Ten days in Saint Petersburg

Part 2 of who knows how many.

Our first full day in SP started with us registering our file with the Ministry of Education and Family office in downtown SP. That's the doorway into the office in the picture. Pretty nondescript inside, but all the buildings in and around downtown are lovely. No taller than 4 or 5 stories, painted in pastel colors with ornate trims and moldings. Most of the streets run along or over canals. Peter the Great had laborers fill in swamp land and make canals leading to the River Neva which flows into the Bay of Finland. It's called the Venice of the North. I've not been to Venice, so I don't know, but it's really a beautiful and striking downtown.

Kurt and I had been prepped by Oksana prior to this registration. We were to answer the questions and sign the log. I was amazed. We're in a city of 4.5 million, dealing with what would equate to be a regional governmental office, and we were logged in by signing longhand in a bookkeeping log book. This would not be the last time we officially signed off on a document this way. They use computers in SP - the lady (sorry, I did not catch her title) at the Ministry office used one, but our docs were all handled the old-fashioned way.

Our meeting that we were stressed over lasted less than 10 minutes. Then we sat outside the office while our travel partners (G and K) logged in their stuff. After that, we were dropped off at the hotel and given five days to wait. (There was an accreditation glitch at the time we were traveling, so we were handled like an independent adoption rather than an agency adoption - thus there was a five day wait for our paperwork to be reviewed by the Ministry). This also meant we had five days to sightsee.

Vladimir, our driver/tour guide helped us out tremendously. He arranged to take us to Tsarkoe Selo to see Catherine's Palace and Pavlovsk the next day. Catherine's Palace is turquoise on the outside with white trim and quite dazzling in the snow and sun. This palace has the famous "Amber Room" which is actually a reproduction of the original. Most of Catherine's Palace was destroyed by the Russians to keep the Germans from looting it and using it as a headquarters during WWII. (There was a lot of this done in and around SP and it's palaces). Pavlovsk was built for Catherine the Great's son, Paul, and was like walking through a giant Wedgwood box. The ceilings and walls were all pastel with white jasperware designs. Turns out that Wedgwood and Russia have been great pals since Catherine the Great. I think that Pavlovsk was my favorite palace of the five we visited.

Over the next few days we visited The Hermitage (on my bucket list) and the Russian State Museum (which was a palace of a lesser known royal - and that means he did not die a painful and early death). I loved both of these museums as much for their artwork as for the architecture of the buildings, the inlaid wood floors, the incredibly drafty windows. We were so fortunate to have mild weather for our trips. All three trips (Nov, Dec and Jan) were 25-40 degrees. This meant we could walk to the sights and not have to take a car. It's so much faster to walk up Nevsky Prospekt than to drive it. It's equivalent to 5th Avenue at rush hour, only it's 20 hours a day. Of course, all the good places to see in town and our hotels were either on Nevsky or within a block or two of it. Interspersed were McDonald's, KFC and Subway.

Vladimir was not available one day, so his father took the four of us in a very small Rabbit to Peterhof, which is Peter the Great's summer palace. This palace is about one hour outside of SP and 15 minutes in one direction from the baby house where Ben lived and 15 minutes in the other direction from Vladimir Putin's mansion. A little surreal when all is considered.

I think it will be easiest if I make a slide show of all of my sightseeing pics. They really are quite lovely (Kurt took the photos) and you'll get more of a feel for SP. Frankly, I'd go back in a heartbeat.

On the 15th of November, we were to meet Oksana in the lobby of our hotel so we could go to the medical center for our physical examinations. That morning it was snowing - big fat fluffy flakes which made traffic awful but was so pretty to see. I have included a pic of the medical center. We had had our bloodwork, chest x-ray and medical questionnaires all completed prior the leaving the states. We were supposed to be "reviewed" and given a few rudimentary exams (non-invasive) and be sent on our way. Oksana tells us as we're getting in the van that we'll be heading to the baby house after our medicals. We were so excited.

Well, not so fast. The oncologist was palpating my abdomen to check for cancer/tumors and happens upon my enormous uterine fibroids. Uh oh. She gets tense and calls for more tests. I groaned because I'd just had an ultrasound in the states to determine, yet again, that these oranges were not cancerous, just annoying. So, halfway around the world, I get to enjoy a Russian pelvic ultrasound. Thankfully, the equipment looked just like it's American counterparts and the techs were very respectful and professional. So, the halls were dark, the paint was peeling and there's no toilet paper in a medical center's bathrooms. At least they came to the same conclusion my US dr. had come to and let my medical paperwork proceed. Two hour delay, but all was okay (well, except for my nerves).

Of course, the medical center and the baby house were at two opposite points of SP. Lomonosov Baby House is about a one hour drive west and south of SP, along the Bay of Finland. We finally arrived late afternoon (no idea what time, it was almost dark, but dark comes around 4 during the winter up there). We were ushered into a playroom and the workers went to get the babies. G & K's daughter was brought in first. Then in came this chubby, sweet faced baby with a HEAD FULL OF DARK HAIR. Amazing head of hair (it's on the video, it's about all I can say). I thought I would cry or shake. I didn't. All I remember thinking is that this little human was wondrous and might be ours forever. When his caregiver put him down on the rug in front of where I was sitting he cried so I instantly picked him up. He stopped crying and just looked at us. Then he looked at himself in the mirror running along the bottom of the wall. He made no other noise that evening. He did not smile at us. I worried about his health and developmental delays but our IA ped had e-mailed us a checklist to go over with him to determine his abilities. Kurt used his watch as an enticement to see if he would crawl. He did.

The orphanage Director was not present that day. She'd had a death in the family. This was difficult for us because the Director was to share as many details as she had on his time in the baby house, his birth family, etc. We were due to go to the Notary office the next day to sign and say that this child would be ours. Kurt and I had to make this decision without the benefit of his medical/birth background. Daunting. We had a long discussion over a late dinner at the hotel. K, our travel partner, is a doctor and had helped us through anything she might be able to see (she gave him the thumbs up). We felt like this was our child. There are no guarantees and things happen. We'd deal with them. We both went to sleep that night feeling that we'd sign at the notary and feel good about it. And we did. The picture is the doorway to the notary's office. Not glamorous.

We were able to visit the Baby House again two days later. Our visit was about 3-4 hours long. Ben fell asleep in my arms. I sighed and thought if he could fall asleep in my arms then he must like me okay. Kurt and I were completely taken with him. The name we'd chosen seemed to fit him which was a relief since we had committed to it at the notary's office. It all seemed a little out of order but with the right players. Back home after 10 incredible days far far away.