Adriano Hotel and Resort, Adler;   Meals:  D

I arrived in Moscow around 6:15 am and headed as fast as I could through immigration, up and down escalators and on a train from Terminal D to Terminal B.  One thing I noticed about the domestic Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Sochi was that the two flight attendants that made announcements in English after the Russian version were unintelligible (to me) except for the final work - Thank you.  Also the whole process, except for the young man at the info booth in Moscow who had excellent English, was mostly in Russian.  People didn't seem to pick up my blank look when they spoke Russian to me - as in food offerings on the plane.  Sometimes I could catch a word or two, or make a guess at what was happening, and offer a word or two in Russian as a response.  All worked out though so I was feeling almost fluent.  ha, ha.  Having studied Russian 50 years ago doesn't really go that far in most conversations.   But, I keep trying...bit by bit.  Word by word.

I had my second window seat with view obstructed by the wing on the flight to Sochi, but I was OK with that because I mostly wanted the extra elbow space and place to rest my head to nap.  I was lucky again because there was an empty seat between me and the man on the aisle.  I read a little and napped a little and ate a meal - sandwich, cookie and saved the yogurt for later.  After I collected my bag from the carousel, I started to scan the placards.  I immediately heard my name called.  A driver and our tour leader Michel were waiting for me.  I got to learn a little more about the tour and folks on the tour.  On this trip, Michel has 5 or 6 people who have traveled with him before.  Our driver is an Armenian from Tbilisi and he was telling Michel about his family's history during the Russian Empire and living in  the USSR .  He said that there were a lot of Armenians in Tbilisi before the split in 1991.  I could only catch a word or two now and then.   Michel recapped for me.

We drove past the Black Sea shore, a Russian Orthodox church, the market and shops on our way to the hotel.  Our hotel is not actually in Sochi but in a nearby town called Adler.  We got the keys to our rooms.  Mine is quite modern and spacious with lots of light and big lamps.  I think I have a king bed.  I will probably be sad to leave this place.  It has a refrigerator but no coffeemaker.  It does have free wifi so that is a plus.  Most of my requirements have been met.

After eating my yogurt with blueberries for lunch with the last of the tortilla chips, or crumbs thereof, I headed off to find the Black Sea.  There is a map but it is not a city map really so I winged it.  I followed people who looked as if they might be going to the beach and there certainly were lots of people looking that way along the main street - which I thought was Lenin Street.  Before I followed them, I did check out the market - I loved it - very colorful and lots of tempting fruit and food items.  I decided to stop in on my way back.   So after going along Lenin Street, I turned a corner that looked promising and lo and behold, I was on the Sea! I walked along the beach a bit, waded a bit, and then walked along the boardwalk for what seemed quite a long way....all the time looking for an ice cream shop.  Finally on my way back, I stopped in a cafeteria like restaurant that had an ice cream section and got some pistachio ice cream.  I didn't want to risk getting lost, so I backtracked to the point where I got onto the beach.  It didn't seem so long.  I went past the big orange sanatorium and got back on Lenin.  I was sure I would recognize the turn but went past somehow and landed in front of the church which I hadn't remembered passing while walking out.  I fumbled around not quite finding my way back - I think I made more turns than I remembered, but remembered certain shops and was able to find the hotel again.  What a relief!  From there I went back to the market and made a few purchases:  nuts, fruit sticks and a peach and nectarine.

I omitted one adventure that I had on the beach boardwalk.  I was gazing out at the Sea when an elderly (more so than I) woman approached me.  She was babbling away and gesturing, while I tried to look polite and somehow convey to her than I was not understanding her so I said to her in Russian that I do not understand Russian.  She mostly ignored that and continued talking.  I think she was beginning to realize that I really didn't understand much of what she was saying so she did attempt to simplify her speech and use some pantomime.  I find I can understand numbers better than I thought, so I got that she is 86 years old and that she fell (and presumably broke something) so that walking is more difficult for her and she needs a cane.  I do wish I could have understood her better.  After prolonged farewells and good wishes, she ambled off down the boardwalk.

I got back just before 4 pm and decided to send some phone pics and write up today's blog so far while I have wi-fi.  I am done for now.  I am hungry so I will try some nuts, take a nap, set my alarm for 6, then shower and go to the group meeting at 6:45 pm.

So I woke up at 6 pm, showered and dressed for dinner and it was still only 6:40 pm.  I snacked on more nuts since I was starving.  I then was trying to figure out what to do when Michel called to say that we would not be meeting until 8 pn since some people were arriving later.  So I decided to upload my Nikon photos only to find out that they had disappeared - mostly ones of my room and more of the Black Sea beach.  That is unfortunate.  I switched the sd card and tested it.  The photos seem to be saved now.  Let me look again.  They still seem to be there.

I didn't get much accomplished before it was time to go down to meet the group for dinner at 8 pm.  I went a bit early and met 3 men at a table - they were all part of our MIR group:  Rami, Brian and Jim.  Soon Olga, our local guide, joined us and then quite a few others.  I guess there are 8 of us on the pre-trip trip to Abkhazia.  We walked over to the hotel restaurant a few blocks away.  I sat between Michel and Olga and got to know a few more of our group (but unfortunately forgotten their names).  Everyone I have spoken to so far is extremely well-traveled and been to a lot of off-the-beaten path countries, including North Korea.  Olga was in a special work-travel program and has visited 40 countries, studied and worked in Salamanca Spain and the US.   The restaurant served Italian dishes, including pizza, and had a separate sushi menu.  Michel said that the North Caucasus has even more sushi.  I had a smoked salmon sushi roll with philadelphia cheese which was good.  We are going to a noted fish restaurant tomorrow.  Quite a few people had just arrived and were jet-lagged so it was an early evening and I was back in my room by 9:30 pm or so.