After visiting Natasha, we came home and Lena's mom went back to Zhytomir. Lena and I took turns napping. She has 5 days left of her MBA class but that still occupies much of her time. We then left in the evening for our annual stroll about the city, taking in the Easter mood. Baskets filled with dyed eggs, special Easter bread, and sometimes vodka or wine were seen about the city as people took them to churches to wait for the blessing. A light crowd had gathered at Pecherska Lavra, one of the holiest places in Russian Orthodoxy. But as we left, the throngs were emerging. We then went to St. Vladimir's and a large crowd had gathered and formed a huge line around the church with baskets in front them. A single candle adorned each basket and created an interesting glow. As we were leaving, our friend Oleg told us Yushchenko was there. Sure enough, he was up front with his formerly-American wife and the prime minister right behind him. We then left and looked for his entourage and the fleet of Mercedes and security. We found two Mercedes, two police cars, a van, an SUV, and an ambulance. I guess he is well taken care of. There was no other security, things just as normal. Quite different from the US president's arrival.

Before taking our stroll, we gathered at the new Puzata Khata. For those in the know, it's in Pasazh near Kreshatik metro, in the old Shelter restaurant. Stalin loved to build bomb shelters and this cafeteria is in one of those huge bomb shelters. They have a very nice bathroom too.

For the last week, I have experimented with how to make Diet Cherry Coke. Finally, after dismal attempts with so-called cherry juice, I bought some frozen cherries and used the juice from them. It was OK. Probably fresh ones would be better but that comes later in the season. Any thoughts on how to make Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper? Maybe some grass, vanilla sugar, and cherry juice? Not sure how to recreate the Pepper part?