Dec 6: Free Day in Kyiv

12/6/07: We had no official adoption business to handle on this day, so we decided to get out and explore the city once more.

We walked ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. We walked up and down Kreschatyk, and to several of the churches. We explored a little bit of Jacob’s Department Store, and walked through a couple of different underground malls. We got lost once or twice but never got too worried about it.

We had lunch at the Potato House, very close to our apartment. Zack and I enjoyed burritos, while William devoured a fruit salad. On our way back to the apartment, we saw the Kyiv Opera House and the Golden Gate. We bought some snacks and drinks, and went back to rest a while. We were all exhausted! We talked to family on Skype and uploaded pictures to the computer.

We really wanted to try O’Panas for dinner. We’d heard so many other adoptive families mention the authentic food – and the picture menus – and we thought it would be a nice place to spend our final evening in Ukraine.

We got some sketchy directions from Luda over the phone and decided to chance it. We walked a few blocks and finally saw the restaurant, lit up with Christmas lights. Thankfully, I’d seen pictures before so I kind of knew what to look for. The dinner was great, albeit the most expensive meal of our trip! We all enjoyed borscht and bread. Zack and I each ordered a different beef dish, and both were great. (William focused on the soup and bread!)

Afterwards, we walked to the playground in the adjacent park and played for a few minutes. We walked back to the apartment and as we were approaching the front of the building I spotted our landlady. She walked up with us and we paid her our rent and also a little for our internet usage; she wished us luck with our family, and said good-bye.

We stayed up pretty late watching Polar Express and some TV. We wanted to let William stay up as much as he wanted, so he’d hopefully be tired on our travel day! We finally put him to bed close to midnight, and then did some packing.