Note to Mom during Gabrielle’s visit.

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Gabby's In Town

February 20, 1999

Hi Mom and others again,

It's Saturday night and we've run Gabby around town. First, we went to our big farmers market and bought our fruits and veggies. This outdoor part was pretty nice, even though it was only about 25 degrees (F). Inside, we had to buy some meat just to get a good picture. Notice the head on the far left. Back outside we wandered through the "garage sale" kiosks that are all around the outside of the building.

After we walked back to the house we rested for an hour or so. Marianne made our standard ham and cheese sandwiches. We've never eaten so much ham or so much cheese. Here we do it because it's tasty and because it's easy. "Easy" is a real advantage around here.

After lunch we started our afternoon excursion. We went over to St. Michael's church which is just being rebuilt. Here is a picture of Gabby and me in the courtyard of St. Michel's, looking back to St. Sophias. Neither of these churches has regular services but they are very interesting museums -- even in the snow.

We took the tram down the hill to "Podil" and then walked back up on "the spuce". Gabby had to get some trinkets to bring home so we stopped at our standard kiosks. It was fun being out because it was such a nice day. Cold but no wind and lots of sun. We ended the walk with "the girls" posing with St. Andrews in the background.

For our evening excursion, we went with friends to the Opera House. We had tickets to a "bandura" show. The bandura is the local folk instrument. It's kind of a mix of harp and banjo. This was the national troupe and they had 40 banduras and another 20 singers. Plus a harpsicord, an accordion, a couple drums and, sometimes, flutes and a clarinet. It was quite interesting and very Ukranian ethnic. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden but I squeezed in one shot of Marianne, Gabby and our friend Joyce as we walked out of the opera.

All in all, a pretty nice day.

Tomorrow, Cherniv. A few hour drive and we don't know what we'll find.

Take care and we'll be back with another message soon.

Love,

John, Marianne and Gabby.