Sights on a Sunday afternoon

There isn't much to write since I just finished the last post in the wee hours of this morning, but we did take several pictures today as well as have a few others we'll try to upload here. We label the photos but the labels don't stick when we put them onto this or even onto the slideshow at our kodakgallery. So if anyone knows the trick, please do tell. The wall fronted by John is all made of bronze.

Today we ventured on the metro once again. Surprisingly, we were helped by a young lady maybe 20 years or so of age who was out with her sister and cousin, she later told us. We can buy tickets to get on the metro with no probs; however, when it comes to figuring out which subway line to actually get on, well, we seem to always get confused. We were trying to ask the ticket taker who was being no help at all when a voice from behind us asked if she could help. Thankfully, she spoke English fairly well and seemed please to assist us. She directed us down the escalator and to the left to get on that line. We made it down two extremly long and steep escalators (John took a video of the escalator ride to put on here but we left our connector cord for it at home, sorry) only to have the girl rush up to us and say oh, no, this is not the correct line. She has made a mistake. She started to just direct us another line a lot farther down, but we must have looked very confused because she changed her mind and decided to escort us all the way to the next line, motioning her two companions to follow along. John took a picture of her and me right before we hopped on the metro and I told him to give her a five U.S. dollars. She saved us a lot of turmoil. She seemed very surprised and very pleased by the five dollar bill. Most everyone here likes American money so I knew she'd like it. It's worth a bit more than gryvnas also. So whoever she is and wherever she is, she will have our gratitude and she has given us a better view of Ukranians as well.

The reason we hopped the metro in the first place was so we could go see the WWII museum here, to see their perspective on it, etc. Needless to say, it was all written in Ukranian so the pictures you see here and some others are all we know about the museum as well. Again, we had to walk and walk and walk to even get to the museum. It sits about 3/4 mile off a side road. The fog was so dense today that there was noway to tell if we were even headed in the right direction; that's why some of the outside pictures seem so cloudy. But we did end up in the right place after all. John's more a history buff than am I, but it was interesting at least to see the war from their perspective. We rode the bus from the museum back to the metro where we'd gotten off to get to the museum and yes, with just a little bit of help, even managed to find our way back to the stop nearest our apartment. I just know you all are very proud of us being such adventurers!

The photo of me and the bunny is one John wanted to take--until afterward when he realized he had to pay the bunny. Why he was surprised I don't know since you have to pay for everything over here; granted, most of the time it's not very much compared to American prices, but it gets annoying at times too. Yesterday, Ukraine celebrated Chinese New Year; they are also still celebrating Christmas we assume since Christmas trees and decorations are still up all over the place. They also celebrate regular New Year and Old New Year--we are beginning to think that they just like to celebrate!

Tomorrow we will call the Embassy to see if John's new passport is ready; if it is, Alla said she will go with us to get it. We offered for us just to give us bus directions and we'd go to it ourselves, but she said the passport is important and she'd go with us. And so we are very thankful for Alla as well. She is a real treasure. For those of you still to come, make friends with your translator. She or he is your lifeline while here, no doubt about it.

The weather here is remarkably warm for here, not that it feels all that warm when you're out walking in it so frequently as I still need my jacket, long wool coat, hat, hood, gloves, and scarf as well as layers; John gets hot, though, so barely throws on a coat, usually unzipped, over a short sleeved shirt. It's around 35 to 40 today. Last year at this time, according to Alla, it was well below zero, so I guess we can also be thankful that the weather this year is much warmer.

I doubt we'll have any more posts until we figure out what's going on with the third appointment, but you never know.