Travels to Nizhniy Novgorod

Finally, an update on our trip to Nizhniy Novgorod (NN) to pick up baby Drew!

Much to my surprise Michael and I were able to get ALL our clothes, Drew’s clothes, orphanage clothes and many gifts packed and in our rental car on Friday morning. And, for those of you who know us, we were stressing because we left the house ½ hour late. Anyway, we had rented a car and dropped it off at the Oakland Airport. We got out of Oakland without a hitch and landed at LAX without a hitch.

Once we were at LAX we experienced the awkwardness of taking an international flight. First you must wait in a very long line to check-in and then they don’t take your bags, so you get to wait in another long line where they do take your bags. Once through that line, you wait in another long line to get through security. None of it was too bad just so unorganized.

Our flight to Moscow departed on time. We were excited to have the two seats on the side of the plane vs. being 2 seats in the middle section. The flight was uneventful. We stayed awake for several hours and then slept for the same. By the time we woke up we only had about two hours until we landed and they were serving breakfast. All in all, it was a very easy flight and we definitely rested on the plane.

Once in Moscow, it took a little longer than expected, but we cleared customs and our Alliance rep was waiting for us as expected. The driver picked us up and we literally jammed 4 large suitcases in a sedan, one on our lap! We drove about an hour to the Grand Marriott, which was lovely and American…ahhhhhhh. It was very nice and we enjoyed the comforts of home…for one night. Mom, enjoy the Marriott Tverskaya while you can!

Anyway, we had dinner and hit the sack on Saturday. On Sunday, we left the hotel and ventured out to the Kremlin and to St. Basil’s Cathedral. Both are very beautiful and we took tons of pics. We also did some shopping in the little bizarre area outside the Kremlin. We were only able to sight see for a few hours and then had to head back to the hotel where our interpreter and driver picked us up to take us to the train station. The interpreter loaded us onto the train and helped us get settled, which was awesome. The train is pretty much like taking a train in Italy…far from fancy. I don’t know how four strangers can share a compartment. Anyway, we advised to buy 4 tickets vs. 2 tickets so we could have the entire compartment to ourselves. Now just because I use the words “entire compartment”, don’t think there was anything big about it. J

We arrived promptly in NN at 7pm and the rep and driver were there to greet us and help us off the train. We were there with another couple, so they had two cars take us and our luggage to the hotel, which is very close to the train station. Once we checked in and got settled, we had a quick dinner in the hotel and then the next few hours unpacking and sorting through gifts and clothes.