We got up at 2:15 a.m. We were easily ready on time, because everything was packed and laid out last night. Patrick had a car ready to take us to the Edinburgh Airport, leaving the hotel at 3 a.m. Patrick met us – dressed in his suit – and gave us each a breakfast box from the hotel. Patrick showed us to our taxi and we bid Patrick a warm good-bye. Our driver was very friendly and though he had a strong accent, he was easy to understand. We had plenty of time to find out where to go at the airport and to eat some of our boxed breakfast; however, we weren’t very hungry after our sumptuous supper last night, so we saved most of the food to eat on the plane.
We got through check-in, even though I set off the buzzer again because of my hip. They didn’t care about my hip replacement card; they made me take off my shoes and stand on the foot designs, but didn’t pat check me. Verle’s carry-on bag needed extra checking – they took his small toothpaste and put it in a zip-lock bag and waved him on.
Our flight took one hour and forty-five minutes from Edinburgh to Brussels – we had a 1 hour layover in Brussels, and then a 3 and 1/2 hour flight to Moscow.
We arrived in Moscow at 2:15 their time – Moscow is 2 hours ahead of the British Isles, so we had to set our watches ahead before we landed.
It took a long time to go through customs – a long line of people ahead of us – we were a bit worried that they might ask us the name of the hotel we were supposedly to stay at – we didn’t know the hotel name and our reservation sheets in English and Russian were in our check-in bags, which we couldn’t pick up until we got through customs. I tried to be ready to answer possible questions such as: Do you know anyone in Russia? Why are you entering Russia, etc. The lady took a long time studying our passport/visa, but finally waved me through without questioning anything. Verle was right behind me with another custom agent, who waved him right through, perhaps because we approached the examiners together and I had just been waved through.
We picked up our bags right away and excitedly met Vlad & Marianna. They took us to Tepemok, and eating place that served us blemy pancakes (two long e’s) — good! Nicky (Nikita) is 16 now, sick with the flu, and staying with Marianna’s folks. Vlad drove us around the city – traffic is awful and Vlad seems to be pretty aggressive with his driving – scary – there are no seatbelts in the back of Vlad’s big Avalanche pick-up, so we just have to trust the fact that he’s been driving in this traffic for a long time, loves his vehicle, and evidently hasn’t had any problems!
We stopped at a shopping center with aquariums – a great marketing idea!
We learned that a US dollar equals 63 rubles.
We reached their apartment and had some scones and hot drinks. We visited excitedly for quite some time, and Vlad and Marianna showed us how everything worked in the apartment and then left to stay at her folks overnight. The apartment is very small, and I had wondered how we would all function in it – they said that the apartment will be ours for the week. They took their dog, Dandji , with them. I was glad – he’s cute but very excited, and I don’t like pets in the house as much as a lot of people do.