A Long Day's Touring in Kiev

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Today we had scheduled one of our most arduous days of touring. Not because we wanted one but Viator didn't have any other obvious choice for us. So it was Highlights of Kiev Private Sightseeing Tour, a 6-hour tour starting at the street in front of Sunflower B&B at 10 am. We were met by a driver and a guide. We had the car & driver from 10 am to 1 pm. We started by learning the guide would eliminate a must see on our tour by bypassing St. Sophia Cathedral interior because it would take her more time to show it than we had hired. OK. I think we also skipped part of the Lavra Monastery at my insistence as I was too knackered after visiting the caves portion with mummified saints. I don't think we skipped anything else. The afternoon portion of the tour 1 to 4 pm was meant to be walking with an option of public transit at our extra expense. We insisted. We rode a bus and got to Clay's requested world's deepest Metro station. It was a little anti-climactic because it was 2 long escalators instead of 1.

We saw a lot and learned a lot. The guide was able to adjust and accommodate our needs and desires. We are happy we took the tour, but our days of hours-long walking tours are just over. I especially can't manage the heat and I've become too unsteady in gait and balance. I don't know what will happen on the river boat's excursions when we in a group.

We were too tired to go out to dinner tonight. The B&B reception made a pizza delivery suggestion. We're doing that because Clay had withdrawn enough money last night for dinner tonight. We're waiting for it to come.

Tomorrow we leave here about 11:15 am by taxi for the airport for our flight to Bucharest. Since we don't have seat assignments, it already promises to be a challenging day. Fingers crossed for the best. We arranged with our Bucharest hotel for transport from the airport. They have failed to reply to confirmation requests, so we'll see when we get there and hope for the best. In other news, our Moldovan hotel confirmed our extra night request due to our tour cancellation. Viator has confirmed the 2 replacement tours we booked to replace that 2 day tour. So in good news, Moldova is back on track.

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