On the Road to Tipova

The wall of a now-defunct factory from Soviet times

This is typical of the village bus stops along the road

Driving around Moldova involves going up and down rolling hills. Scenic vistas!

Casa Gavroche: Peggy's Gifted Kids Care Project (part 1)

There are earlier posts on this blog about Casa Gavroche and its mission, Peggy's Kids Care Projects, and Peggy's birthday party (at which she collected art supplies for the kids at Casa Gavroche).  (See posts from June 2012 on this blog for the full details.)

Finally the day had arrived for us to go to Casa Gavroche (in Chisinau) with the suitcase full of arts and crafts supplies -- and for a playdate with the children.

I am not actually an arts & crafts guru and worried a bit as we were getting ready to head center, wondering if the kids would enjoy the projects we had brought.

The kids could not have been more delightful. They were so happy with their projects, and they were so pleased to show us their accomplishments. It was truly a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Our visit was all the more fun, because my dear friend Svetlana and her daughters came with us. In fact, her older daughter, Beatrice, volunteered with Casa Gavroche last summer as a part of Wave Week, and it was she who suggested this facility as a place for us to volunteer.

I am sure that the supplies that we brought will last the children for a long time to come, and we are grateful to Peggy's friends who contributed to this project!

On our way to Casa Gavroche!

The Director looks at some of the pictures drawn by Peggy's friends back in America. Peggy wanted her new friends at Casa Gavroche to know about all the kids back in Florida who contributed the supplies.

Here are the rest of the donations, in the Director's Office. We are grateful to all Peggy's friends who contributed to this project. There are many more hours of fun in those supplies!

Peggy asked all her friends who came to her birthday party to bring a picture to give to the kids at Casa Gavroche, along with the donations of art supplies. Here Peggy shows the Director a photo of her best friend

Casa Gavroche, Peggy's Kids Care Project (part 1)

Central Market

Peggy wanted some ribbons for her hair, and I wanted to buy some fresh produce. So we made our way to the Central Market on Saturday morning.  We also were able to buy the soccer balls for our project with the Peace Corps Volunteer in Telenesti. Peggy had fun inflating the balls with the pump.

Bucuria

On Saturday morning we finally made it to the Bucuria candy shop on Stefan cel Mare. We picked an assortment of our favorite chocolates.  (Mine is the appropriately named "favorit.")

Parcul Dendrariu

We enjoyed walking through the gardens of Parcul Dendrariu. In addition to the beautiful flowers, we saw many brides and grooms at the park taking wedding photos.

For more information about the park, click here

http://www.dendrariu.md/

Water Tower, Chisinau History Museum

We walked up the spiral staircase to the top of the Tower, and then as we walked back down we stopped off to see exhibits about different eras of Chisinau's history (during the Russian Empire, the Interwar Period, Soviet times, etc.) on each of the five floors.

The exhibits are still under construction, so it is not yet open to the public.

We were impressed with the artifacts assembled for the exhibit -- and grateful for the private tour with museum staff and Archeology professor from ULIM.

This exhibit was developed by our guide, an Archeology professor. We asked him to pose by his name.