How many stairs can a person climb?

After our appointment this am, we felt much relief. We came back to the apartment for a few games of UNO and then headed to lunch. Much better experience for Peter this time.

The rest of the afternoon we climbed stairs. Back up to St. Andrew's Church.



Up some stairs that Peter saw yesterday and just had to climb today. They led to a bench. A "kissing" bench according to the sign. He was slightly disappointed.





Then up the bell tower at St. Sophia's Cathedral.



This place was incredible. We bought tickets for all the museums, the church and the bell tower. We went into the first museum and after viewing our ticket, the lady made some very excited gestures. She took us by the hand and led us out of the building and over to the cathedral. A lady there, also very animated, led us to the stairs and told us to go to the second floor. All in hand gestures and Russian/Ukrainian. We had no idea what was going on, but we so enjoyed the display.

We were not allowed to take photos, but the mosaics, some originals dating back to 1017 AD, were extraordinary. Bright colors, little bits of glass. Brilliant.

We had just finished viewing our last display when a lady came up behind us shaking her keys. Ahhh... now we understand. We were getting close to closing time. We quickly went through the bottom of the church and then the lady that sent us originally to the second floor took us aside and directed us to our next building. I dug out my watch and had her show us how much time we had left for each of the exhibits including the bell tower climb. All this was done without a lick of English spoken by the women and only a spaseeba (thank you) from us. We had just enough time to see what we needed with the help of these ladies. Truly another God moment for the day.
The grounds stayed open longer than the buildings so once everything was closed up, we bought ice cream and found a bench under a tree to soak up the sights and the sounds of the bell concert that had just started.

Mid-lick on the ice cream we had a problem. A bird pooped right on top of Peter's cone. Another God moment? Not sure yet. But it sure was funny!









Good supper again tonight. Except for the grass pita yesterday, all of our food has been wonderful. Although I am a little leery of Ed's meal tonight. Raw salmon. He downed it with a coke and claims he will be fine, but we shall see what tomorrow brings!

Which brings us to our last stairs of the day. 5 flights up to our apartment. UFF DA!

We are feeling at peace tonight. After reading some of 1 Timothy this afternoon, we are feeling confident in our Lord and all that He can accomplish. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!! Dasveedanya (goodbye) from Ukraine.



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