It's 7:30AM Khabarovsk time. I haven't slept much, my mind is full of everything I have seen, heard, smelled & witnessed. For example, Joe being mistaken for a local by a German tourist, funny. And the sad but really touching of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Red Square. The whole procedure takes less than 5 minutes, but like the changing of our guard it is done in absolute silence. The inside of St. Basils is without mention the most amazing thing. It is several (10) small chapels joined together. The stairs leading from one to another are really high & steep. I almost went into an asthma attack climbing them! But I made it. It was a shame we couldn't take pictures (you have to pay extra for a picture taking ticket). The icons were beautiful and somehow tragic. The ceiling and walls are covered with a beautiful, basic medieval flower blue and red print. It is so old the pigment has faded almost to pink. And it was so cold inside! I could see my breath! Joe and I are watching the sun peak through the clouds. In an hour (around 9) we will land and our journey or our pilgrimage to our daughter will continue. We just finished a good Russian breakfast, coffee, a croissant with butter, 2 slices of a mild swiss cheese and lettuce. They don't eat lunch and dinner is a small meal also. This confuses me. The dark bread we saw Katya eating is a staple here. It is heavy and has a strong wheat taste, but it is filling. I wonder how many points that is? It's a heavy fiber rich diet. Well I guess I should stop for now and get my boots on and gather up my stuff.

We're in the air - took off at about 6:30PM, right on time. We're flying Dalavia on a TU-214, sort of like a Boeing 737, only Russian built. The plane is a little noisier than an American built plane, but not too bad. The first thing that I notices was the plane smells sort of like a locker room. The seats aren't very comfy either. My back started to bother me before take off. Now that we can tilt them back, it's not quite as bad. I recommend a pillow for [your back in] these jets. Not much padding in the seats. Our driver was good so I tipped him 500 rubles - about $18. Russian currency looks funny when you are used to US money, almost like full color Monopoly money. Good thing we have the CD player - with both headphones at full it is audible above the plane noise. Good enough to drown it out most of the way.

It's way too early to be writing this. We have left Moscow and are now on our way to Khabarovsk. We will lose something like 7 hours. It sounds still so impossible that 1) we made it to Moscow, 2) we are on our way to see our child, our daughter, our Dolka. And 3) I sat on the windows seat on this flight. We have had an amazing trip so far. Our interpreter Olga was fantastic. Seeing the Kremlin, Lenin's tomb, St. Basils Cathedral was cool. Olga gave us great history lessons (from a Russian viewpoint) at each stop. Plus personal feelings on many things. Our unnamed driver could put many Nascar drivers to shame. He maneuvered through Moscow traffic like a pro! We played tourist on Arbat St. shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe for T-shirts and a souvenir shop for Matryoshka's (nesting dolls). We met a nice couple from Texas who were going home today with their new daughter. Hopefully that will be us soon. I'm hungry I hope they serve dinner (whatever it is) soon. Then I will attempt to sleep for a while.



One thing I forgot to mention - while on the way to the airport we stopped by the Cradle of Hope office. We waited with the driver while Olga went for our tickets. We waited fro a while. It turns out that she was waiting for documents for us to take with us to Khabarovsk. Turns out we may not have to do the 10 day wait! That is really good news for us on the second trip.

Had a great day sightseeing. Went to see Red Square, Lenin (Yes, Lenin - he's in a glass coffin), St. Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin. Maybe we'll tour the Kremlin on the return trip.