Kiev, part 3

Part 1

Part 2

I still haven't posted the last few photos from Kiev! So, here they are:

With new-old friends

One evening we got to visit with a family that I have been in contact with since Jaan was a baby, and we all lived in Moscow. (Their oldest has the same name, too, except that they spell it Yan.) Back in those days, we talked on the phone and emailed, but somehow we never actually met face to face. In Kiev they invited us over for dinner, and we had a WONDERFUL time. Their children were so sweet to ours, too. In the picture above, we were all sitting around their fireplace, listening to their evening reading, just before they took us back to the apartment where we were staying.

Brothers

Bogdan was pretty miserable for a few days, as he cut his first teeth, but his beloved brother was usually enough to distract him from the misery, even when nothing else would do.

Museum!

One more big event was a visit to the Natural History Museum. Again, I'm relying on Raia for a picture. Although, I do think she mixed the whale and mammoth skeletons together somehow. We really enjoyed the museum! Our friend Oksana, who lives in Kiev, was able to join us for part of the time, too. It's huge museum, and we only made it to three out of six (?) floors. (The first snow of the season was also falling thickly outside while we were there!)

On the train

When all our time in Kiev was over, we tried a different return route, and while it probably wasn't easier, it was better for us, I think. There aren't any day trains to or from Zaporozhya, but we found one that goes from Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk. From there we took a bus to Zaporozhya and then a marshrutka (bus-van) the rest of the way home. It was a LONG trip, but at the end we could collapse in our own beds.

And on the bus

Don't be fooled by the smile. Our sweet, usually happy baby was not happy for that leg of the trip... until he finally fell asleep.

And I think that wraps up all I have to say or show from our Kiev trip.