Our 1st Day Touring Kiev, Ukraine

Robert & Karrie in front of St. Michael's Cathedral, Kiev, Ukraine. 





Dobrey Den! (Good Day) Everyone! Yes, and a Good Day it was touring Kiev, Ukraine with Alla, our translator and her son, Dima. They picked us up at our apartment around 10:00am and brought a cell phone for us to rent from them. She showed us how to operate it and then Alla asked us some more detailed questions about ourselves, the type of children we were hoping to adopt, occupations, family and home. Since she wasn’t our original assigned translator, she was just trying to get to know us a little better and to understand better what age ranges we were looking to adopt. We then showed her our photo album that we put together of our home, the childrens’ bedrooms, family, friends and surrounding areas we live near, such as Cape May Beach & Lighthouse, pictures of Wissahikon Park in Philadelphia and NYC- The Statue of Liberty. They were both very interested in looking at our pictures and to get to know us a little better. They really seemed to favor the pictures of our families and our nieces, Nicole, Christina, Maria Clare & Julia and our nephew, Billy. By the way, our 3 and a half year old niece Maria Clare and her mom (Robert’s Sister), Maria made us these awesome chocolate chip cookies to take with us on our trip! They are wonderful and a nice treat from home to enjoy in the evenings. Thanks again to both Maria Clare & Maria for your sweet treats from home. They are YUMMY and appreciated!



By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Nicole!!! We love and miss you much and hope your birthday is as special as you are to us! Have a piece of cake for both Uncle Robert and Aunt Karrie.



We then walked out of our apartment and down the street and saw that we are across the street from a McDonalds. Fancy that. A little piece of home right across the street. Alla guided us through this underground mall that leads out to the other side of the street where we waited for a taxi bus. We took the taxi bus to a park called Shevchenko (not sure of the spelling) park. It was a beautiful park that was surrounded by a university and monuments of different historian Ukrainian figures one being Shevchenko himself. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the park and around the city. The temperature was approximately 86 degrees F. The humidity is low so we are really enjoying the weather.



St. Sofia's Cathedral, Kiev, Ukraine 





Alla and Dima were sharing with us a lot of history about the buildings we past. We past the National Ukrainian Opera House, Shevchenko University, St. Sophia’s Cathedral, and St. Michael’s Cathedral. We saw at least 12-15 different couples that just got married and were having their pictures taken with their friends outside of St. Michael’s Cathedral. They had their finely decorated cars (Mercedes and Limos) decorated with flowers and streamers. Of course, these people were the upper class citizens of Ukraine. Alla said that they have to have lots of money to pay for all of these fancy limos and Mercedes to be chauffeuring them around. We took some pictures and walked around the building and viewed more brides and grooms that were touching the holy water in this fountain that had a cross on top of it. It was interesting to learn a bit about the Ukrainian traditions when they get married. Near the fountain was a lady playing the violin. It was a beautiful scene. St. Michael’s Cathedral and St. Sofia’s Cathedral and gorgeous old Russian looking churches with the gold covered dome roofs and colorful walls. Their beauty and grand in stature prescence really took my breath away. No wonder why so many couples get their pictures take in front of them. We then walked to Independence Square to walk around for shopping and to watch the parade. Samsung and UMC (another cell phone company) were parading up and down the streets in Independence Square with their bands and people with flags with their logo on them rolling up and down the streets on their rollerblades. There were a lot of street vendors selling goods and food items. The streets of Independence Square are shut down to vehicles on the weekends, for people to enjoy the activity in the square.



After a fun filled day in Kiev, Alla directed us to an underground mall near our apartment where I could purchase a hair dryer and curling iron since the outlet receptacles are different. We then went to our apartment and Alla checked our paperwork/dossier copy that I brought with us for our adoption to see if everything is correct. She gave us her approval and then she left us for the evening. Robert and I thought we’d go across the street and get a taste of home at McDonalds. It was interesting trying to order without Alla doing it for us. But we handled it with no problem. It was funny, when we were at McDonalds eating, we noticed a little girl celebrating her birthday with her friends. She turned 7 years old and they were playing a game where the McDonalds lady told the two teams of girls to run around and get so many signatures of the people in the restaurant. A group of 7 year old girls ran immediately over to our table and were asking us (so I think) to sign their placemat from McDonalds. So I signed it and they thanked us and ran to the next table. Robert and I thought it was cute and are getting more excited about sharing these experiences with our own children. Well, that’s all for now. We are spending the day with Dima (Alla’s 17 year old son) tomorrow in Kiev. Das Fi Danya (Good Night).