Pirogovo

you have to go there. its gorgous! we had a great time there. We took a cab out there and walked for hours looking at windmills and ancient churches and old thatched huts that were once the way of life. We wanted to buy a table runner and asked a vendor (a very old lady) how much hers was. she of course told us in Russian. when I told her Ya ne ponymayu she asked something and then at the same time as I said it she said Engliski? we had a good laugh. and she wrote down how much it was. so we paid her for it and I said Spaceba and she laughed and said nyet! Danka Shoen! and then we laughed and laughed and then she finangled us into buying a wooden spoon for our cafe (coffee)so we wont hurt our teeth when we drink our cafe. she wanted us to buy two but we only bought one. then we had some Kvas. it was strange but not bad. it smelled like bread, tastes kind of like beer. After we hiked all the way up the carpathian mountains(ok not really, just the huge hill that the Carpathia exhibit was on) we headed for the exit. When we got there Eric used his STELLAR language skills to find us a bus that took us nearly home(insert eye roll). but the bus ride was interesting and only cost 2 grivna each. thats about 50 cents total. much cheaper than the 8 dollar cab ride we paid for to get there. All our friends are busy tonight and we are exhausted so we just stopped and had some Ukrainian food and came home to veg in air conditioning and rest our blistered feet. It was about 90 degrees out there today and HUMID! so I have blisters on my arches of my feet. Eric fared better in his flip flops. The roads we walked on were cobblestone and sand. some parts were cobbled and others were sand and some parts were cobbles surrounded by sand. so it was rather rough terrain much of the way. but the high heels were out in full force! hope you enjoy some pictures of our day.