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After depositing DW and I at our Moscow lodgings, we called a Muscovite acquaintance named Valentina. We know Valentina from when she formerly lived in Chicago. Within about an hour Valentina met us and we set out to see some of the sights of Moscow.

First, it was about 1:30 in the afternoon and we were hungry. Near our lodgings we stopped at a Stardogs (Старdog!s) booth on the corner of Tverskaya ulitsa and Kamergersky perulok and bought a couple of sausage sandwiches. With spicy mustard and baked onions, this was one of the highlights of our trip. I’d almost go back to Moscow just to get another one of those sandwiches. I’ve posted photos below so if you’re interested, you can easily locate one of Stardogs many locations.

We then headed to Red Square. One of the things I like about Moscow is the pedestrian tunnels that run underneath the major streets. Because of this there are few stoplights and it helps make traffic run a little better. It’s still bad, but I can’t image what it would be like with more stop lights. Walking about we did not need to wait for lights to change nor risk becoming a target for one of the Moscow drivers who appear to disdainfully regard pedestrians as sporting targets.

We walked to Red Square, then around the Kremlin perimeter by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Moved on to the Kremlin tourist office about going on a guided tour, but we could not get one. It was late in the day and Russian schoolchildren were on holiday so it was very busy. We strolled south to the road by the Moscow River, east along the river, and then back north toward St. Basil’s Cathedral. As we walked north approaching St. Basil’s, we had a good view of the Rossiya Hotel and the square to just east of the Kremlin where wedding traditionally parties stop after weddings to toast and congratulate the couple. We stopped for some exterior shots of St. Basil’s and then moved west, back into Red Square to Lenin’s tomb. A few more photos and we crossed Red Square to enter the GUM mall. I’ve posted several photos of these locations below.

We stayed briefly at the GUM where I suggested to Valentine that we stop for some refreshments. Valentina insisted that we join her at her new apartment for drinks. So we left the GUM and headed for Valentina’s apartment. I’ve also posted some GUM photos below too.

Velentina’s apartment is well outside of Moscow’s city center in suburb called Sherbenka. We hopped on the dark green Metro line and headed south for the Tsaritsino Station. From there we transferred to an electrical commuter train comparable to the Long Island Rail Road in New York, the Metra in Chicago, or the Marc in DC. The most remarkable thing on the commuter train is the vendors who walk from car to car hawking goods of every kind from sun glasses to potato pot pies. At first I though their announcement was something official from conductor or the militia. Then I looked up to see a babushka with a large tote bag containing her inventory. Each of them has their presentation down to a science too. When one moves on to the next car, the next vendor moves in. After about another 15 minutes we reached the Sherbenka Station, disembarked from the train, went to a little shop nearby to buy chicken and bread and then started walking to Valentina’s apartment. Below are some photos of the metro station, metro and commuter trains.

After a ten minute walk over icy and snowy trails, we arrived at Valentina’s apartment building. We took the elevator to her floor, got out and headed to her apartment. Because she has yet to move all of her belongings in, her apartment was still sparsely furnished. Nice place however. About ten minutes later Valentina’s son Oleg arrived to join us. Valentina brought out photo albums and DW, Oleg, and I sat down at the kitchen table to peruse them while Valentina prepared dinner. The table was filled with a sumptuous spread of bread, cheese, wine, and a bottle of Moscow Russian cognac.

Soon dinner was served. A mix of chicken and bread with, to quote the movie Meatballs, “some kind of meat” on top of it. I think it was pork, but I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure. To ensure we did not affront our hostess, I dug in heartily. The entrée was followed by a dessert of very tasty Russian chocolates and served with tea. Valentina insisted on fortifying my teas with more cognac. I did not oppose her efforts.

Then in the middle of dessert my mobile phone rang. It was a representative from our agency in Moscow calling to ask where we were and tell us of our new plans to meet a new referral candidate. She said she had been calling our lodgings and my mobile phone trying to contact us. First, she was shocked when I told her we were in Sherbenka. “What are you doing there?” she asked. I explained we had acquaintances that lived there and we were visiting them and sitting and talking around the kitchen table like ordinary Russians frequently do. Most of the families our agency sends do not go off to remote suburbs and I think she was concerned that something would happen to us and our agency in the US would hold her responsible. Well nothing happened, except DW and I got to meet with acquaintances we had not seen for a long time and avoiding the tension of being cooped-up in our lodgings waiting for the phone to ring.

Our agency representative told us that the next evening we would catch 9:35 plane from Moscow to Orenburg where they had a new referral for a little boy. A short while later another agency representative called from the US to repeat this information and to elaborate. She said that there was also a potential candidate in Ekaterinburg, but we would not be able to see him at the earliest until the following Thursday. Because it was still Saturday, she suggested, and DW and I concurred that it would be better to meet a little boy in Orenburg than to stay in Moscow waiting. We were excited and cautiously optimistic that our fortunes may have finally reversed.

