Rainy Day in Moscow

Picking up from where I left off yesterday afternoon…After I returned from McDonald’s, Jill was up from her nap. We decided to go looking for the German restaurant that others have recommended. Mia had told us that it was across the street past the Metro station. We walked past the Metro station which is a nice park-like area lined with stores and restaurants on either side. It was a nice walk, but none of the restaurants looked German, and none of the names per my ‘sounding them out’ sounded German at all. So, we gave up about the time it started getting windy and looked like it might rain opting to go back and eat in the hotel instead. Wade got the $18 club sandwich and fries and I got the $10 bowl of Borscht that was pretty much a ten dollar bowl of beef broth. The Borscht at the Horseshoe in Astrakhan had beef in it, chunks of potatoes, chunks of beets, and shredded cabbage, carrots and such; it was so good. This had some shredded vegetables in beef broth and that was it, very disappointing. After dinner we met up with another CHI couple. It turns out they are from Kansas City and they were both raised in the St. Louis area!!! What a small world! We chatted for a long time, then Wade went with them to the market to buy some bottled water while I put Jill to bed. Her bed here is not a crib like it was in The Korvet. It is actually a chair that pulls out like a pull-out couch and makes a twin bed. It’s the perfect size, but we were curious to find out if she would stay in it or get out whenever she wanted to. I helped her with pajamas, teeth brushing, and read her her favorite book; then I kissed her goodnight and patted her back a few times. She didn’t cry or fuss at all! I headed to the bathroom and soon heard her behind me. I told her ‘para spat’ (time to sleep) and ‘go back to bed’ motioning for her to go back. She Did! She went and climbed back into the bed and stayed there! This morning we met up with the KC couple for breakfast before the headed back home for their 10 day wait. We also went to the lobby to catch Mia before they all left to ask her for the name of the German restaurant. It’s something that starts with a K and sounds a little like kielbasa. While there the couple offered us one of their umbrellas since we didn’t bring one! How nice! Even though it was raining, we decided to head out to Arbat street (since we now had an umbrella) for some shopping. We met a couple that spoke English on the subway; the man was from Scotland and the woman from India. They were very nice. We got off at the same stop, but split up then. We didn’t go ‘up’ from our stop the same way my dad and I did on my first trip here, so we didn’t see the church that was my sign for which way to go to get to Arbat street. We walked around the block and still didn’t see it, so we asked someone who pointed us in the right direction. Finally, we found it! We did have a poncho that covered Jill and the stroller, I had my water-resistant jacket with a hood and Wade had his water-resistant jacket as well as the umbrella. The rain let up every now and then, and we had an enjoyable time strolling up and down both sides of the street going in and out of shops and looking at the various things the vendors in the middle were selling. We ate lunch at Sbarro’s Pizza. It was OK; it would have been much better if it had been hot, but it was barely even warm. I’m also not sure if it had any sauce on it. We found a closer Metro station right at the end of Arbat street and headed down. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that it was a different line. We figured this out only two stops in, got off, headed back two stops the other way and asked someone which way to go. She directed us to go one more stop and then change lines. We went one more stop, but weren’t sure how to change lines. We knew we needed the red #1, but were unsure of where that was. A man who spoke some English could tell we were trying to figure something out and stopped and asked us where we were wanting to go. We told him and he pointed us in the right direction, how nice!!! Then we got on and rode back to the hotel! So, in all of this Jill missed her nap. She seems to be doing okay, though, she was going strong until dinner, then had a few fits during dinner because we don’t like her to hold onto the prong end of the fork after each bite getting her hand all yucky, but for the most part she was fine. We did find the “German” restaurant and it was FANTASTIC! Wade had some kind of German beef and mutton sausage with sauerkraut (that he didn’t eat) and French fries, I had beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes, green beans and a salad. Jill ate a ton again! After having this HUGE piece of pizza and a banana this afternoon, she ate most of the tomatoes from my salad, about a third of my beef stroganoff with beef and mushrooms, an ice cream scoop size of mashed potatoes, and LOTS and LOTS of fresh green beans! Tomorrow is her doctor visit at 9am. Our American Embassy Interview is in the afternoon on Tuesday, then, we’ll head to the airport Wednesday morning; we’re very close!!!