We walked and walked and used google maps and found it all on our own. We picked up some party horns, crayons, some small plastic animals, and a book with a dry erase marker and pictures to trace there. Oh, and a ball to throw around. We'll try to bring something new every couple of days to keep up his interest :) Luda, one of our facilitators called to check in on us while we were there and asked if we needed anything. We happened to be in the liquor aisle wondering if we should buy a small bottle of vodka to try (to try, people! it's supposed to be good here!!) and we asked which brand we should get. I wonder if we are the first RR family to ask her that! She laughed, gave us some suggestions, then told us to drink it fast and with food- lol! Maybe if we have a shot before bed, we can start getting to sleep before 3am, which has been the normal time for the last week.
From there we found a pizza place called Marinello's (I think?) which was a teeny place right on the river with tables on the waterside. You could watch the people who rented row boats across the river while you ate. It was super cute, and mostly dark, so everything was lit up by the street lamps. We ordered our pizza by using the translator app on my phone (thanking God for Eugene and his help with the phone hacking so I have data access here!!). So we sit and wait for our pizza, and realize that we have no idea how we will know when ours is done, since they call out the orders from the counter and people just walk up to get their pizzas! We ended up sitting really close, and Bryan just went up after about 15 minutes and waived his receipt around. It ended up being SUPER good- cooked in a big brick wood-fired oven, with a really thin crust. YUM.
We walked home on the walkway following the river, and came across a huge park (think Central Park) with people all over, sitting on benches, sitting on the grass in groups. Parents walking kids in strollers, etc. All very safe, with nothing really going on, just people hanging out in a park in the evening. There was a big footbridge that we crossed over and it had padlocks all over the cables. I think it was maybe a tradition for weddings or something, to put a padlock on. We have to ask Tatiana about that.
When we were almost back to our apartment, we found a tiny stand-alone pastry shop run by two older women. Of course, there was no English, but we tried to pantomime for them AND tried the app, but it was still pretty difficult to ask them what their favorite pastry was and that I'd like one of them. We did it, though- they were really kind and asked us where we were from. Actually, she pointed to herself and said, "Ukraine." and then pointed to us...and we finally understood enough to say "American." :)
Then we watched movies and read until 3am because that's what we do every time we should be going to sleep...!
We are traveling soon! What kind of phone do you have and how were you able to hack it? You could email me privately- cdhmlayne@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks!