Saturday we spent the afternoon walking around the city. The buildings are such a contrast, some so old and tumbling down and others beautifully ornate, with carvings and sculptures. David tried and tried to find a museum he wanted to show us, but we walked up & down many, many streets and he could not find it. (Later we found out we were within feet of it.) The streets are amazing, what I would call cobblestone. Hard on the knees and ankles, but beautiful to look at. The cars race up & down the streets at amazing speeds for small spaces. The smells and sights are overwhelming at time. The fashion, oh our daughter would LOVE it here. Pretty much anything goes. Yet, most people are in muted colors. Blacks, whites, and gray seem to be favorites. Only a few do we see in bright colors.
Many people may stay in here with their children, but many of the children may not have a past here. Our son does. And I am not so sure he wants to be here. Yes, with us, but not here. We are feeling our way along this path, trying to keep him comfortable but see some of the sites as well. I think the area we are staying in has many memories for him, not all good ones. He has not said this, but we can see it each time we walk out the door.
To compound that, this city has a lot of people. For our son, who does not like crowds at all, this is difficult. He is trying very hard to be out there for us in these crowds, but we know it is not what he wants to be doing. He is my home body child, like Elijah. Hed be perfectly happy to stay in the apartment except for the Zoo and water park that he wants to go to the whole 2 weeks we are here. We are very proud that he is trying hard to compromise.
After a home cooked meal, and skyping with our children back home who had a fun day of swimming & movies with their sister, we spent the evening doing one of our favorite things, watching a movie on our laptop together.
The best part, he slept soundly all night long.