Thank you so much for your prayers and supportive emails and
comments. Today was, thankfully, much
better. It’s amazing the difference a
good night’s sleep makes! We slept in a
little later today, and ate breakfast before meeting our guide at 9 am. We walked to St. George’s church, which is
one of the most famous historical sites in Ethiopia. It was amazing to see in person. We spent a fair chunk of time there, and then
walked to the other group of churches.
These were also very fascinating. A highlight was the pitch black tunnel that
we walked through, which symbolizes that “hell is unfriendly”. I will post
pictures and more information about the stone churches tomorrow when we are
back in Addis, as the wifi here is only available by the front desk.
The kids had a much better day! They were generally cooperative, and Faith
seemed to have an easier time understanding the guide and asking her
questions. Thomas still wasn’t super interested
in the churches, but he was better behaved and liked the active climbing and
walking from church to church. He and
Faith both like identifying the baptismal pool and the “Bethlehem” (place where
communion was prepared) at each church. The
weather was awesome and the sun was shining and we had a really good time.
We were back to the hotel by 11:30 and stopped and ate a
small lunch at the restaurant. Then we
went back to the room for the afternoon.
The kids watched a movie, I napped, Dave putzed around, and it POURED
outside. I was so glad that we had done
our sightseeing in the morning. When I looked at our tour itinerary, I saw there was supposed to be another tour in the afternoon, but frankly, by that point, I'd have paid money NOT to go! Haha! A tip for anyone considering this trip with kids... Only plan a half day of activity per day... Full days are too long!
At one
point we heard music on the street nearby, but by the time the kids and Dave
got outside, the parade had passed us by.
Someone told us that the President was in town, but I’m not sure how
accurate that is. Whoever it was drew
quite a crowd, as the streets were still very crowded when we went for supper.
We had called Ben Abeba restaurant to arrange for a taxi to
come pick us up at 5 pm, and I’m glad we didn’t say any later, as we didn’t get
home until 7:45 as it was. It was worth
it, though! The restaurant is amazing,
the view is incredible, and the food was a nice change, too. Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of the restaurant...
It is something else... Part building, part sculpture!
Now we are back at the hotel, getting the kids to bed and
getting ready for another early morning flight.
I will be glad to be “home” in Addis tomorrow, and to see Bereket again
soon!
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