Well, let’s get this photo out of the way right out of the gate:

We arrived at around 4 AM our time, and stumbled into the puddly, smokey Moscow airport in a daze of excitement and slight trepidation. Apart from a sour young customs lady who snapped at me for not filling out the proper card everything was smooth. (They didn’t give us—or even mention—these cards on the plane, you just had to magically know to go find a little table that had them in the corner.) Beth and Andrew picked us up outside customs (Green Lane! Nothing to declare!) and we rode into the city under a very gray and drizzly sky.

We attempted to push through to bed time without sleeping, as a sort of all-out kamikaze effort to reset our internal clocks. As such, we all headed off to the market to get food upon arrival.

And something to drink, although I’m afraid we didn’t decide to go with the Super Hooch:

Shortly after this photo was taken a young Russian lady walked up to me and indicated that I was not supposed to be taking photos in the grocery store. I’m not sure why, but I got my super hooch shot, so I mumbled “sorry” and wandered away.

About this time we’d been up for 24 hours straight. Elizabeth was doing remarkably well. I think she actually got a few hours sleep on the plane, but even so: remarkably well. I, on the other hand, was hitting my limit. I could tell this because, aside from the crippling daze, everything seemed hilarious. Finally, I gave up when I looked into my sisters cabinet, and, spying this chocolate bar, broke down into my first episode of truly hysteric laughter:

Wiping tears from my eyes, and willing myself to stop laughing, I decided it was time for a few hours of nap.

I’ve been told that your first day waking up hung over in Russia is disconcerting. The ceiling has wallpaper and the walls have rugs. And you’re lying looking at all of it from what seems like the opposite wall.

Whatever. The nap helped. We later took the subway to Red Square, which is beautiful in the twilight, by the way, and then headed home for a dessert of “Poncho” cake, and a good 12 hours of sleep.

I wonder what we’ll see today?