Nizhny Novgorod

Our family took off on Saturday, May 15th for a few days in Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny is about 400 miles from Saratov and we traveled there by train. We explored other options (flying or a cruise up the Volga) but quickly learned that a 21/22 hour (one way) train ride was our only option! We left our flat a little before 7 am on Saturday morning and walked to a nearby bus stop. The bus took us and our luggage to the train station. The conductor on the bus didn't charge us for the children, but did charge us for the 2 suitcases. No biggie - bus fare is very inexpensive here (7 Roubles). We got to the station and into our compartment with little trouble. As mentioned before, Russian trains are an experience never to be forgotton! We were in a second class carriage which consists of double bunk beds. The beds have a tiny bit of padding and there are bed rolls and pillows. The pillows are down (based on the feathers floating around) but heavy and about as comfortable as rocks. The bed rolls are old and worn and provide little cushion. Passengers are provided with CLEAN sheets and pillowcases. Our train to Nizhny was not the cleanest train (apart from the sheets) - the bathroom defies description. To all my germophobic friends out there - you may want to avoid this train... Let's say that we made good use of our Purell! We were much better prepared for the train this time as compared to our arrival in Russia. We even managed to have some fun (Ken hopped off at one of the stops and bought some ice cream which was a nice treat for all of us)!

We arrived in Nizhny at 5:30 the next morning. There were two students from the University where Ken was lecturing there to meet us, Kate and Ann (twins), and they proved to be one of the best things about Nizhny! Later in the week we also got to meet Sasha and he was a wonderful new friend as well. Kate, Ann and Sasha all spoke English and took it upon themselves to show us their city. I think we all fell in love with Nizhny. It is situated on the Volga and Oka Rivers and is picturesque! We spent a lot of time just walking around the city, admiring the churches, the monuments, the architecture and of course the Kremlin.

Nizhny's Kremlin was the first Kremlin that we saw and it was impressive! We had lunch in a restaurant inside the Kremlin. Ordering was interesting - it was a very large menu and there was no English menu. With the help of Ann and Kate we tried to order several things off of the menu, only to be told that they weren't available. We finally got some food and although ordering was challenging, the food was delicious, and we all had a chance to try Borsch. We all liked it to varying degrees, Katie was the least enthusiastic, I could have done without the sour cream. Dylan and Ken were happy! Interestingly, Ann and Kate both shared that they disliked borsch, perhaps from having to eat it too much when they were children.
We saw many beautiful churches...

Went for a cruise on the Volga...

And, Sasha used his connections to get the kids free rides at a local amusement park and entrance into their zoo. The amusement park was wild - the bumper cars were fast and made a major impact! At the zoo, the kids got to hold a baby fox and we got to see the bears (Misha and Masha) getting fed!

In addition to touring the city, Ken completed several lectures at the University about Social Work in America and he was also able to visit a local drug and alcohol rehab facility for his research. We were also able to meet with 3 Americans who are currently making their home in Nizhny.

All in all we had a very busy but fun week! We enjoyed our mini vacation, had the opportunity to make some wonderful new friends and got to see a very beautiful Russian city. Ann and Kate enjoy traveling and we are doing our best to convince them to visit us in America!

All too soon it was time to head for the train to come home. Ann, Kate and Sasha got us safely on board, negotiated with another passenger so that the four of us could be in the same cabin (we were unable to get tickets all together and had to trade) and gave us some delicious sandwiches and sweets from Nizhny to see us home. I confess to crying as our train pulled out of the station - we couldn't have spent the week with nicer people. I hope to meet them again someday!

Our journey home was interesting. We left at 7 pm on Thursday night. The good news is that this train was significantly cleaner. We still made good use of our Purell, but in general there was a much better bathroom situation. On Friday some policemen boarded the train and asked to see our passports. Ken showed them copies, they perused them and were on their way...Not sure what that was all about. Ken almost got kicked out of our cabin - the person we switched with had left the train and they were going to put the new passenger in our cabin. Again, that person was kind enough to switch so that we could all be together as a family. We finally pulled into Saratov at 5:40 pm and caught a bus home.

So, the vacation is over but we are realizing how quickly our time here is ending. We fly back to the States on July 13 (here's hoping that ash from Iceland doesn't disrupt anything). Please keep us in your prayers as we get through this last month and a half. We are excited to come home, sad as we start our lasts (I just changed our last water filter:), and have all kinds of things to do in the time that we have left (souvenier shopping, Ken has some surveys to get completed and he hopes to see some more rehabs). Thanks to all of you who keep in touch via FB, email and skype. Looking forward to seeing you soon and trying some of those pretzel M&M's I have been hearing about!