Seeing the Sights!

It's been a busy two days here! Our little ds3 is surprisingly taking it all in stride! Yesterday we toured the metro system. It is full of beautiful architecture... mainly the early metro lines. The ones built during the 70's are typical of the political era they came out of.

Anyway, my boys had seen the metro on the Internet several months ago, and so wanted to see it! So we set up a tour of the metro system.... Let me tell you, it is not easy to navigate Moscow's metro system with a toddler and a stroller. Not at all!! We visited 8 different stations, with many line changes as well. Talk about difficult! Up and down huge escalators and stairs, and in and out of the stroller... not to mention all the people! Ds3 did fabulous, and definitely just went with the flow. Like I said the architecture is beautiful. There were so many intricate mosaics crafted and set in ornate moldings on the ceilings. Gorgeous! Plus many bronze and granite statues. It's hard to believe it's a metro system at all! I think it was definitely worth it to do this with the boys. Here are some photos of a few stations:

We stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe on the way home (3 hours later) and stumbled upon their kid's buffet. Yay! Ds3 was quickly changed and set in a high chair to start devouring his lunch. The big kids went to jump in the little jumping castle and partake in the kids buffet. Then they drew pictures of St. Basil's cathedral (very well I might add), and after a leisurely and filling lunch we headed back to the apartment. Ds3 went down for a short nap, and everyone else played Wii.

Yes, that's right Wii.... what else do you bring to the frigid north to entertain the family? lol! Actually, we did bring it in case we were stuck inside for a long period, and the boys were bored. We actually first broke it out on Friday night when some friends and fellow adoptive parents came over with their daughters. It was fun to actually spend time with another adoptive family, and share cookies and hot cocoa and meet our new children. I have photos of that on our video camera, that Chris took, but I don't have the upload cable for it. Here are a few from the Hard Rock Cafe.

Today we were up bright and early for a tour of the Kremlin. Let me preface this by saying for field trips at home, I usually check to see if any large school groups will be visiting our destination, as we like to have the place to ourselves. So, my homeschool friends will so appreciate the humor in this... of all days to go to the Kremlin, we chose the day that was a special day for hundreds and hundreds of school children from all over the surrounding area. Apparently they have this celebration once a year where they are allowed to go to some kind of party at the palace. So, the lines on a cold December morning were so long... and full of groups of school children. lol! I hate large crowds anyway, but this was way worse! lol! Thankfully they all went to a different part of the Kremlin and we went on our regular tour. But I found the irony of it all very humorous.....

It was amazing to be inside the Kremlin and see all that we saw! Ds3 did awesome once again! He is just way flexible and such a happy baby. He was content in the stroller or walking with his hand in mine. He loved to walk with his brothers or Chris as well. I can't tell you what a J-O-Y he has been! The ladies who were kind of ushers at the Kremlin just loved him. :-) I think we all had as much fun just walking around with him, as we did looking at all the interesting artifacts of the Kremlin. Ds2 and Chris liked the displays of old armor the best, and ds1 liked the old ornate carriages. I personally loved the old historic dresses of the Tsarina's at their coronation. One in particular had a waist of like 14 inches... it was so tiny. It was for one Tzarina at her coronation when she was quite young. The next dress was a bit larger, and I jokingly asked our guide if this was her dress after 10 years of marriage.... lol! (It was actually another Tzarina's).

We also visited the Diamond Fund, and that was pretty amazing as well... to see all the beautiful jewels and jewelry of the Tsars and the crowns as well. Stunning, absolutely stunning. It was also a favorite of ds2. The Diamond Fund is where ds3 got a little cranky, mainly because it is dimly lit I think. So, we walked through quickly and exited, while Chris and the boys had a more thorough look. We finished our tour walking around the Kremlin premises and the cathedral square too. We even went into the Assumption Cathedral. It was very ornate with many many frescoes on the walls, and columns. It was very interesting hearing the history and traditions of the Eastern Orthodox church, yet so hard to comprehend for this simple saved by Grace girl.

Our sweet tour guide was so interested in our adoption and surprised that we have had ds3 for such a short time. She couldn't believe it! She had many questions as to why we wanted to adopt etc etc . I think the whole thing was foreign, and yet eye opening to her at the same time. She was young and extremely educated and her English was very good. I hope we displayed a very positive image of adoptive families in the U.S. I know several people just came up to us and smiled, or squeezed ds3's foot or hand. He was our own precious gem!

We left our tour guide with hugs and a big thank you, and headed back to our home away from home. Once there we quickly had a late lunch and put ds3 down for a nap. We'll be staying in for the rest of the evening now... as it's supposed to get quite cold tonight. I'll leave you with a few photos of our visit to the Kremlin. None of the inside, as we could not take pictures...