Day 2 Kiev and the SDA

After a very long travel day, we were exhausted. So the next morning, we got around and went down to a coffee house for breakfast. The coffee and the breakfast were delicious, although a little expensive, and we were off for a morning of sight seeing. We have decided that Ukrainian women are extremely skinny because they run up and down the hills of Kiev in high hill shoes or boots! The cathedrals were incredible, and we absolutely love Kiev!! Brian has decided that he is moving here, as the hustle is right up his alley.

Valentin met us at about one and we were off to see a few more sights, before our appointment at two. Valentin knows his history and we have learned a lot about Russian history. We were really wishing the girls were here to see this in person. Our appointment was quick, and very casual. We learned that Nastia had been in the orphanage from 2004 and her mother is deceased. She does have Grandparents who have been visiting her, but they are happy about the adoption and will sign the papers relinquishing any rights.

After our meeting, we walked around Kiev for another hour, looked at souvineers, and had dinner at McDonalds. Valentin picked us up at five, we got our referral from the SDA, and we were off to the train station. Brian and I have decided we have way too much luggage and if we were to do this trip over, we would pack lighter.

In our train compartment, we barely had room for us with all the luggage. We settled down for the night to watch a movie, relax, and enjoy the train ride. We got very little sleep that night as the train ride is a little like the runaway train ride from Disney. There were several times we were convinced that we were derailing and the conductor was definitely not Tom Hanks from Polar Express! However, this was another Ukrainian adventure, and we arrived in one piece.