Best Eastern Adria Hotel Kiev

... into the city and finally parks the car. We get out; go around the corner and into an alleyway. We are standing in a private car park in front of a door with a keypad. I had been sent the code to get into the apartment building but we had to wait for the key. All this is without a word between us. The key comes and we find that the door is depressingly hard to punch in the code and get it open but it does ...

... working. After we walked through the flower displays, we went to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. It was not open the last time we came to Ukraine. The museum was built to honor Kyiv's defenders during WW2. I am a WW2 buff, so this was a good museum for me to visit. There were many displays with WW2 artifacts including guns, bombs, artillary ...

... museum with 17-20th century buildings. It is around $2 USD/ person to get in.You can go inside some of the structures and see how people lived back then. They have a few beautiful old churches and windmills as well. Each village represents a different region of Ukraine. There were several tourists, and we met a guy from Michigan visiting Ukraine. We ate a late lunch at a restaurant there that was hard to find, but very good. We took advantage of the ...

... then were shown around the garden/farm where we sampled all their ripening fruit and were introduced to the animals - loads of chickens, a dog, and a cat that had given birth to four kittens so recently that they still couldn't open their eyes. That evening upon Pasha's return the entire extended family sat down in the garden for a big BBQ of shashlyk (meat kebabs), and a fair few rounds of 'welcoming' vodka shots...


We awoke (late) the following ...

We made breakfast in the apartment, grilled ham sandwiches, the toaster didn't work! We begin our walk looking for St. Sophia Cathedral Monastery, this is the oldest stone made Kiev Church. It was built in the 11th century. Prince Yaroslav Mudry is buried here. This is now a museum. The doors are gold in colour, a beautiful alter area with incredible fresco pictures on all the walls arches and ceiling. Sorry no pictures here. Then through the ...

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... city was out in the plaza in front of where the Gen'l Lee was docked. Kids on roller blades and riding go karts where everywhere while some local adults were participating in Ukrainian dancing. We visited the Lavidia palace where the famed Yalta conference took place between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill during WWII. This palace was an old summer residence of the Tsar. The final stop on the river cruise was a sail across ...

... by morning, she was literally sandwiched in between both sides of the cot. Liz and Hope got beds, but they were none the better, hard as a rock. Anyway, our hostel guy was still there and he instantly started asking us about the race for president. I have to say that I am woefully behind in information on both parties so it was hard for me to have that conversation. He is a genius, though. He has thoughts and ideas about everything like why American ...

... and the translations aren't always exact. The word for cave in Ukrainian might not be even close to the English word. Yes, I realize that as a visitor in the country I should have basics of the language down but it would be beneficial for many people to have just a few signs in English. But I will stop my ranting and raving and move on to happier things. Kiev is a nice city in parts. For example the main square is wonderful. It's where the Orange Revolution ...

... great leaders and innovators. If you ever meet him you will understand what I mean. Anyway Sean was nice enough to take me out and show me the bar/club scene in Kyiv. I haven't been out that late or had that much fun sine I was in Mongolia with Justin last year. Wow, time goes by fast! I only spent a few days in Ukraine because I felt like I had seen most of the city and it was freezing cold. I can't even count how many times I almost fell down on the ice ...