Step by Step!!

Our first full day in Kiev was a beautiful day! We were prepared for the walking we would do, so we told Natasha to bring it on, lol!! We were able to sleep in a bit to try to catch up! We forgot to switch around our times......we are used to calling Yulia later in the day, and it's kind of weird switching it up! So we called mom and dad at like 3 am yesterday, lol!!

We started off by checking out the town! Jarrod and I love history and listening to all of it, taking it in! The bad thing for me, I don't remember all those little details, but there are always certain ones that stand out! I won't put all the different things here, but I'll share some! We walked a total of about 5 hours yesterday and I drank more water in one day than I think I ever have! It was wonderful though, b/c we had our walking shoes on!!

We started off going by St. Andrews church. The panoramic view of the city is beautiful! We didn't go in the church b/c we weren't appropriately dressed, but we are going to try to make it back! We continued on looking at all the beautiful scenery! Honestly I had no idea that Kiev was this beautiful! It's so funny to realize that while we are all human, things can be so different here! There are streets made of cobblestone, and they are very small; making the parking limited. So cars park on the sidewalk! It's different to us, but it's natural here! I'm loving learning a different way of things!

Pictured above is St. Andrews church, the panoramic view of Kiev, Natasha Jarrod and I, Jarrod and I!

The parks here are a big priority. I believe Natasha said 60% of Kiev is parks, but I'm not 100% sure that I'm quoting that right, and she's not here right now to ask, lol!! As we were walking, we passed this beautiful ballerina statue! There are a lot of old trees in Kiev. These trees were in the way of some of the transportation, so the city started to cut some of them down. A local artist asked if he could make statues out of the trees, and they are so beautiful! We saw one of a ballerina and one of a hedgehog! I'm going to post the pictures, but first let me tell you the cool story of the ballerina! There was this famous known ballerina here. She devoted her life to ballet, she never married or had children, and she worked really hard on her career and teaching others about the art of ballet! She was older when the artist made these, but the people in her building requested they make this in honor of her! She couldn't walk down to see the statue when it was completed b/c of her age, but she could see it from her window. How sweet is that! Anyways, here is the pics of the statues! The hedgehog is really awesome too! The part that looks like hair is nails coming out all around! Natasha and I were checking out this cute little guy on the last picture!!

We continued our walk, and learned many more fascinating things!! It was a wonderful day filled with beautiful scenery, beautiful talks, and just a wonderful day! We had a nice lunch and dinner, and we are beginning to try new things, which is a nice thing for Jarrod and I! We found our favorite, a pizza place, but we are venturing out with other things too!!

I love how God has brought us on this wonderful journey, and we are so thankful to have Natasha with us to help us understand everything! We are looking forward to the next few days here in Kiev taking in as much as we can on life here in the city!! Have a great day everyone!!