[claricey]

I would love to hear stories from folks that have travelled previously or will be travelling to Kemerovo this winter.

God willing, we will get travel dates as soon as our agency is reaccreditted and we can finally get to meet our sweet little boy.

Claricey

[marjo]

Kemerovo is a great region. Don't know about winter, we were there in July and it was 105 degrees! Our hotel room was like a sauna....ACK!

[karenjoe]

We traveled there at the end of November and there was ice on the ground everywhere - but not too terribly cold. Still lots of women in ice-pick high heels though!

Our hotel room was pretty bad - but otherwise we enjoyed the region. Be sure to check out World Pizza!

[kretzklan]

We were there with Karen in late November 2005. The region was lovely and compared to the snow we are getting now in Colorado - well, it was lovely there. We took many walks to restaurants in the evenings and took walks with our children during the day...we stayed at the Tom (tomb) and there were tons of other adoptive families there for pickup/court trips...it was fun to get to know all those people. Lesson from World Pizza - just because they have an English menu, does not mean they will understand what you are ordering in English!

[catmele]

Hi! We hope to also be Kemerovo this winter for our first trip! We were in Tomsk 3 yrs ago to adopt our son in January and it was VERY cold but we were still able to walk around for short walks in our down coats, boats, hats, etc. The inside of the buildings are very hot to definitely wear layers.

Maybe we will be there at the same time!

Cathy

[tchr_678]

We were in Kemerovo last January and we lucky enough to experience the record setting low of -50F .. WOW ... it was cold. However, we were never really outside long enough to have to experience the frigidness of it all. We did make the stupid mistake of walking from the Tomb hotel to World Pizza one day. Don't know where our heads were ... It was the weekend before we got to bring out little ones home. The hard thing is that the hotels and orphanages try to compensate for the cold by having their rooms super warm ... so dress in layers ... it's often HOT indoors. We walked around in T-shirts and shorts in our hotel room and even had to crack the windown on occasion!
Anyway, Kemerovo is a GREAT region. I agree with checking out World Pizza - they have an English menu, which is helpful. The waitress at the Tomb hotel also speak a small amount of English and the food there is decent. The Golden Chicken has ok food too. Overall, we weren't thrilled with the food there and did pack a lot of our own. The people at the orphanages are quite friendly and take good care of the children. I'd actually be interested to hear which orphanage you are going to, because I'd like to send a letter and picture to one of the teachers my oldest son had ....

Good luck!! Kemerovo is great --- if you have any question, please feel free to ask!

[kimber413]

We were in Kemerovo for the month of October, 2004. It started out nice, but by the end of the month it was cold and snowing. Not too bad, though. Just bring a heavy coat. As for World Pizza, just look for this guy. He speaks very good English and will go out of his way to help. Hopefully he still works there. Also, don't be afraid to venture out in the evening to World Pizza. Lots of university students hang out there, and they love to practice their English on you. We were there for a long time, and wish we'd spent more time out in the evening to talk to the local folks. Also, visit Provencal, it's a restaurant in the basement down the street from World Pizza. The food is good, inexpensive, and they also have an English menu with pictures so you can just point at what you'd like. Near Golden Chicken (which is across the street from Kuzbass) is a restaurant named Traktor, and another not to far away called Old Sailor. If you like to try different cuisine, there are lots of good places to eat. World Pizza and Golden Chicken are really the fast food joints. Also, there's a pastry there, a rolled, thin waffle cone filled with caramel. Yummy. If you happen to be headed to Polysaevo, there's a BBQ place about halfway between Kemerovo and Polysaevo called Martina's. The pit BBQ pork and such. Very good kabob with a thin bread and a sort of salsa, and a yummy rice pilaf with meat. They also make the caramel pastry occasionally, and it's so much better home made. Remember, word for beer is piva.

[adoptiveparentblogger]

Check out my blog... can be found in my signature... I traveled to kemerovo in Feb & march 2006

[caaron]

We're hoping to go to Kemerovo this winter also. Just waiting with the rest of you for accreditation. Hope we all get dates soon!!
We appreciate everyone's input, thank you.

[catmele]

There was just a posting on the Yahoo Kemerovo board that there are going to be total changes of the officials in Kemerovo which may result in slowdowns. Oh no! It sounds like the judges will change. I am not sure what else. I am going to call my agency today to see what is going on. I can not take one more delay!