Hi everyone! Jim and I have had two fun-filled days of sight seeing around Moscow. It has been a great to experience the city and keep us busy while waiting to meet Ellie tomorrow.

Yesterday we went to Red Square, the Kremlin and a beautiful Cathedral. Serghey was a wonderful guide. He is a young man, a struggling musician, and spoke good English. He knows a lot about Russian history and was quite informative. We are learning how much Russians love their vodka. They drink it like we drink water or Coke. In fact, we learned yesterday that when Vladimir I took over in 989 he choose Greek Orthodoxy as the country religion over Islam because he was afraid his people could not abstain from hard liquor as required by Islamic law.

Red Square was fascinating, with its ancient churches and beautiful St. Basil's cathedral. The Kremlin was also beautiful. Its museum was filled with gorgeous artifacts, some of which date to the 12th century. The ornate armor, jewels, carriages, dishes...you can see why the czars were overthrown! I have never seen emeralds so large, and they were carved and inlaid into gold covered bibles. The armor was so beautiful and the horses and saddles were equally elaborate. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside the museum, unfortunately. The inauguration dress of Catherine the Great was beautiful...she was a tiny woman. The carriages and sleighs were unbelievable!

It was a wonderful day and we saw so much so fast it was overwhelming!

Then, last night was the most incredible experience ever! We went to the Bolshoi performance of Giselle. The most famous male and female ballet dancer in Moscow currently (according to the concierge, and based on what we saw and how the audience screamed I would agree) were performing. I think because it was a holiday weekend. Anyway, we asked the concierge to get us the best seats she could since this is probably the only time we will get to do this. She got us front row! We could see the sweat on their brows! It was the most beautiful thing to hear the music and watch them float across the stage. It was so moving it brought tears to my eyes. I have never seen ballet like this. This is supposed to be the best ballet in the world, not that I know a lot about it, but it sure seemed to be the best I have ever seen. We sat next to a young couple from CA and had fun speaking English with them.

Before the performance we went to dinner at an authentic Russian restaurant. I didn't think I would like Russian food, but it was very yummy! Jim had rack of lamb and I had a sturgeon and salmon twist, grilled, over veggies. We also ordered meat dumplings which were wonderful. (Today it was back to sandwiches!) After the performance we walked to Red Square again at night to see it lit up, it was beautiful.

Today we went to Old Arbat street which is the big tourist place to buy souvenirs. There is a Starbucks and a Fridays there so we felt a little bit like we were home. We sat and watched folks walk by...all kinds of styles here. Mini skirts and high heels are a favorite. Everyone smokes! It is hard to avoid it. We can't believe how prevalent it is here. Most Russians are nice. They don't smile a lot, but if you ask for help they are more than willing to try to help. Jim and I braved it today and tried the Metro. The hardest part is the Russian alphabet. All we could do was memorize the first three letters of the stop we wanted and count the stops between. We did get off at the wrong place once, but found a Metro person who spoke broken English enough to get us on the right train. It was an adventure. Now that we did it, we will use it as much as possible, it is much cheaper than a cab!

We got back to the hotel late in the afternoon today and decided to venture out and find a grocery. We paid $30 this morning for a pot of coffee!!! Yikes! So we walked about 15 min and found a true Russian supermarket. It was interesting...you have to watch out in there, they will mow you over with their carts and not think twice. It is not that they are rude, it is just how they are here. Once we adjusted we got aggressive with our cart too! We stocked up on coffee, water, Vodka and wine...the essentials, haha!

Tomorrow is the BIG day. I pray I sleep tonight. I made a list of questions to ask, because I am sure it will be hard to focus on anything but her. I can't believe this is really happening! I thank God for bringing us this far, and know He will see us through. Thank you so much for all your prayers. I feel them. God has blessed us so much along the journey thus far, I see Him everywhere.

I will post pics from yesterday separately from this post.

Do svidanya!