Day 1 - Free Day

Hello!!  We made it here safely with no problems at all!  We are staying at a tiny little hotel.  It is completely different than staying at a Marriott like we did last time.  It is nice though.  I slept so good last night.  That is a first for me!!  Actually we almost overslept!  We were supposed to be ready by 11:30 and we woke up at 11:00!  Today was a free day so we took a tour.  It is cool here about 65 degrees.  This is typical summer weather here.  We visited a palace (traveled by boat!).  Very very neat.  Beautiful gardens and water fountains.  This place looks completly different than last time.  Last time it was a vast frozen city and now it is a green lively place. 

We listened to church back home live over the internet.  It was really neat to get to listen this way.  My brother had the sermon this morning and it was neat to hear him talk about our dad. As we listened to one of the hymns ('I'm Going Home", we wondered if our oldest son had called it out.  He loves it because it is one of my dad's favorite hymns.  When we skyped later we found out he had - just a neat connection to home for us today.

Happy Father's Day to both of our wonderful fathers.  We love you so much!!

This evening we went to a grocery store to pick up some soap, detergent and some snacks.  I started to crave some milk (I have always loved milk).  They had some that was unrefridgerated and I was a little nervous about it so I decided to check out the refridgerated section.  We bought it and when I opened it up in our hotel room, it erupted all over the place!  It didn't smell good at all either!  So we decided to transtlate the label on Google translate.  Anyways, what I bought was:  Carbonated Sour Milk!  Gross!!!

Last night we ate at local little pizza place.  It was really good!!  Tonight we ate at a fastfood pancake kiosk.  This was also very good.  They call their pancakes 'blini'.  We had a ham and cheese and a strawberry jam blini.

Tonight we skyped with the kids.  I love to be able to skype with them.  It just keeps us feeling connected.

Tomorrow morning our are medical exams.  This should be quite an experience!!!  8 doctors...............

Good night for now!!
Wendy

Here is the a bear on the wall next to our bed!!