Day 20 - The Final Checkmark and the Tseerk

There was not a lot on the schedule today, but the few items were good. We hung a few pictures that were colored by the kids on our refrigerator to make the place more like home. We walked back down to Old Arbat street and nearly finished our shopping for our sourvenir list. It was colder than the kids would have liked and sometimes we aren't exactly quick to make choices, so I can't imagine that the shopping was much fun for the kids. We did find a very nice matryoska doll maker/seller who looked like Santa Claus. He gave us the best prices we've seen all week.

In the afternoon, our Moscow representative called. She had gone by the Russian consolate for our papers and was ready to deliver them to us. There was no need for me to go today, she just had to pick up the papers... nothing that requires a parent. She will forward nearly all of the registration paperwork to the appropriate folks. As she put it, it would be silly for us to carry it home just to mail it back to Russia. The part that we do get to keep is the kids Russian passports... complete with stamps indicating that they are registered and free to leave the country. The final checkmark on our list is now complete. I wish we were flying home tomorrow... but that is not to be.

This evening we went to the Moscow Circus (Tseerk) with our part-time guide, Vladimir (the son of our driver). He took us there via the Metro. We had used a couple Metro stations to cross the streets (tunnels under the 8 - 12 lane wide streets), but this is the first time we went into the deep section to ride the subway train. The Metro is actually quite deep and the escalator taking you down seems to go on forever. At 5:20pm, it is also completely crowded with people... we had to keep tight grips on the kids to prevent us from getting jostled away from them in the crowd. The Metro is really lovely and it is about the only thing left in Moscow that is not covered in graffitti. It was a short ride to the Circus and we had to wait outside for 15 or 20 minutes until they opened the doors. Before we left for the circus, Kim had asked (via the computer) if Papa could buy them a toy and some popcorn at the circus. She chose a pair of "spy" sunglasses that let you look behind yourself, Beth chose a flying dove toy that you attatch to the ceiling and it flies in a circle. Luke made a similar choice... except his is a dragonfly. Peter chose a fake pack of gum that shocks you when you try to take out a piece... how fun :-/ It was broken before the night was done, not a good investment. The circus was VERY GOOD and I would recommend it highly. It cost us 600 rubles each ($21 each) and I think it was worth it. Each of the kids liked a different act the best. They also liked having their picture taken with a tiger cub in the lobby. We got back to the apartment around 9:45 pm and put the kids to bed. Peter goes out extremely quickly. He can lay down and be out cold in 2 minutes or less... amazing. Kim and Beth like to giggle and teach each other new English or Russian words for 15 - 30 minutes. Luke usually goes out quickly... but not as quickly as Peter. I'm going to finish up this post and go to bed myself. Only one more night after this one. We'll leave you with some photos of the Moscow nightime skyline from our apartment windows... the view is quite nice.