Allow me to digress here to say a quick word about getting a mobile phone that operates in Russia. In our circumstances it really helped. I could communicate with our agency in the US, our coordinators, drivers, IA physicians, family, etc. whenever I wanted and likewise they had convenient access to me. Their being able to call us in Sherbenka expedited our moving on to a new phase while at the same time giving us freedom to go out and do things which preserved our sanity. There are two recent threads on Russian mobile phone service and I urge those preparing to travel to have a read of it. Here are links: http://forums.adoption.com/showthread.php?t=180665&highlight=phone and http://forums.adoption.com/showthread.php?t=188949&highlight=phone.


Here are a few other suggestions about convenient communication while in Russia. First, you may be able to get a better price on a Russian network SIM card and re-charge cards through Andrei Belitsky at Peace Travel (http://www.go-russia.com/index.htm#contact). He can deliver your SIM card and re-charge cards to you when you arrive in Moscow.

Second, if you plan to use a Russian land line, be aware that their phone use pulse, not touch-tone dialing. Consequently, you cannot interact with a touch-tome service menu where you are calling. Only some phone are dual pulse and touch-tone that allow you to dial the destination number in pulse mode, then allow you to switch to touch-tome after your call connects switch. Alternatively, you can buy a “pipper” at Radio Shack that you can hold up to a pulse handset and enter touch-tone commands if you are not using a dual phone. I plan to get a pipper for my next trip. Third, consider using a “call-back” service to reduce your calling costs. You dial a number, let it ring once, hang up, and then the service calls your mobile phone back. Then using your keypad, you enter the number you wish to dial. The beauty is that your mobile phone network charges you at the lower “incoming” rather than “outgoing” call rate. I used a service called Global Phone (https://www.gphone.com) and was very pleased.

Now back to our feature presentation. A short while later Valentina had cleaned up the kitchen and we were off to the train station to go back to Tsaritsino, connect with the metro and head back to our lodgings in the center of Moscow. Unfortunately our dark green Metro line was not the most elaborately decorated. There was some Soviet period mosaic on some of the walls, but not the ornate décor on some of the other lines, like the brown circular line that circumscribes the Moscow city center. Perhaps on the next trip we’ll get to see those stations? Some of the escalators are very long. The Moscow Metro was designed in the 1930’s to double as a bomb shelter. But there are escalators on the red line of the DC Metro that are just as long – if I recall correctly, the Van Ness and Chevy Chase have equally long escalators from the station to the street. We emerged from the Teatralnaya station and walked back to lodging and said good night to Valentina and Oleg.

DW and I decided to pick up some food and beverages for breakfast and snacks for our trip to Orenburg the following day. I walked north up Teverskaya ulitsa to the Yelisevsky grocery store and DW worked the laundry. Now the gall of the grocery stores we shopped in while in Russia were adequate and stocked with just about anything we wanted from bread to paper towels, to baby diapers (just scouting for trip two). However, the Eelisevsky grocery store is truly extraordinary. Its interior is decorated like a 19th Century palace. Even if you are not going to buy something, it’s worth the trip just to see this place. I’ve posted some photos of the Eelisevsky grocery store below.

Walking up Tverskaya ulitsa I really noticed the attire worn by Russian women. For a gentleman’s viewing I have to confess it’s quite captivating. The best description I have is that it’s probably what the late Adriana La Cerva from HBO’s The Sopranos would wear in very cold weather.

The next day (Sunday) we washed our clothes, got on the Internet to e-mail friends and family and post Report 5 (http://forums.adoption.com/showthread.php?t=194396&highlight=report) and Report #6 on this forum (http://forums.adoption.com/showthread.php?t=194398&highlight=report), and just relaxed before departing to Domodedovo Airport for our flight to Orenburg.

To travel light we packed very little clothing. I used the suggestions for gentlemen’s attire Susan Foster’s Smart Packing For Today’s Traveler as a reference and was very pleased. It kept my bag light while allowing sufficient comfort and versatility in my traveling wardrobe. One of the ideas is that you travel prepared to wash your clothes on the road. So we packed a laundry kit with a clothesline, plastic clothes clips and inflatable hangars to expedite drying. Here is a link to [Edited] We especially liked it because (1) it’s braided with two twisted line to hold drying clothes more securely and (2) it had a clip and a suction cup allowing it to hang in more places. And baby shampoo does good double duty as a laundry detergent. Also, don't a 1 3/8" sink stopper to hold the water in the sink as you wash clothes.

At about 6:30 PM I headed down to get our supper from, you guessed it, Stardogs. At 6:30 PM one of our agency’s Moscow representative arrive to drive us to the airport for a 9:35 PM departure.

The drive is about an hour to Domodedovo when there is only modest traffic. This was now our third of Moscow airports, having originally arrived at Sheremetyevo II and departed for Ulyanovsk from Vnkovo. Domodedovo is the newest and most like a western airport. Its restrooms are clean, there are many shops, eateries and bars, and the signage is in both Russian and English as are the public announcements. In a future post I’ll include photos of the exterior and baggage claim area.

