It Was the Best of Times: Day 46 (Thurs March 24th) Kiev

We did our traditional lazy thing in the morning. Natasha had called me the night before to tell me she'd be in Kiev. She was planning on being our personal tour guide as well as sleeping in the apartment with us in order to go to the airport in the morning and make sure things went smoothly. She said she'd be there around 11 or so and then we could do whatever we wanted.

Around 10 I got a call from her. She was on her way with her mom and we had a slight change in plans. Oleg's wife was in a play and they were having their first dress rehearsal. We'd been invited to go see it. :) WAY FUN! I was very much up for the change in plans. She said Irina would be there around 11:15 to pick us up and we'd meet Natasha at the opera house. I got up and Little One and I showered quickly since I didn't want wet stuff to have to pack that night. Around the time Irina was supposed to be there I got another call from Natahsa. Irina was worried about traffic so could we maybe walk to St. Michael's and she's pick us up there. I was pretty sure I knew how to get there so we finished getting ready and off we went. It was such a nice walk! I hated walking everywhere for everything when I first got to Ukraine, but now I really miss it!

This was a fun guy on our walk. I took the picture for Masha since I know she loved him. :)

When we arrived at the opera house it wasn't the opera house I'd been expecting. Still, it was very fun! We met Natasha, her mom, Oleg, and another lady that spoke English well. I didn't catch her name. The play was very good. It was about a guy and a girl that met on the internet. She was from France, he from Ukraine. Since she had grandparents in Ukraine she came for a visit and, of course, fell in love with the guy from the internet as he showed her around. I think they were mad at each other in the middle, but I didn't really get that part. LOL During intermission we went down and ate in a cafeteria where the actors congregated. It was fun. :) Oleg's older son Daniel was there when it was finished and he introduced himself to everyone. Very outgoing kid. :)

Ira, Little One, Me and Daniel

Since our third ticket was still "unconfirmed" we decided to all head over to our new favorite place to eat (Ukrainian food) and figure out what to do from there.

We passed this mall on our way. I wanted to check it out! Next trip, right?

Irina thought this car was pretty cool and made a point to have me take a picture of it. :)

From the back

This cafe has sinks to wash your hands at before you go throug the line.

Little One and I got locked in the bathroom. I went with her, luckily or that would not have been good. As it was she was a little scared. I couldn't stop laughing because I thought it was so funny. I called Natasha and told her where we were and she went to get someone to let us out. LOL

Little One finally warmed up to Daniel and played on my iPod with him. They did Cut the Rope. :) He would do a thumbs up when he did it right and put his hands over his mouth if he didn it wrong. LOL

More playing

Oleg, Irina, and Natasha

Daniel and I had quite a nice chat together, through Natasha. she asked him to tell me about his family. He has lots of members but wanted to tell me about his cat, teddy bears and stuffed owl instead. She asked him to tell me about his country so he told me his favorite Ukrainian singer and then his favorite Ukrainian poet. :) He told me about his school a little. I asked if we could bring him home with us too and he thought for a second. He said yes, but only for summer vacations. And I couldn't bring his little brother because it might stress the little brother out. (His brother is autistic so he's not far off with that.) It was the cutest thing ever! I told Oleg when he got back from somewhere that we had things all arranged for summer time.

By the time we left, Little One and Daniel were friends. The funny thing was he kept chasing her, calling her Julietta. I'm pretty sure I heard a Romeo in there too. They gave each other a cute hug when it was time to go. I asked them to do it again so I could get a picture, but this is what I got instead. Still adorable. Maybe they can be pen pals. :)

Julietta and Daniel

From there we went to an actual Air France office to try and get the tickets straightened out. We had to wait awhile (welcome to Ukraine) but ended up getting three confirmed tickets for the next morning. In a way I was excited, but mostly I was disappointed. Since I'd heard that third ticket was still unconfirmed I'd been planning out what fun things we were going to do Friday and maybe even Saturday. That way I could fly home with Cook's on Sunday and have their company. Ah well. Next trip....

Natasha was looking at some of my photography and I was telling her that Kiev was a photographer's dream as far as architecture goes. She was actually pretty impressed and said she'd have a few clients lined up in Keiv if I want to come back to do some shoots. Do I EVER?! I very much hope to take her up on that sooner rather than later.

We tried to go see the water museum which is in an old water tower. It sounded like fun as well as something the girls might enjoy. On our way we walked by the puppet theater and took a bunch of pictures. I know...I just mentioned I'm a photographer and yet all you see are these not so good snapshots. I left my DSLR home since I didn't want to lug it around. My little camera is nice, but not as much as my other one. Light was horrible and yeah...enough excuses. :) Ask me if you want to see some of my "real" stuff.

The puppet theater

Little One started walking around holding Natasha's hand

Me and the girls in front of the theater

They had fun statues

Do you like my hat?

I finally broke down and used my flash. I love Natasha. :) She and I are similar in a lot of ways. LOL That's her mom peaking out behind Little One.

My girls

Natahsa's mom kept wanting them to climb on the statues for pictures. She is so funny!

Friends

The water tower/museum. We missed it by a couple of hours though.

Natasha then took us over to "Lover's Bridge." She said there were a few legends with it and no one really remembers for sure which is true. Basically it was a Romeo/Juliet story. He was waiting for her and she was a few minutes late. He thought she'd abandoned him so he jumped off (I should mention this bridge is over a very busy street.) She came and saw he'd jumped off so she jumped too. You know...in a way I like the tragic love story, but for heaven's sake! Wait a little while or call her on the phone before you go jumping off a bridge! Anyway, like the bridge in Dnepro it was covered with locks. I liked this one. Again, it was getting dark and I didn't feel like messing with it on the computer so you see it right off my camera. :)