Because I am recapping a week later, I thought it would be easiest to do this in a chronological order.
Saturday was travel day. Pretty uneventful. All flights on time, Robin and I met up in New York without a problem, and we arrived in Moscow on schedule. On the same flight with us was Katie (the woman who is also adopting with my agency, and whose court hearing was right before mine) and her stepmom. We got through immigration and customs without an incident -- by now, this was old news for me :) My old buddy Murat was waiting for us, and took all four of us to our respective accommodations. It was pretty cold as we stepped outside, and raining. Bad news, as I didn't bring an umbrella or a rainjacket..... After Murat dropped Katie and her stepmom off at the Courtyard Marriott downtown, he took us to our apartment -- the same apartment where I stayed on my first trip. It was very weird to be in Moscow, and feel like coming home in a way. The apartment looks and operates the same, with the unfortunate exception that I couldn't connect to the wifi on my laptop, only on my phone.... Arghhhh.
Robin and I decided to go for a walk, despite the drizzle. We went down to Red Square, and got to see another person's reaction as we walk through Resurrection Gate, and all of a sudden, the entire majesty of Red Square is before us, with St. Basil's at the far end, Gum on the left, and the Kremlin on the right. Robin was duly awestruck. We had dinner at the cafeteria on the top floor of Gum (yet another old standby for me). After dinner, we decided to walk around the Kremlin wall. It's a little over a mile, and is a gorgeous walk, with the best views of the city, the various towers in the Kremlin wall. The rain, the fog, and the gray skies just added to the mystique of it all. Unfortunately, about half way through, the rain really started up, and then just started pouring. There was absolutely nothing for us to do but to keep on going. We were drenched to the bone by the time we were done.
We had some hot chocolate and dessert at a little french pastryshop/cafe restaurant on our street (again, a familiar spot for me) -- it was served in two bowls, -- one smaller one held some really dark, conentrated hot chocolate, the other, larger one, steamed milk. It really hit the spot.
At this point, we had no clue what Monday would bring, other than we'd be going to the orphanage to pick up Alexandra. Olga "promptly" called at 9:30 p.m. or so, and threw me the first curveball -- we would NOT get Alexandra on Monday. Apparently the little mix-up with the paperwork at the court hearing did cause the adoption decree to be issued a day later, meaning that it wouldn't become final until Tuesday. (Might I point out that during numerous conversations with the adoption agency personnel in the US they confirmed over and over again that I'd be taking custody on Monday). But, if you want -- Olga said, you can go visit the child in the orphanage tomorrow.
I actually didn't even freak out (surprised myself) -- and just said -- "oh, OK, that'll be great". What's one more day, right? But, at least Robin now understands what it means that NOTHING ever goes the way they tell you.....
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