Day Five-St. Petersburg

This morning we got up early. JJ wanted to call his dad and the time difference makes calling difficult at times. We learned from our friends, Danny & Gaynell, that you can buy Skype credit and make phone calls as long as you have Internet access. It has been so nice to hear their voices and sometimes even see their faces. We left for the airport at 8:00am. Our driver speaks very little English but he made sure we got right up to the correct check-in desk. In fact he pretty much made us cut everyone in line. It seemed rude, but it seemed more rude to ignore his insistent prompting. It was a nice flight. This was an airline based in St. Petersburg. They gave us pieces of candy, newspapers, drinks, and, well I would call it a candy bar but since it was breakfast maybe it was a breakfast-bar. We met Natasha at the airport. She lives here and works for our adoption agency. We drove and drove to get to our apartment. This is one huge city and very pretty, even from a first impression. Our apartment is nice. JJ said, and it's true, that it is nicer than our first home together. =) It will be good to fix some food for ourselves instead of eating out for each meal. The only problem with the apartment is the stairwell. Whew! The smell almost knocks you over. Natasha even commented on it so I'm assuming it is not normal. We will be here almost 2 weeks. I think I forgot to say that we cannot go to Kotlas to visit our little guy. No one our agency works with is available to travel to Kotlas and translate for us during our stay. We were very disappointed, but so many things in the process are out of our control. Our plans had to change, so we will stay in St. Petersburg longer. We walked around some after we arrived. There is so much to see. We found something similar to a cultural fair. There were lots of booths with food and people showing traditional Russia activities. There was even a big stage with entertainers. We stopped and watched some dancers before walking on down the street. We spent most of the evening resting in the apartment. It feels strange to be slowing down after going and going. I hope we can enjoy these next few days as they will be our last days for a long time as just a couple, which is both wonderful and overwhelming. I really want to soak up as much of our son's country as possible.