We were to fly Orenburg Airlines. Our bags were about ten kilograms over the maximum weight and we had to pay a supplemental fee of about 270 Rubles (approximately US$10). However we could not pay the agent who checked us in and weighed our bags. Instead we had to go all the way across the check-in area about 300 meters to a cashier, pay, get a receipt, and then take the receipt back to the agent that originally checked us in. It’s a good thing we had plenty of time before our flight departed, about 90 minutes at least.

We went through security which was pretty slow and then arrived at our departure gate. Like Vnkovo, we boarded a crowded bus that took us out onto the ramp tour our aircraft which I recognized as a Tupelov Tu-154, comparable to a Boeing 727 with three engines arrayed around the tail. The overhead storage area was smaller than on most US aircraft, but not nearly as tiny as on the aircraft we took to Ulyanovsk. When you fly domestically in Russia, if you can swing it, I suggest taking just one carry-on bag. This will render you more agile on the crowded bus, climbing the aircraft boarding stairs, and jockeying for movement and space with other passengers in the aisles and storage areas.

Something to note about the Orenburg Airlines aircraft I that the seat identification letters were above our heads as we walked down the aisle, not by the overhead bins as on most US aircraft. It took us a while to determine which seats were ours. Also, the letters on the signs are in English, but the letters on our boarding passes were in Russian. They did not match-up so I bashfully asked the gentleman sitting behind us in my best (not very good) Russian where seats 22Д and 22Г were located. However, the name “Orenburg Airlines” was written in English on the exterior of the aircraft’s fuselage, the signs were in both Russian and English as were also the crew announcements.

Next we received a good omen when the lady named Natasha sitting in the window seat in our row spoke English. She works in the marketing department at one of the banks in Orenburg and was on her way home from a business trip to Moscow. She described Orenburg for us and offered to help us in any way she could. We exchanged business cards and enjoyed a pleasant 2 hour flight. I say pleasant because the service was outstanding by American by American standards. Before takeoff they came down the aisle handing out hard candies. Once the aircraft leveled off they were up and down the aisle at least twice serving drinks and then again to serve a meal of cheese, bread, and “some kind of meat.” And each flight attendant was cheerful and complaisant. With all due respect to our flight crews here at home, absent from Orenburg Airlines was the petulant surliness that now dominates American skies.

Orenburg is two hours ahead of Moscow and with Russian daylight savings time going into effect the previous day, it is twelve hours ahead of Chicago. We arrived at about 1:30 AM local time, walked down the disembarkation stairs and walked to the small building beside the main terminal where baggage claim was located. The claim area was dark and yet to be unlocked, so we awaited our bags outside. It was cold! Before departing Moscow our local agency representative told us a local coordinator named Natalia would meet us and to look for a sign with our last name on it. As we waited for our bags we looked for a sign and saw none. I wondered if we were in for an encore of our tragedy in Ulyanovsk.

Then a blond woman in her late 40’s in a white fur coat approached DW and me and asked whether we were Americans. We said “yes” and a relieved look came over her face. She introduced herself as Natalia and we introduced ourselves. She said that we looked so much like ordinary Russians that she had a difficult time identifying us. If she had not looked like a kid who’d just recovered a lost pet, I would have though this mere flattery. Despite our efforts not to, we stuck out as Westerners like someone in a clown suit at a wake.

Natalia took DW to her car and her driver, a young gentleman named Sergei, joined me to pick-up our bags. We put them into the car and we drove about 20 minutes to the Hotel Orenburg.

We checked-in at the front desk, said good nigh to Natalia and Sergei, and took the elevator to our room. Our room was comfortable with a small entranceway containing a wardrobe and an almost full size refrigerator freezer followed by a small parlor with a TV, desk and some armchairs and cabinet with plates, bowls, glassware and tea cups and silverware. The bedroom was about 10’ x 15’ with two twin beds. It was awfully hot and the windows would not open easily. So I whipped out the Leatherman tool and pried them open. After unpacking some things, washing-up and brushing our teeth, we collapsed into bed at about 3:00 AM local time for a well needed rest.

Stay tuned or more about our visit to Orenburg in the following days.

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DW in front of the red, white and yellow Stardogs booth.

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DW and Valentina at the north enterance to Red Square.

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Nungesser at DW at the north enterance to Red Square.

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Piglet at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Great Patriotic War.

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Nungesser and Valentina along the south wall of the Kremlin.

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DW and Piglet at St. Basil's.

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Nungesser and Valentina at Lenin's tomb.

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The GUM interior.

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A Moscow Metro Train.

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Soviet era art in the Metro station.

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Walking behind DW along side a departing electric commuter train in Sherbenka.

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The path to Valentia's apartment in Sherbenka.

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Oleg, DW, and Valentina enjoying dinner at Valentina's kitchen table.

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Nungesser and Valentina.