entered a hotel lobby about the size of an average living room. There was a smoking lounge, and then stairs leading up to the rooms.

Eventually, our tour guide for the day met us. Olga was a petite woman in her 30s with lots of energy and (we would find out later) very talented walking in high heels. She led us downstairs to the vehicle, and off we went.

Our first stop of the day was the plaza in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral. While the plaza was interesting, our focus was solely on the cathedral. Even with all of the large buildings and statues we had already seen, the size of this place was overpowering. We had a few minutes to walk around, so we took many photos, and made the commitment that we would come back before we left the city.

Next up was the cathedral of St. Nicholas. Luckily I had decided to wear jeans on our tour; the cathedral was an operating orthodox church, so guests wearing shorts were turned away. Inside, pictures were forbidden, and tourists were confined to a fairly small section of the cathedral. We spent only a short time inside, instead focusing our attention on the details outside.

As the day progressed, we visited a number of other landmarks in the city. The sphinx Olga and I are standing in front of is on a walkway bordering the Neva River. This sphinx (and it's identical twin) were imported from Egypt by Peter the Great. We also stopped at the Rostral Columns (lighthouse shaped monuments), Peter the Great's summer cabin, and a canal bridge designed by the company that made the Eiffel Tower.

Our next stop was the focus of our city tour, the Peter and Paul Fortress. Built on a small island in the river, this fortress was the first permanent structure built in what would become St. Petersburg. Olga gave us a wonderful tour through the fortress, navigating the entire time on rough cobblestone streets. Our feet were extremely sore by the end of the day, how she managed on 2" heels, we weren't sure.

The inside of the Fortress Cathedral was very impressive. It contains the tombs of most of the last line of Russian Czars, the Romanovs. Peter, Catherine, Paul, Alexander and their families each had tombs encased in marble. Kathy was a bit unnerved by the thought of it, but Alan enjoyed the visit.

We also got to see the prison cells, which housed political prisoners until the Bolshevik revolution. The cells did not have any heating or air conditioning, so summers and (especially) winters were extremely difficult for the prisoners.

The final stop on our tour of the city was the Church on Spilled Blood. This cathedral was built on the exact spot where Czar Alexander I was assassinated. We did not spend long here, as there were thousands of tourists swarming the church. Again, Kathy and I agreed that we would come back later in the week, to see the church on our own schedule.

That evening, we ventured out to find a Georgian restaurant that Kathy had read about in one of our travel guides. The Cat Cafe was very small. Situated in the basement of an apartment building, it looked like they had knocked the walls out of two apartments, squeezed in a kitchen, bar, and 8 tables, and decided that was good enough. The food was good, and there was lots of it. Kathy's order of Pelmini consisted of 6 egg-size dumplings, along with sides. We were sad we did not get a picture, as the size and decorative style of this restaurant was quite unique.

With full bellies and spinning minds, we retired to our room, ready for another long day of sightseeing.

Trip 2, Day 12: The Road to St. Petersburg

August 1st:

Finally, the day had arrived to leave for St. Petersburg. We were anxious to get going, as we had many exciting adventures planned there. Also, our confinement to two small rooms for 5 days had left us stir crazy. After one final round of souvenir shopping (Alan found a set of Minnesota Vikings nesting dolls), it was off to the train station.

A Brief History of the St. Petersburg Trip
When Alan was in high school, he took a Russian History class in his junior year. He was fascinated by the Romanov family, and especially the history of St. Petersburg. During that year, history was being made as the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Russians revolted against the Soviet Regime, and World Communism took a major blow. Alan swore that if he ever had the chance, he would visit St. Petersburg. Fast forward 19 years, it was time to cross off a bucket list item.

At the train station, we wondered what the train to St. Petersburg would be like. Our experience with the Kirov train was mostly negative, so we were hopeful this trip would be better. To maximize our time in the city, we had chosen to ride the "fast train". We were leaving Moscow at 1pm, and arriving at 5:45. The slow train left at midnight and took 8 hours to arrive.

Once we boarded the train, we were very happy. The seats are very comfortable, and there is plenty of space between you and the seat ahead. All announcements were made in both Russian and English, and there was a digital readout at the front of the train, telling us how fast we were going. Although we never hit the max speed of 250km/h (155 mph), we did stay around 200 most of the trip.

We both enjoyed that the trip was during the day. Much of our Kirov journey was overnight, so we didn't get to see the Russian countryside for very long. We made 4 stops on the way, with people boarding and exiting the train at each stop. We also had an excellent meal while aboard the train. The service was very friendly and efficient, and we both felt that the US airlines could learn a few things from them!

As the clock hit 5:45, our train arrived in St. Petersburg. We were a bit nervous, as the parts of the city we had seen coming in by train were not very impressive. Our driver met us outside the gates, and soon we were making our way to our apartment on Nevsky Prospekt (the main street in the city).


Getting to our apartment was an interesting process. Each "building" was typically the size of a city block, with an interior courtyard for parking. There was a gated entry off the main street, with a guard posted during the day. Inside the courtyard, there were many different businesses, some of which stayed open late. We believe that one of our apartment windows shared an alleyway with a nightclub. Lucky us!

Once we were settled in to the apartment, we decided to go exploring the city. We had tours scheduled each of the next 3 days, but had left ourselves the first night to explore on our own. We left the apartment with a map and a generic plan, and we hit lots of interesting sites.

Our first stop was one of the many canals that run through the city. We noticed that there were lots of canal boat tours, including some that were for English speaking visitors. We decided that if we had time, we would go on one of these tours during our visit.





As we walked along the canal, we came across a very unique doorway.
















Here is the Circus building, much fancier than any big top traveling circus that we are used to.







Soon we arrived at the Engineer's Castle. Emperor Paul I had this castle built, because he was paranoid that there was a conspiracy to kill him and take the throne. 41 days after he moved in, he was assassinated. Guess he had the right idea, but the wrong implementation.


On our way back to the apartment, we decided to try a Georgian restaurant that Kathy noticed. Unfortunately, we couldn't read the sign posted on the door that said "Closed, Private Party". So we walked in on a birthday party, "oops!", and quickly made our way back out.

After returning to the apartment, we decided to go to a nearby traditional Russian restaurant that our driver had suggested. It was very, very good. Alan had lamb skewers that were incredibly tasty, Kathy had Stewed Beef that was also very good. The best part of the restaurant was that they served Baltika beer by the liter - pitchers of beer are typically not available. So Kathy was very happy (both before and after we drank 2L of beer).

We were eager to do some more exploring the next day, including our first tour, City Tour (with Peter & Paul Fortress). See you tomorrow!