Friday

This morning we decided to skip the hotel breakfast and find something different.  So after I hit the gym and Bill got a little extra sleep, we walked to the Coffeeshop Company.  We have been here for coffee and dessert.  Bill thinks it blows Starbucks away.  They have clean and cozy interiors.  They offer coffee, tea, fresh squeezed juices, sodas, desserts, sandwiches and breakfast.  It was great.
We brought the supplies we bought to the baby home today.  We received big "Spasiba!"  (thank you).  When the caregiver arrived with Little Miss she was directing us to the tiny room.  Bill showed her that we brought the cookies and she escorted us back to the group.  Maybe we should bring cookies every day!  It was another visit filled with dancing, looking at books, peek-a-boo, discovering new toys in the playroom and lots of giggles.  We pulled out her snow boots to try on and that was it.  We spent the next half hour trying them on, taking them off, putting on her sandals, taking them off, on and off with the socks.  She was enthralled.  She loves to take off her shoes and socks.  She tries to put them back on for some time before she relents to ask for help.  This playroom has a door to the main play area for the group.  We can hear the other children playing.  Today someone in the other room was crying.  Little Miss heard this, walked over to the door, pointed and shook her finger saying I-Yi-Yi, as if to correct them.   Hmm, wonder where she picked that up!   At snack time her caregivers came to get her, while we stayed to cleaned up the playroom.  By the time we passed through the kitchen our happy girl was seated at the table with a cookie in hand.  She gave us a big smile and a wave! Paka Paka!  We will miss her over the weekend as the baby home is not open for visits.  But the good news is we are getting closer to not having to say goodbye again.

After our visit, we returned to the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood.  We went during our last visit but the interior was closed,  They are closed on Wednesdays.  Today we saw the inside and it was worth the wait.  It is stunning!  Every wall and ceiling is covered with detailed mosaics.  It is beautiful.  We then did a little bargaining in the open air souvenir stands across the street.  Our driver walked with us to Cafe Saint Petersburg for an early dinner.  It was another good meal.  Bill & I both commented on how good the soups are here.  There is such a variety of them as well.  It was another lovely day!

Trying to show the detail of a mosaic.

Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood - after our dinner.