Kyiv Day 2

One day to go to our appointment at the SDA! 

After a long day of travel yesterday Heather and I slept in this morning.  We had a restful sleep on our futon with pink sheets.  Isabella would approve!  We relaxed in the apartment, browsed the internet and checked out the satellite tv available.  It appears that we get 500 plus channels two thirds of which are in Arabic. 

Vlad called while we were getting ready for the day to tell us that Luba will be picking us up tomorrow for the appointment.  Vlad will meet us at the appointment.  Elena may not be there because she broke her foot and she may not be able to go with us to the region when we receive our referral.  We will wait to see what Vlad decides to do after the appointment for a translator for us in region.

Later in the afternoon we met up with the Wainwrights at the globe monument in Independence Square to explore downtown Kyiv.  The Wainwrights have been here since Thursday and seem to know their way around.  That didn't stop us from getting lost in the underground mall shopping for chocolates.  No chocolates were found in the underground mall.  When we emerged from the mall we didn't know where we were.  A short walk dropped us in front of TGI Friday's which we couldn't locate on the map earlier this morning.  Just before crossing the busy street to the restuarant we finally found a shop with chocolates.  Still lost and hungry we decided to eat dinner at TGI Friday's.  Two nights in Kyiv and we've eaten at two American eateries.  That has to stop tomorrow.

Dinner at TGI Friday's was ok.  The food was like home but cold and the service was slow.  We didn't mind though because it gave us a chance to get to know the Wainwrights better. Two and a half hours later we emerged from the restaurant, looked right and recognized the Formula1 banner that we saw earlier.  We had to just walk one block and turn right and we were back on the main road that led us back to Independence Square.  The downtown scene is great.  We saw multiple street acts including break dancers and a guy making big bubbles for the kids to pop.  A stretch of the main road is closed on weekends and there are many people out.  On the way back from dinner I was stopped by a group of Irish lads (actually older men but I just wanted to use the word "lads") looking for O'briens Irish Pub.  We actually knew exactly were it was but after telling them that it was quite a trek back the way they came they quickly decided to move on. 

I took a couple more pictures downtown and we walked with the Wainwrights home.  We really enjoyed meeting the Wainwrights today.  They are very good people even though S. thinks the North starts in Tennesee (he's kidding of course). We chuckled about that but noted that everything is north of Florida in the USA.  The Wainwright's appointment is just after our's tomorrow and we wish them the best of luck.

So now we are back in the apartment relaxing and waiting for tomorrow.  Hopefully we'll get a good night's rest for the big day.