Bill Murray would have liked our day today...totally different than anything we have done! God blessed us with a great afternoon spent first with Maria alone and then with all of her group.
Today was a day of several festivals in Ukraine as Kherson celebrated its 233 birthday. It was a lot like July 4th in the US only at a state level. Kelly and I happened to read about this day in a book we bought and Tanya informed us that it was this weekend. We made plans to get permission to take Maria out of the orphanage for as long as they would allow and take her to the festivals. Her caretaker, Tatiana, gave us only two hours which we were not thrilled with at first. We took her downtown, had lunch and then enjoyed some of the street entertainment (craft booths, dancing shows, etc.). Tanya sent a cab and told us that we needed to get Maria back by 2pm as the group was going out on a "walk" together. We begrudgingly got her back in time only to find out that the group was actually going to the festivals!
Kelly and I were invited along and we walked back downtown with the entire group lead by Tatiana. We walked through the city and stopped at several historical and tourist type spots. Tatiana was like a Kherson tour guide as through Valera, a boy in the group who speaks English, she gave us the history of many of the things in the city. She also educated the kids on a few meaningful historical areas. At one point, we were admiring the river at one of the parks and Tatiana broke off from the group only to return with ice cream for all! The tour of the festivals took us about 5 hours and we probably walked over 6 miles...the kids kept together the whole time and never complained! Tatiana was gracious and stopped at a few places just so Kelly and I could see - we are so glad she allowed us to tag along!
We had the best afternoon so far and took a bunch of pictures. It is amazing how He knows just when to lift you up onto the mountain!
I will let the pictures (along with captions) tell the rest of the story...
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| We are standing in front of one of the stages that had dancers performing |
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| French Fries for lunch! |
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| Most of the pizza we have ordered (and we have ordered a lot) has looked and tasted familiar. Our lunch today was a little unusual...two inch bread with ketchup, mayo, cheese, mushrooms and chicken. |
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| Yes Jake, Mark, Nicholas and Brooke you will get some too! |
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| Park on the Dnipro River...our second time there but a little more action this time. |
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| Not sure the guy who laid these pavers had this in mind...but it looked cool! |
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| On our way into Lenin Park |
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| A monument in Lenin Park...not sure the name. |
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| Who says that Moms and Caretakers are no fun!! |
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| Today was a very popular day to get married in Kherson. We saw no less than a dozen couples getting pictures and driving through out the city. |
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| Heading into "Glory Park" |
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| View from top of Glory Park...they had a free concert there tonight...too tired to attend! |
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| Ice Cream along the river front |
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| Tatiana treated us to our own adult cones...which we did not turn down! |
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| Catherine's Cathedral and the bell tower |
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| Outside of Christian Youth Center...they had a concert there as well tonight...again too tired to attend! |
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| With Valera our "translator" for the day...Maria getting a free ride - not that 6 miles isn't work out enough! |
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| Yubileynniy Cinema and Music Hall |
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| Tatiana giving the group a history lesson on the statue in this park by the river |
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| Lenin Square in front of the Region Government Building...center of city. |
We got to see another side of the city today...a much needed perspective!
The kids at home spent the morning cleaning the house and organizing the garage...Larry you truly are full service! Jake told Kelly today, "the lawn has never looked so good!" Thanks son! Mark, Nicholas and Larry rode bikes on the trail while Sandy, Brooke and Jake wandered the Suwanee trail on foot...rumor is they got a little turned around! They canceled plans to go to a luau as the weather was tricky in GA today I guess. We talked to them tonight and the homesickness came back...especially for Mom.
We miss you guys and Tuesday can't come quick enough!
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