Pree-vyet! (Hi!)

Our first post from Moscow.
Our trip over was pleasantly uneventful. Everything was actually on time, even with our short layovers it all went very easily. Because of the short layovers in Philly and Frankfurt the trip actually went by pretty quickly and we were never bored. We tried to sleep for about 3 hours, but only managed to get about 30 minutes.
I had heard last week from another adoptive family who arrived here that upon our arrival in Moscow we would have to have our temperature taken before we get off the plane because of the swine flu. And sure enough, they came onboard with an infrared type device to scan our ear for a fever. Once everyone was clear we were able to deplane and head down to passport control. Roger and I have been to many foreign countries and this was the first time passport control had no sense of order. Other countries have queues (just like banks), and next in line goes up and so on...well, the people in the Moscow airport just crowd the area and you have to be somewhat aggressive if you ever want to get to the agent.
We arrived to rain and they say it should rain on and off for the rest of the week. We're quite alright with that. It beats Russia with snow and 10 degrees and beats the 100 degrees temps we've experienced already in AZ. Our very smiley translator/driver (Max--although when he says it, it sounds like Mox, but I'm pretty sure it's Max) was waiting for us after we claimed our bags and then off we went to the city center of Moscow. About a 30 mile drive. We then crashed in the room for a couple hours once unpacked.
So far we haven't done much else besides walk to St. Basil's and Red Square (which are close to the hotel)(and so uniquely stunning). Monday we will walk around more and do some souvenir shopping so the kids will have something to remember their country by. Paka for now! (Bye)