Morning in Almaty

Vera and Medet picked us up for the ride to the train station at 9:30 p.m. and we said good-bye with hopes that it will only be good-bye for now. I know I'll see them again in about a month. Jim will have to wait longer than that. We left Taraz with great memories, wonderful new friends, and the knowledge that Alex will be home with us in about a month. And that's what its all about.

We arrived in Almaty this morning after a 10 hour overnight train ride. How was the bathroom, you ask? Not the worst I've ever seen but also not my first choice. I used it once and as quickly as possible. For future Taraz-goers, the flush mechanism is a pedal on the floor next to the toilet. I would have never figured this out had the Petersons not told me. Overall, the train ride wasn't bad at all. We had an entire compartment (4 beds, 2 up/2 down) to ourselves and it was much large than the compartment in the Spanish train we took to Taraz three weeks ago. Of course, we gained space but lost the private bathroom.

Marina (Almaty coordinator) and Sam (driver--who speaks 7 languages!!) picked us up and whisked us off to a great apartment in the middle of everything. We have a large bedroom with a bay window, living room, bathroom with shower/tub and sink plus a separate toilet area and a large kitchen with a sunny breakfast nook. I can get used to this! Did I mention the washer? And the satellite TV? Yes, I saw Oprah today, briefly, for the first time in weeks. Not only that, when we got off the train around 9 a.m. Marina asked if we would like a little breakfast. We ended up at a cafe that had excellent blini (like crepes) with raspberry jam... and... drumroll... REAL COFFEE! And espresso! I thought Jim was going to weep on the spot. A delicious snack and only about a block away.

This afternoon we are going to do some sight-seeing and look for that elusive rug we are hoping to buy. Sam knows a good place to get them. Tomorrow we have big plans but I'm going to keep it a secret so watch for the post.

Almaty is a huge city and very modern, comparable to NYC, DC, Paris, etc. Quite a switch from our little haven of Taraz. More later...