Our trip is coming to the end!

We got back to Bryansk from the Klintsy Baby Home and got to spend some time there before we headed to the train station. Here are some highlights of our trip. We did spend two nights in Bryansk (yawn). We did a lot of walking around. One of our favorite spots was an Italian restaurant. The pizza was good, and we managed to order beer and wine (by the glass), but it took a couple of tries. It is set in a very pretty area and we could sit outside and enjoy the weather.





We did find a department store that was close by (photo). It was like a mini mall. There were 3 floors that sold clothing, grocery, toys, sweets and breads. Patrick bought a Russian model helicopter and a Russian truck for Sean.



We walked around a few different parks in Bryansk. We were lucky with the weather it was warm. It was a very fast week for us.




We ran across a Russian wedding party in one of the parks in Bryansk.






We met Olga at midnight to take the 1:00 AM train back to Moscow. Olga traveled back with us (in another berth, of course!) She was great and we are so grateful to her and for all her help. She is very dedicated and works very hard for the families and children she helps to get them to their new homes.

The train ride home was very interesting for us, it was like something out of an old Cold War movie. The Bryansk Station is old without many modern improvements. The exterior illumination was very poor, making it very dark out walking across the tracks (yes, we walked across tracks-the platforms ended at track eight, we walked to track thirteen!) Seeing only a few people, hearing Russian announcements come over the loud speaker, and with a border patrol officers making sure we did not move any further on the platform.

Our 1:00 AM train to Moscow began in Kiev, Ukraine and Bryansk was its first stop in Russia. It was explained to us that many times these trains carry illegal narcotics, weapons and terrorists into Russia. A whole squad of officers descended on the train and checked each person's passports (Papers Please!)

After approximately 20 minutes we were let on the train. We were in our private berth for our 6 hour train ride back to Moscow. Then with a taxi ride, we headed right to the airport for our flight home. We left Moscow at noon their time and landed at JFK at 2:03 PM, New York time.

I could not sleep on this ride home all I could think about was Sean. I do not want to miss out on anything else in his life. I know we have a beautiful healthy boy waiting for us to come back for him. We hope it will be soon. Sean gave his new daddy a card for fathers day. It said Happy Papa day!