Our 6 week stay in Moscow has come to an end. We all had such a great time and probably could have stayed longer. Thanks very much to Sveta who, despite the slight language barrier made both Sophia and I feel like we were at home. We were treated to many special events and activities but the most enjoyable was being able to see Sophia's interaction with her family. She loved all of them and was not afraid to show it!
Our second last night we all went out for dinner to celebrate our trip. Oddly enough, we have done the same thing, at the exact same restaurant on the last 3 trips!!! One of the few family photos that we got out of this trip.
We were also treated to many interesting but very tasty restaurants. We were very lucky and didn't really have any issues at the places we ate and the food was quite tasty. Sophia was the most adventurous of the three kids and ate: cow tongue, calf brains, liver and eel among all the usual stuff.
Our last day, Vasiliy took us to a special Uzbek restaurant. It has a combination of Afgan, Chinese, Russian and of course Uzbek cuisine. The restaurant itself was decorated as an old and very famous Soviet movie called "White Sun of the Desert". There was a huge round table that was full of fresh and dried fruits, nuts, purees and jams. I was very tempted to sample them each time I walked by...I am sure Sveta will be thrilled that I posted this picture (hahaha, not really). The main Uzbek item was lamb of various preparations. Here, Sveta is having lamb tongue, hence the lovely pose:)
Since I am willing to try almost anything, at least once, I thought I would give the lamb tongue a go. It was very tasty and I would have actually eaten more of it, if I didn't have my own, very tasty, Lamb Shashlik to eat.
Besides the people, Sophia will most remember the cat, Masyana. Sophia would pick her up, carry her around, let her out then immediately get her back in, scratch her, pet her and torment her. The poor cat was the most amazing sport about it and never once scratched Sophia. There were quite a few loud and pained meows, but never any scratches. One of the cat's favorite places to sleep was at the base of the stairs outside the library. Here she is fully sprawled out, asleep and almost falling off the stairs!
The other of her favorite sleeping spots was in our room, either under the bed or right on top. Here she is sleeping soundly while Max and I were packing around her. One night before Max arrived, Sophia and I were awoken around 2 am by something banging on our bedroom door. Unbeknownst to us, Masyana had fallen asleep under our bed and woke up in the middle of the night. Since I had closed the door, she got mad. Somehow, she managed to get her paws up to the handle of the door and swung her feet at the door (hence the banging noise) until it opened. When I asked Sophia if she knew the cat had been asleep in our room her response was "How would I know that Mom, I was asleep!" From then on, the door was left open for the cat to come and go as it pleased...
Our flight home was early, painfully early. It leaves at 7am, but we need to be at the airport by 5 which means we leave around 3:30-4am. Max seems to think it wise to not sleep at all and make up for it on the airplane (normally it would be fine but it makes for a little more difficulty when there is a young one to be looked after too). The boys on the other hand, had not yet fallen asleep and were around to see us off.
Vasiliy had stopped by earlier on to wish us a good trip. Here Sophia is, giving him a nose kiss. I love the size difference but they are so cute together and we all loved this picture.
A few things I learned this trip:
1. Always go to the bathroom or eat when you can. You never know when you will be stuck in traffic and aren't able to do either.
2. It's best to carry gum or mints with you in the car. That way when you get hungry or bored, you will have something to occupy yourself, most likely while you are waiting in traffic.
3. Plan your route, based on traffic and always allow for plenty of extra time, as in an extra hour wouldn't be too far off.
4. Don't plan on trying to leave the city on a Friday or go into the city on a Sunday. All of the dacha (cabin) traffic escapes for the weekend and wreaks even more havoc than normal on the roads.
5. No matter where in the world you are, if you are with family, you will feel like you are home. All this comfort in a place that is so very different from home and where I don't really speak the language, but I still felt so comfortable that it was like being at home. The only thing we really missed while being away were our own beds, our family and friends here too, of course!
3. Plan your route, based on traffic and always allow for plenty of extra time, as in an extra hour wouldn't be too far off.
4. Don't plan on trying to leave the city on a Friday or go into the city on a Sunday. All of the dacha (cabin) traffic escapes for the weekend and wreaks even more havoc than normal on the roads.
5. No matter where in the world you are, if you are with family, you will feel like you are home. All this comfort in a place that is so very different from home and where I don't really speak the language, but I still felt so comfortable that it was like being at home. The only thing we really missed while being away were our own beds, our family and friends here too, of course!
And just to see what our welcome home was like, here are a couple of pictures, courtesy of Brian.
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