Just got Vasa down for a nap--boy, did he need it. He went to bed after 10 last night and then was up by 7:15.
We started off the day by being cheap. The "cheap" breakfast in the hotel that includes your drink, cereal, fruit, and toast was 40 dollars a person, so we took our cereal down to the lobby and ordered milk and coffee. I had planned to give Vasa flavored oatmeal today (the plain for him was not a hit), but he refused to even try it. I don't blame him-I don't like plain oatmeal, either. I just got the impression that he was used to eating porridge. Apparently, everyone has to draw the line somewhere on what they will eat and not eat. So, he ate our cereal, drank his milk, and ate the biscottis that the waitress brought us-probably feeling sorry for us when she saw our box of cereal.
We went to Vasa's doctor's appointment. It was a total of 3 minutes. He is 27 pounds and 35 1/2 inches long. He spent 3 of the five minutes checking out his man parts. Those seem to be in working order, too. He told us he looked good and off we went (after getting the paper for the embassy). Now we wait until Monday.
Our translator took us to red square where we saw the changing of the guards. That was really neat--especially how they balanced the guns with the sword thing on the end pointing to the sky in their hands. Vasa was unimpressed. He just wanted to play with the chain surrounding the changing of the guards. We walked through another pretty shopping mall. We took Vasa's picture in front of Saint Basils. Then, we headed to the other beautiful cathedral--right now I can't remember the name-how horrible was that? But, it is hard to pay too much attention in a gorgeous, quiet cathedral with a 3 year old in tow. It was gorgeous, by the way. FYI--it was blown up in the 1930s, on the land was a public heated swimming pool in the 1960s, then they raised lots of rubles to rebuild the cathedral after the pool was run down.
Then, we waited for a pizza at a cafe to bring back to our new apartment. Vasa has been extremely patient today. Yet, the one or two stop rule applies to all 3 year olds. After more than 1 or 2 stops, time to go home. We headed to the new apartment. We enter the lobby to wait on the man meeting us with the key. The doorman was not thrilled to see us waiting there. We were also followed in by a drunk woman holding her beer. He had words with her, but allowed her to stay. She proceeded to push our things over so she could sit on the bench. The doorman physically wrestled with her while Josh, the translator, and I hurried to move Vasa and our things out of the way. I am trying to divvy out cheerios during all of this, too, so Vasa would stay in the stroller. He has already learned how to unthread the buckle to get out-smart boy. Our representative for the apartment finally meets us-he's originally from Australia but lived several years in new york city. He was super nice, but by that point the bellman/security guy felt the need to check our passports to make sure we were legit or whatever. By the time we get upstairs, my sweet husband pulls me aside and says we may not be staying more than a night here.
Yet, after we have gotten comfortable with the apartment, it actually seems very nice. It looks like an american like apartment. It is air conditioned. we have wifi, we have hot water, and we have a kitchen. The translator showed Josh around and we are actually in a great location. Lots of restaurants and such around. The rep from the apartment assured us that drunk women and mean doormen weren't the norm here. He also said that he felt safer here than in NY. He just said to mainly watch out for police officers looking for bribes or petty thieves. But, our apartment rep in on call 24 hours a day and we have the translators #s and an american medical clinic # if we need it. We will make it--as long as we can leave Thursday :).
Josh said the cathedral was the national cathedral--it cost 600 million american dollars to build. Just fyi.
We started off the day by being cheap. The "cheap" breakfast in the hotel that includes your drink, cereal, fruit, and toast was 40 dollars a person, so we took our cereal down to the lobby and ordered milk and coffee. I had planned to give Vasa flavored oatmeal today (the plain for him was not a hit), but he refused to even try it. I don't blame him-I don't like plain oatmeal, either. I just got the impression that he was used to eating porridge. Apparently, everyone has to draw the line somewhere on what they will eat and not eat. So, he ate our cereal, drank his milk, and ate the biscottis that the waitress brought us-probably feeling sorry for us when she saw our box of cereal.
We went to Vasa's doctor's appointment. It was a total of 3 minutes. He is 27 pounds and 35 1/2 inches long. He spent 3 of the five minutes checking out his man parts. Those seem to be in working order, too. He told us he looked good and off we went (after getting the paper for the embassy). Now we wait until Monday.
Our translator took us to red square where we saw the changing of the guards. That was really neat--especially how they balanced the guns with the sword thing on the end pointing to the sky in their hands. Vasa was unimpressed. He just wanted to play with the chain surrounding the changing of the guards. We walked through another pretty shopping mall. We took Vasa's picture in front of Saint Basils. Then, we headed to the other beautiful cathedral--right now I can't remember the name-how horrible was that? But, it is hard to pay too much attention in a gorgeous, quiet cathedral with a 3 year old in tow. It was gorgeous, by the way. FYI--it was blown up in the 1930s, on the land was a public heated swimming pool in the 1960s, then they raised lots of rubles to rebuild the cathedral after the pool was run down.
Then, we waited for a pizza at a cafe to bring back to our new apartment. Vasa has been extremely patient today. Yet, the one or two stop rule applies to all 3 year olds. After more than 1 or 2 stops, time to go home. We headed to the new apartment. We enter the lobby to wait on the man meeting us with the key. The doorman was not thrilled to see us waiting there. We were also followed in by a drunk woman holding her beer. He had words with her, but allowed her to stay. She proceeded to push our things over so she could sit on the bench. The doorman physically wrestled with her while Josh, the translator, and I hurried to move Vasa and our things out of the way. I am trying to divvy out cheerios during all of this, too, so Vasa would stay in the stroller. He has already learned how to unthread the buckle to get out-smart boy. Our representative for the apartment finally meets us-he's originally from Australia but lived several years in new york city. He was super nice, but by that point the bellman/security guy felt the need to check our passports to make sure we were legit or whatever. By the time we get upstairs, my sweet husband pulls me aside and says we may not be staying more than a night here.
Yet, after we have gotten comfortable with the apartment, it actually seems very nice. It looks like an american like apartment. It is air conditioned. we have wifi, we have hot water, and we have a kitchen. The translator showed Josh around and we are actually in a great location. Lots of restaurants and such around. The rep from the apartment assured us that drunk women and mean doormen weren't the norm here. He also said that he felt safer here than in NY. He just said to mainly watch out for police officers looking for bribes or petty thieves. But, our apartment rep in on call 24 hours a day and we have the translators #s and an american medical clinic # if we need it. We will make it--as long as we can leave Thursday :).
Josh said the cathedral was the national cathedral--it cost 600 million american dollars to build. Just fyi.
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