Greeting the offspring...
Jun. 13th, 2010 07:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpNatalie arrived yesterday, at Domodedovo Airport, and Galina and I went to meet her. In the end, everything went well, but looking back, it was only because so many things went so poorly all around.
I spent some time in the early morning writing an LJ Idol entry for this week, and was lucky enough to cobble together something that, last night, still sounded coherent. If that hadn't been the case, I would have had no alternative but to drop out of the competition, because between greeting Natalie, sightseeing around Moscow, traveling to St. Petersburg, and so on, there would have been no time left at all for any writing before the deadline loomed.
Galina and I got out of the apartment late, so much so that we not only missed the 1:30 pm Aeroexpress shuttle from Paveletsky Station, but we made the 2 pm shuttle by only about 3 minutes. For some reason, I had acquired the impression that it took 15 minutes to get to the airport, which was incorrect (it takes 45). The taxi we had ordered for 2:50 pm called to tell us he was "on station" in the parking lot while we were still en route to the airport.
I was sure Natalie had breezed through the entry formalities and was now waiting for us somewhere - where? - so the pressure was on. When we finally got to the terminal, it felt like it took forever to walk to the end furthest from the train station, to where people from international flights were coming out of customs. We got there just before Natalie came out.
The taxi took us to Alla's where Natalie greeted her grandmother for the first time in about 15 years, and met her cousin Olga for the first time. Then we sat down and broke bread and had a very nice meal.
The pace will redline today, with one of the main goals being to procure rail tickets for St. Petersburg. I hope there are some overnight compartments still left. There is only one way to find out for sure, though, so we better get to it.
Cheers...
I spent some time in the early morning writing an LJ Idol entry for this week, and was lucky enough to cobble together something that, last night, still sounded coherent. If that hadn't been the case, I would have had no alternative but to drop out of the competition, because between greeting Natalie, sightseeing around Moscow, traveling to St. Petersburg, and so on, there would have been no time left at all for any writing before the deadline loomed.
Galina and I got out of the apartment late, so much so that we not only missed the 1:30 pm Aeroexpress shuttle from Paveletsky Station, but we made the 2 pm shuttle by only about 3 minutes. For some reason, I had acquired the impression that it took 15 minutes to get to the airport, which was incorrect (it takes 45). The taxi we had ordered for 2:50 pm called to tell us he was "on station" in the parking lot while we were still en route to the airport.
I was sure Natalie had breezed through the entry formalities and was now waiting for us somewhere - where? - so the pressure was on. When we finally got to the terminal, it felt like it took forever to walk to the end furthest from the train station, to where people from international flights were coming out of customs. We got there just before Natalie came out.
The taxi took us to Alla's where Natalie greeted her grandmother for the first time in about 15 years, and met her cousin Olga for the first time. Then we sat down and broke bread and had a very nice meal.
The pace will redline today, with one of the main goals being to procure rail tickets for St. Petersburg. I hope there are some overnight compartments still left. There is only one way to find out for sure, though, so we better get to it.
Cheers...
