Istanbul and back to Kiev

Saturday our friend drove us back to Istanbul, and it was going so well we didn't stop for lunch on the outskirts because it was only 10:30 (we left at 8 am) then we hit the traffic jams until we were over the bridge.  We parted after returning the rental car and checking into our hotel and lunch at 3 pm - Whoppers at Burger King, a restaurant which has not opened in Ukraine...yet, we hope!  Then it was a long bus ride back home for him and Garry and I hopped on the subway, and then a very crowded tram to find the Blue Mosque and the Hagia (Aya) Sophia. 

Hagia Sophia

me near the Blue Mosque

inside the courtyard of the mosque

We ended up just walking around them, and into the courtyard of the mosque, because the tourists were out in droves on a warm Saturday afternoon. Maybe we will return to pay to see the inside of Sophia on a winter day, but the outside was impressive.

Garry enjoying dinner

On the way back the hotel we stopped for dinner, and got a number of courses of Turkish cuisine. It was spicy like we asked for. After a rather short night on a nice bed, since there was a lot of noise from a rally that broke up around 11 pm and we had a 4 am wake-up call to get to the airport.






We landed in Kiev Sunday morning at 8 am. It took a while to get the baggage and on a bus into the city center bus station, where we bought tickets for the 3 pm train and checked two bags so we could go to the city center.
Unlike Garry,  I have not been there since before the Maidon protests started, so we took the metro (subway) over. It was pretty busy, but nothing like Istanbul, and we only had to go 3 stops.

praise singing

the white spot at center is the drone

We found an outdoor church service just after we got off the Metro. Garry thinks it was Pentecostal because people were speaking in tongues... you should hear a thousand people speaking in tongues. The service started with praise and worship singing, which was amazing - hearing Our God is an Awesome God and others sung in Russian by so many. We stood in the middle and sang along. There was a little drone flying overhead. I sat on a curb for the preaching, Garry could follow some of it, it seemed to be asking for prayer for the country of Ukraine.

Afterwards we walked down the street and around the square before heading back to the train station.