It's still Christmas in Kiev!

Since we have some time before we leave, we thought we would go walking and exploring yesterday and today. We've found a lot of places that I've read about and seen pictures of on other adoption blogs and in our Ukraine travel guide by Bradt. We found a huge park with a soccer stadium at one end and lots of statues. There are a couple of overlooks viewing the frozen Dneper (Dnipro?) River. The river has waves in the ice like it froze while flowing. We saw a couple of areas where crowds were gathered with people in Santa Claus suits and big stuffed animal suits similar to characters at Disney World. There were also blue-coated Santa type figures that I think may be Father Frost, but don't quote me. I'm not an expert on Ukrainian traditions.

Last night, we decided to explore another street that we hadn't been down before. The Santa celebrations were still going on. There is a gigantic lighted Christmas tree in Independence Square. More elaborate than we have ever seen. It has about three different patterns of lights including colored diamond shapes. There are all types of lights lining the streets and all the way down the one we planned to explore. All the lighting is beautiful! We didn't expect anything like that and got out of the apartment without our camera. We plan on capturing some of the sights in a little while since it gets dark here at 4pm.

Today, we found a long, skinny underground mall under Kreschatyk street. I hope I spelled that right. There is every kind of specialty shop imaginable. Now, finding a grocery store with all the things you need like TP, toothpaste, water and food is a different challenge.

We've eaten at 3 different restaurants since FRiday. We ate at O'Brien's, an Irish style pub where the waitresses speak English, which is across the street and down to the right a little from our apartment building. Yesterday, we ate at Budmos, which specializes in Ukrainian food. Ask for their English menu. It was good, but small portions compared to the restaurants we're used to. Also, we thought O'Brien's was expensive, but both restaurants were comparable in price. Budmos' is near O'Brien's, on the street that crosses our apartment street. Budmo's is in the middle of two other restaurants that we think serve Ukrainian food also. Today, we ate at Double Coffee. I got the Greek Salad which has been good at other places, but Double Coffee doesn't seem to put the dressing on it. Hubby got a cheeseburger. He found out it is literally a 'cheese' burger. It was a bun with a round breaded cheese-stick inside.

I'm running out of time on this computer, but after I get settled at home, (will be there Wednesday) I'm going to detail more of our food experiences.