12/6/06 Waiting and Visiting Red Square

This morning we greeted our cherished friend, Mark, who came into Moscow with his son, Max, and step-dad, Vincent. They were two days behind us in Perm, but had managed to get their passport done in a day. We were in waiting mode, we did not hear about our visa this morning and because the doctor at Max’s physical said that Max had to have his blood tests re-done, we were all free for most of the day. We ventured out to a baby store to get a stroller for Max (we had brought one with us for Helena) and to see the sights. The baby store was magnificent though very expensive. They had no truly inexpensive umbrella strollers and the prices started at 3500 rubles ($180). Mark asked me what lightweight stroller I’d choose. I was paralyzed at the idea of making the choice on the spot, but managed to point out a Chicco mustard colored model that had a weather protection bag for the child attached. Mark had already been addressed by a woman on the street for having some skin on Max’s calf exposed to the cold air, and since I didn’t see Mark taking me up on my offer to dress Max in Helena’s extra tights for the remaining two days, the stroller with the weather bag seemed to be a sound choice.

Once outfitted with Max in the stroller, more diapers, and more baby food we rolled over to Red Square and St. Basil’s cathedral. It was magnificent! St. Basil’s is much more impressive in person, it is so colorful! Apparently Ivan the Terrible blinded the architect who designed it, as he didn’t want anything as beautiful to ever be created again. In front of the Kremlin is Lenin’s tomb and we also managed to videotape a ceremony in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier on the other side of the Kremlin. Michael insisted I take all the pictures since I had my passport with me (his was with Helena’s paperwork) in the event one of us got arrested, at least I would have my passport to prove my identity. We took the babies in to eat at Sbarro (which faced the tomb of the unknown soldier we had just seen), where it was child friendly and the food was inexpensive. We then all rolled back to the hotel. We were sure we would be delayed a day and we were astonished to find a message on our service stating that Helena’s visa had been processed late in the morning and that we would be able to leave Friday morning!!!! Michael was overcome with emotion as he heard the message and then we all had a big cry. Moscow is beautiful, but we are ready to go home and due to circumstances surrounding Justin’s participation in Nutcracker on Saturday, we really wanted to come home on Friday and be reunited as a family and so we will!

For anyone who is planning on meeting us at the airport, you can call our home for final details through Mike’s parents. We are scheduled to arrive from Munich right around 3 pm, but it will likely be after 4 by the time we take the shuttle from the plane and go through immigration (for Helena) and customs. Also, at this moment in time we are limited in our ability to communicate by email or phone. If you are reading this, could someone arrange to videotape us re-uniting with our sons at the airport? I’m sure this would be valuable for Helena in years to come. Mo, I know you have a camcorder and you are planning on coming. Or, someone else, give our parents a call at home, there is a camcorder in the top of the hall closet. Please direct them on how to use it or ask them to hand it to someone else.