Saturday begins... more tidbits of info

Well, it's 10:30 am here. I've just eaten my morning yogurt for breakfast. The packaging is pretty easy to recognize in grocery stores. The milk wasn't so easy but we got it figured out. We bought some Nesquik cereal puffs for those days we're not interested in oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast. Actually, David has been having a sandwich of Nutella and bananas, or Peanut Butter from home and bananas.

The stay in this 12x12(ish) hotel room hasn't been too bad. It's a little small but it's been livable. It helps to have the large window to open things up. Unfortunately we are on the fourth floor and our window overlooks the landing that supports the large hotel sign and limits our view of the courtyard that we enjoyed viewing last time we were here. The other unfortunate thing about being on the fourth floor is that it's where all the noise happens. We were told this was the cheapest room and we've learned why. Not that we're complaining about cheap because 18 nights in a hotel can be quite expensive, but the breakfast buffet, the dentist, the maid service people, the wood floors in the hallway with everyone wearing loud heels/boots, all can get quite loud, especially at night. Oh well. It's nothing to really complain about. :)

Our room has a refrigerator, a telephone, a tv (that doesn't have plug ins to attach an external DVD player to), a desk, a queen-ish size bed, a toilet room with shower stall and pedestal sink, a small coffee table, nightstand, two chairs and NO CLOCK. Yep, I had forgotten that from the last visit and I was very thankful we brought a little travel clock we were given as a groomsmen gift. We also have David's cell phone so we set them both for the times we need to get up, just in case we wouldn't wake up to one... we didn't want to take any chances with the time change and all.

We brought a small water kettle made by bodum. It is really handy. There are hot and cold water dispensers on every floor, but the kettle boils the water and also makes for a handy caraf coming back to the room. Funny thing, I thought it was dual voltage as everything else we have is, so we've just been using an adapter plug. The thing boils water in less than a minute so we have to watch. The directions online say it boils water in less than 4 minutes though I got curious and finally emailed the manufacturer as to whether it truly is dual voltage, since I couldn't tell from the casing. Turns out it is NOT and we've been really blessed that the thing hasn't died on us, or worse. I did bring our converter box, just in case, so we'll be using that with the kettle from now on. :) I think the only "comfort from home" (other than my doggie) I truly miss is my morning coffee. We've resorted to instant and we're making due but I think we're going to try the Traveler's Coffee place down the street sometime soon.

Lets see, what else can I say at the moment, since David is sleeping in, trying to stave off this cold he is starting to feel... It's laundry day today... I brought a travel clothes line my mom had and I'm going to try to find a place to hang it. Not an easy task. There was a warm pipe in the bathroom in Moscow and we just used that to dry the clothes on, not to mention, everything dried fast there, even in the main room. Here, it seems to take a bit longer, but still overnight is enough. We've been able to close the radiator knob so it hasn't been so stiffling in here. We would have to open the window in 5ºF weather, just to cool things down a bit.

I think that's all for now. Thanks for all the comments and helpful tips, especially on the last post. I really appreciate hearing from you all. :)

--------- addition
We've just returned from a wonderfully nice day here. We decided to go for a walk and head to the flea market. We basically need all new outerwear for Jack because what we could find at home was 12 month size. We thought that since children are typically small for their age that it might work for Jack. Turns out he's very close to his age's size, which I think I've mentioned before, so we have to get him new outerwear. We had gone to the children's store but I didn't like much of what I saw there. We ventured out to the flea market today and on the way out we found a booth with just the right size coat/pants set, and another booth that had a warm fuzzy cap that came down over his ears along with a scarf. Now all we need are boots. :) The ones we brought might fit him but are designed in such a way that we can't get his foot in them. He like to help to put on shoes and arches his toes down, making it extra difficult putting shoes on.

We returned to the hotel for a quick potty break and went back out for an early dinner. We made it to Travelers Coffee and were surprised they are a full restaurant. I had the Fettucini with Chicken and Mushrooms, as did David and he added a broccoli/spinach soup. Everything was quite tasty and very reasonably priced. It seemed to be extra windy today so the warm food was especially good. We ended our meal with a well made espresso and latte. (finally some good coffee). After that we went to the grocery store near there to try to find tissues and restock on some other things. Still no luck with the tissues. So, now we're back, relaxing in the room. Well, actually David is downstairs checking for some maps. We're also looking into attending a local church service in the morning and we'll have to take a taxi to get there so I think David is checking on how to do that too. So that's been our day so far. I think we will relax and read books or watch a movie tonight. Hope you all are doing well.