Sunny Day in Moscow

We went nonstop today! First we enjoyed the excellent breakfast buffet that’s included with the cost of the hotel here, then we headed off for our 9am doctor’s appointment. While there we met a couple and their newly adopted three year old girl who are from Texas, another couple and their newly adopted 13 month old girl who are from New York and another couple with a newly adopted 13 month old girl who are from California! Jill’s appointment went fine; the only thing she didn’t like was when he looked in her ears. This made me think there may be something wrong with her ears, but he said they looked great! He did say that we need to see an ENT as soon as we get back to take care of her adenoids and tonsils. That’s why she can’t breathe! Ty had his adenoids out a few years ago, so we know just where to go! After the doctor’s visit we headed to the zoo! Mia had given us Metro directions; we followed them exactly and made it! This was trickier than our usual Metro outings because we had to change lines, but we did it! Actually, we had a little help. As they announced the stop for the zoo I said to Wade, “It’s the next one.” A lady overheard me and said, “Are you going to the zoo?” We told her yes and she said she was going that way and would show us where it was. That was very nice of her as there were two different ways out of the subway station and only one took you to the zoo. Also the zoo is a couple of blocks away from the station. So, we got to the zoo, took a few pictures and a little video outside, then went up to buy our tickets. There were a lot of people standing around looking through the gates, standing by the cashier booths, out front milling around, but there weren’t any people working at the cashier booths. There were workers inside the gates hosing down areas and sprucing things up, but the zoo did not appear to be open. I guess there wasn’t a sign up saying anything about them being closed because all sorts of Russian people were walking around looking as confused as we did! We decided to take a walk and look for something to eat, then come back and see if they had opened in the meantime. We saw a sign that said McDonald’s 1.5 km, so we headed in that direction. We ate at McDonalds then walked back to the zoo to find new people milling around the cashier booths looking confused. We also saw many adults walking away with some very disappointed looking children. We decided they must not be open today for one reason or another, so we headed back to the Metro station and figured out how to get to The Red Square. We took some pictures around St. Basil’s Cathedral, looked at the things vendors were selling around the square, and generally just strolled around taking in the sights. We went in GUM mall where no one I know could afford to buy anything, then went across from The Red Square to a normal mall. That was more fun to look through, although we still didn’t buy anything. Every store was either a clothing store, shoe store, or sold accessories like jewelry, hats, or purses. There were no household stores or Halmark type stores. We found that somewhat strange. It was only about 3:30 when we were pretty much finished looking around The Red Square area, so we got back on the Metro and went back to Arbat Street. We went back to a store we had been in yesterday, and I bought an amber necklace and earring set. Russia is famous for their amber. We also bought a small flag of Russia. I think I forgot to mention that we bought a handcarved chess set yesterday! Wade got a Euro 2008 T-shirt and a hat that says Russia yesterday, and today he bought a Hard Rock Café Moscow shirt after we ate dinner there. We split their huge plate of Nachos. Wade was so happy eating nachos and drinking iced tea-with ice! Jill ate an entire chicken fingers and fries kids meal with milk! As we headed back down the street to get to the Metro we ran into one of the couples we had met this morning at the doctor’s office; the ones from Texas! We chatted some more with them and found that we both have 2pm appointments at the American Embassy tomorrow! We told them our zoo story and said that we may try again tomorrow after our appointment. They asked if they could join us, so of course we said yes! So, now we’re back, Jill’s had her bath and is in bed, and we plan to sleep in tomorrow. Then, after the big breakfast buffet, we may look into the hotel pool before going to our 2pm Embassy appointment. After that we do hope to visit the zoo with the Texas family for the rest of the day and possibly join them for dinner. And then……..sleep, get up Wednesday, eat, go to the airport and begin our journey HOME!