May 13: Red Square Outing

I have already posted on this outing we took together to Red Square, so I don't have much more to say about it. We took tons of pictures (when did we not take tons of pictures?) so I thought I would share some. Again, this is mix of pictures were taken by me, Lori, and Stacy.

To spare those with dial-ups I submitted all of these at the smallest size. To enlarge them, just click on a picture.

Here's the kids riding in the car together. Like we have said, car seats are an alien technology in Russia. When in Russia, do as the Russians. What happens in Russia, stays in Russia. Any further questions???Here's a shot of the group working it's way through the GUM mall on Red Square.
And the group having exitted GUM making our way to St. Basil's.


Stacy, Lori's sister is on the left. Victoria (nicknamed Vicca) is on the right. Vicca was our third translator in as many trips.


Me approaching St. Basil's. Between me and St. Basil's is the area where people used to get executed. It is now an area where you toss coins and make wishes. Seems like an spot where good luck is not in abundance if you ask me!!!!
Antoine having just exited GUM with the Saviour's Tower in the background.


Here's a couple from Virginia getting the obligatory St. Basil's family pictures. Wendy, being thoughtful and observant, noticed that they didn't have a guide of friend helping them take pictures. I went over and got a good shot (I hope) of the three of them in the background. They seemed nice and were adopting a 19 month girl.
After I took their pictures they asked how old our child was and I told them 14 months. Their reaction, "Oh a little guy". Huh? What you say about my boy? I mean to tell you he's 75% on the growth charts. Not too shabby considering his background. I'm only kidding. I did think 5 months in the grand scheme of things was not that big a difference in age.

Here's Lori, Simone, and papa-Antoine having just gotten their obligatory St. Basil's pictures taken. We took a bunch behind the statue of the dudes who expelled the Polish, in other words, pretty close to the cathedral.

Us in front of the Saviour's Tower. We were able to hear it chime at noon and I filmed it with the video camera. I really like this clock tower!

View looking back towards history museum, GUM, Lenin's tomb, etc.

You can never take enough pictures of the buildings of Red Square.

Here's us getting our obligatory shots at St. Basil's. In addition to in front of the building, we took some from the back side of the building as well.





At the end of the day, we got take out pizza from our favorite restaurant in Moscow, Pinocchio's. It has three separate areas. One is a bakery which we never visited. Doh! The second a nice sit down restaurant a little on the fancy side, the third a pizzaria which was very laid back and relaxed. It had some of the same pastas as the fancy side so it's struck a good balance.

Here's the new families toasting a completed adoption and happy union of children and parents! This was taken at Lori and Antoine's room.


All in all it was a great day to start off being a family. It was far more relaxed than the day before. We couldn't believe just how great Jason adapted to his new surroundings and environment. He ate and slept really well for us, which allowed us some time to rest and sleep as well!