Alec's visit
Trip Start
Mar 02, 2003
1
14
41
Trip End
Jul 04, 2005
Kyiv, Rivne, Sevastopol, Yalta, Lviv,
Ukraine
Monday, November 3, 2003
When I read that little blurb I laughed out loud and once Alec got here and saw for himself, I think that he would absolutely agree with the statement. We stayed in Rivne for a few days to relax from travelling around Ukraine, but honestly, besides the bazaar and Ecoclub, there just isn't much to do or see around here. Eh, at least it gives me a reason to leave and see the rest of the country.
Alec and I had horrible weather the majority of the time he was here. It was cold and rainy, so it made it difficult to see all the things and places that we wanted, but we made the most of it and were still able to cover a couple thousand kilometers, literally
01 Me and Alec at Fortuna
. Our first trip was through Kyiv - I had to go to the dentist, so it made sense to do a little site seeing. We went to the Petrivka bazaar - haven to all sorts of pirated wonders. We stocked up on Mp3s and bought a couple souvenirs. It was pouring so inevitably we got cold and wet, which is how we got on the train to Crimea.The train was super deluxe. Supposedly this particular run even has air conditioning in the summer. We had the whole compartment to ourselves, which made the 18+ hour train ride tolerable; we were glad not to share with some olfactory-challenged grandma. We got to Simferopol in the morning, took a bus to Sevastopol and were greeting there my PCV friend, Amit. Amit was the greatest host ever! We had Indian tea every morning, and he took an enormous amount of time to show us around Sevastopol and point out all the important stuff. We went to the Khersones ruins, the navy yard, museums, and good restaurants. It was great! Most interesting however was the absence of Ukraine. Sevastopol is a rented city. Russia rents the entire city from Ukraine to house the Russian Navy. It was really odd... the only Ukrainian flag I saw was flying at a gas station, and yet we hadn't left the country. And as Alec can attest, I had a hard time communicating with people. Having spoken virtually no Russian for the past 8 months, I kept trying to speak in Ukrainian to people, unfortunately, NO ONE understood, not to mention, if they did, they found it cute and funny that I would choose to speak Ukrainian and not Russian
02 Bachesarai wineyards
.We took a day trip to Bachesarai just north of Sevastopol with a group of students that Amit works with. We hiked up to cave town, visited an Islamic school, and a rebuilt monastery. We had great weather this day, and the highlight was our archaelogist-tour guide who looked just like Will Ferrell doing the Amish skit on Saturday Night Live (see pictures).
From Sevastopol we took another bus to Yalta. Wow! PCV Claudia is living and working in paradise. Yalta is right on the Black Sea and is nestled on the coast surrounded by beautiful mountains. It's obviously a tourist Mecca and is littered with all sorts of amusements, places to have pictures taken, bumper cars, and of course McDonald's. We also visited the palace at Alupka, where Winston Churchill stayed during the infamous Yalta Conference - where he, FDR, and Stalin divided up Europe.
While in Crimea Alec and I decided to fly to Lviv from Simferopol instead of taking a 30 hour train ride. Originally, I thought it was a great idea, until I saw the plane. I swear it was older than dirt, and when we got out on that runway and the propellers started turning I really thought we were going to die
03 Archaeologist Will Ferrell
. And not only that, it was so loud I knew my eardrums would burst mid-flight. However, we did make it to Lviv okay, and only 3 hours after we left Crimea.We only spent a day and a half in Lviv because I was really worried about my apartment in Rivne. The last night in Crimea I got a phone call that my apartment had been flooded and no one could get in because I had left the extra keys locked inside. Swell. But the good news was the central heating had been turned on. Well, at least I knew the air would be nice and moist in my apartment, right? Anyway, Lviv was great. It was almost like being in Poland, but still in Ukraine. We stayed at a nice hotel right in the center, that was only $30 a night and included a caviar laden breakfast. I didn't complain, nor did I eat the caviar.
Our last few days in Rivne included cooking, Ecoclub, and playing games. It was great and super relaxing. Alec put up a handy clothesline in my second room, and now once my clothes freeze outside I can bring them inside to thaw and hopefully dry. So far it's working like a charm.
We met Regine in Kyiv the night before Alec left (she returned from America that day) had some dinner with friends and visited Andriyivsky Uzviz for a couple presents I wanted Alec to buy for peeps in America.
It's been less than two weeks since Alec left and honestly, it feels like forever ago. It was so great to show someone around (especially Alec) and for them to see where I'm living, meet the people I work with, and experience a little of Ukraine. I hope that more of you come and visit while I'm here.
Check out the pictures. Alec has posted some also, and I'm not going to post all of them, as I could potentially get in a bit of trouble (Russian Navy Yard). That's all for now!
