Samara, Russia

Today we flew to Samara. We arrived to a different airport concept. Samara's airport is like none other that I have been to. Once the plan taxied to a stop "near" what appeared to be a possible terminal building it was pushed out to a parking pad and two passenger buses pulled up and we deplaned and walked to the bus for a short ride to the hanger building where our luggage arrived on one conveyer belt. There were no restrooms, no real security checks, it was simple and to the point...get off plane and get your luggage and leave.
We were greeted by our interpreter. She was very nice and took us out to the driver and car. When the diver popped the trunk there was about 2 inches of water in his trunk. Lucky for us he was prepared for this event and had a sponge to sponge it right out. So after about 5 minutes of sponging we were ready for our hour and half drive to Samara proper.
Again traffic was interesting. The Russian people drive a little different than we do. It seems there are not many traffic laws each man for himself. Greg kept a close eye on the temperature gage of the car on the drive. It hoovered near red the whole way. We imagined that was what the 5 gallon water jug that had spilled in the trunk was to be used for.
We arrived safely to our hotel. The hotel is a very old building with a lot of character.  Hardwood floors, big bedroom and big living room and a small bath. If you were to google our hotel the pictures you see there do not resemble our room in any way, not sure where that modern looking room is but no matter the room we have is fine. We had originally been place in a room with no air conditioning but later found out we could have air for an additional and fee. We decided the fee was worth it and moved.
We ate at yet another pizza place. (if you know Greg, you know we will mainly eat pizza on every trip, even to Russia) This pizza restaurant was in the hotel it was very good and unlike Greg I am not a huge pizza fan.
After dinner we walked down to the Volozhka river. At the river they had lots of food vendors and children's activities set up. Kids were playing and enjoying the nice summer afternoon. Along the river there was a nice beach where lots and lots of people were enjoying the summer sun and fun. We walked around the river walk and enjoyed watching the children play and people watching in general. For those who are really interested to see exactly where we are try this google link.
Tomorrow we go for our appointment with the Adoption Officials at the Centre of Adoption for this region. We will be officially shown the children's files and answer questions about our home study. We will also meet with the Psychologist at this time. Please pray thar this appointment will go smoothly and we will answer the questions in a way that pleases the Russian Adoption Officials.
On Friday we will finally get to visit Olivia Ann so we hope to soon be blogging about the precious children and not the pizza we ate. Thank you for all your prayers.
A few pictures from the afternoon walk below.