Balaklava today

We visited our girl this morning. She was in dance class (might have been music, the caregiver seemed to gesture like it was dancing) when we arrived. While we waited, we were shown the rooms in the groupa. Some of this is a repeat of my previous post. Little one's area is on the second floor. At the top of the stairs, there are 2 doors, each leading to a different groupa's living quarters. Our girl's door is to the right. It leads into an entry area. In this room, there are the little lockers with the children's outdoor clothes. From the entry area, you walk into an area for play and watching tv. There is a small wash room off to the side. Past the play area, there is a pantry where plates and utensils are kept and then the dining area with small tables each seating 4 children. The meals are brought from a main kitchen. From the eating area, you enter the sleeping room with beds for the children. It is all very clean and you can feel a sense of pride from the caregivers. We stayed inside today, it was cool and damp with a light mist every now and then. Little one was happy to draw with the magic markers and our time went quickly.

 Afterwards, Vitaly drove us to Balaklava which is about 15 minutes from Sevastopol and also on the Sea. This is the site of the Russian naval museum. It is also a tourist town - mostly closed for the season so we weren't able to visit anything, but just enjoyed the sites. Here are a few photos.

The road to Balaklava - the fields are full of grape vines.

An apartment building in Balklava - pretty typical from what we have seen in Sevastopol as well.

 Boats in the marina and a man fishing.

 Vitaly called these "midusa" - sure I have the spelling wrong. Mark picked one up, but the picture didn't turn out well. It is some type of living organism, tough to explain. It looked like a square piece of gel lying flat on Mark's palm.

 These are old security look-outs.

 Looking out to sea.

 Towards town from same location as just above.

 The beach in town.

We wandered up to the market later this afternoon and visited with our English speaking friend for a little while. Brought home some apples, pears, pomegranates, potatoes, and cucumbers. The fresh produce is very good. I'm planning on ham, potatoes, and cucumber salad for dinner tonight.