St. Andrew's Cathedral

October 21, 2005

We really appreciate the emails and posts we get from everybody. Thank you Carrolls for mowing and raking our lawn in town, we really appreciate it. Please email us at norbycj@yahoo.com because we don't have your email address. I am glad you liked the caramel corn, it is addicting.

We spent most of yesterday reading in our apartment. Jeff is working on the "Shadow Divers" that I finished last weekend. It is just as hard for him to put it down as it was for me. We went out for a walk around the neighborhood for an hour or so. There wasn't much to see, just one apartment building after another. We decided to try some cherry filled noodle like things, It was horrible. Jeff was able to choke down a few.

Today we decided to try and find Andreyevsky Spusk. It is a very old cobblestone street that winds its way down a hill behind St. Andrew's Cathedral. We walked for quite a while and eventually found it just one street from where we started. But we got to see lots of neat architecture on our journey. Andreyevsky Spusk is where artists and crafters sell their goods. There are little stands set up on the sidewalks. We saw everything you could imagine: old coins, military goods, tablecloths, traditional outfits, dolls, stamps, paintings, carved boxes, paintings, and much, much more. We walked around for an hour or so, then we left because my hands were freezing. I bought a Christmas ornament so Donnelly's beware I am going have the best one in the ornament exchange. I also bought two of those dolls where you open them to reveal a smaller one, then a smaller one. Does anyone know what those are called? One is a traditional babuska doll with paintings of Kiev Cathedrals on the bellies and one (you'll never believe it) is a Harry Potter one with different characters for the faces. We plan to go back sometime soon. We may need another suitcase to get home.

Oleana called us yesterday and told us to that there were no young children released from the database this week. Sasha wants us to get an appointment when there are young kids available so then we won't need a third appointment. She said to be patient and we are. Once we do get a referral we won't have as much time for sight seeing so we are doing it now.