Adventures in Traveling

We had a wonderful day yesterday seeing the sights in Moscow. Natalia, the wife of our agency contact, drove us around Moscow and told us about so many things. We rode the Metro when we got closer to the center of town. She said parking was too difficult in that area. We were able to visit Red Square. We saw Lenin's tomb, St. Basil's cathedral, the wall of the Kremlin, and GUM. She helped us find souvenirs. We got almost everything we wanted to take home to our families. JJ really wanted to get his brother a furry hat and he found one at a much more reasonable price at the airport. That seems strange as the airport shops are usually expensive. It was the most walking we had done the whole trip and we were worn out by the time we got to our hotel. The Beshears flight home began last night, so Natalia dropped us off at the hotel and took them on the airport. I am extremely grateful we were able to share this experience with another family. We didn't feel so alone. Our hotel was hopping. Natalia explained it was a 60th birthday party, so it probably wouldn't last until the wee hours of the morning. It was some 60th birthday party! We were both so tired it didn't matter though. I slept the most I have this entire trip. Natalia wasn't picking us up for the flight until 5:15pm, so we had so down time at the hotel. We ate breakfast and lunch, checked several things on the computer, listened to a sermon from People's Church in OKC, and started a movie. Oh, we also carefully repacked everything to make the trip home. We had plenty of time at the airport and we were able to find the last few souvenirs. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:55pm. When they still were not boarding at 8:30pm we knew something was wrong. Soon they announced we were delayed, but only 30 minutes. We boarded without incident, but soon after the safety demonstration the pilot announced that we were delayed another hour due to weather. Yuck! It was actually the best flight for a delay because our layover in Amsterdam should have been 16 hours. We finally took off. They served a meal and JJ got ill from all the fish smell. Poor guy! I really enjoyed my fish and the first white bread of the trip. We had tried to reserve a hotel room since we would be stuck in the hotel overnight, but I messed up big time. The hotel was not inside the airport. Turns out there are two hotels in the airport and we are now in the tiniest room I have ever experienced. It works, but it is tiny. We'll try to take a picture, but it probably won't do it justice. Now for some sleep in the tiny bed. Tomorrow we have our long flight the rest of the way home.