Zdrastvootie Russia! Days 1, 2 & 3

Zdrastvootie!  We made it!  We've had a couple of "galactic travel days" - you might remember those from our first trip....Brandon named the endless days of travel "galactic travel days".  :)  We arrived in Moscow yesterday afternoon and had a whirlwind day today.  We're at the airport right now, and the wi-fi signal is a little spotty, so this may end up a short blog, with not many photos, but I wanted to be sure to check in!! **The wi-fi is being a pain so I will add photos once we get settled at our apartment tomorrow**

Our flights were relatively uneventful.  MUCH quieter than our trip in July, no Armenian dance troupe this time!!  We met our translator/facilitator at the airport, and received a quick tour/explanation about how to find the train station and stuff, because we needed that info for today - then headed to our hotel.  It was pretty cute.  Nothing fancy, the room was tiny - but sufficient for the night and included a shuttle AND dinner & breakfast.  We met a cute little kitty cat after dinner.  :)  It's REALLY cold here - and was dark until after 8 this morning.  Dinner was pretty good, a chicken stew, rice and salad.  Neither of us slept great last night - and were up at about 4 a.m. for the day.  We had an interesting breakfast of hot dogs, cabbage, and porridge - thankfully I was able to eat some bread and a hard boiled egg too! :) 

After breakfast we packed up our stuff and caught the shuttle back to the airport. We checked in for our flight tonight, and then dropped off our carry-on luggage at a luggage room.  We then took the express train to Moscow City Center, where we met Marina and headed to our medical exams.  The exams were extremely painless, and only slightly awkward. :)  We were seen by 8 specialists and they all gave their stamp of approval! :)  We were told to expect the exams to take about 6 1/2 hours - but we were done in 3 hours!!  Marina says "We are champions!"  :)  Since we finished early, we grabbed a late lunch, at Sbarro of all places. (Michael Scott's favorite place to get an authentic slice of NY pie....for you Office fans...) Then we headed to see Red Square, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  First of all it's amazing to be somewhere with SO much history, that's SO old.  And the buildings are STUNNING.  But, it was also FREEZING!!!  Oh man, if it's this cold here, I can only imagine how cold it's going to be in Siberia!!!  Oy!!!

After we were able to see some awesome things, we headed back to the train station via the subway, and headed back to the airport.  I actually slept on the train (35 minute ride) - I am so exhausted!!!  We picked up our bags at the luggage room, and headed on down to Terminal D, where we're waiting now for our flight to the girls' city.  We leave in about an hour and fly all night. (It's currently 8:36 pm in Mosocw - and 12:36 am in the girls' city.)  We arrive there at 6:10 a.m. and I'm not sure exactly what our day will look like tomorrow, but we start our visits with the girls tomorrow!!  Woo hoo!!! :) 

Once we're settled in our apartment (with a reliable wi-fi connection), I will add some photos to this post, because I know that's really all you want to see!! :)  Next stop....Siberia! :)