Well, we made it. Very painless I must say. The flight was fabulous. I rewrote my Migration card 3 times. I kept messing up. We couldn't figure out if we should put our entry day as the day on the visa or today, the real day.. we left it blank until we knew for sure. Then after all that worry, it was no different than going into the US. We sailed through immigration. Waited a little while for our bags, took the green "nothing to declare" isle for customs (because we really did have NOTHING to declare) and right infront of us was our name on a piece of paper being held by Tanya. They loaded us into the small small car. (side note: how will we ever fit in this car with a baby seat, extra baby luggage and goodness knows what else. ) And off we went. Here is the deal: Russia is really really green when not covered in snow!! It is beautiful from the sky and from the street. Simply amazing. Really it is just like any other city with a few cool buildings like St. Basils thrown in. But, what I love is how many parks are preserved. Not one huge park like in NY, but lots of parks all over. Like Atlanta or Dallas. It really gives it a comfortable feel. Not liked you are boxed in by all these huge buildings, and everything is wall to wall pavement. It is actually kind of homey.

It was a great time to drive around. Last Thursday was Russia day, so most city dwellers went to the country for a long 4 day weekend. There was hardly any traffic.Perfect for bopping all over town. Now, if only they would stay gone next week (except for the people who need to do my paperwork of various forms, they need to stay).

Once we dropped off our luggage and rinsed our bodies off (no time for a desperately desired shampoo) we headed out to see some of the top tourist sites. What I loved most was seeing brides all over the city. They get married in the churches like every 30 minutes on Saturdays. Then, the brides and the bridal party go all around the city taking pictures by land marks and giving the city the opportunity to see the bride's dress and wish the couple well on their big day. I just LOVED it. Their parents and family go to the reception hall and prepare for the kid's arrival. Instead of leaving gifts at the reception they leave them on their door step. They also include traditional breads, salt, and sweets along with the money and other presents. Don't you just love that. I am working on uploading lots of pictures. Just remember that I have slept 4 hours total in the last 48 hours. I feel as eww as I look. And I really want to wash my hair (wait, I said that already didn't I). We took very random pictures all over the city. So it is just weird collage of what we saw.

Now we are back in the room eating appetizers from the Club level lounge. I need to make a shopping list for tomorrow, but my eyes are getting blurried. We also need to focus on what to take on Monday and who is doing/saying what.

But, I think all that needs to wait.

Only one more day and then we find out who the MOE is going to refer us.

Paka!
Michelle