Kiev Part I

Famine museum is underneath this
monument - a massive candle
remembering those that died.

How do I summarize Kiev? The first thing I thought when I landed was "Yep, this is Ukraine, looks like we just stepped into the USSR". And then waiting and waiting for my bag - which never showed up. Typical, right? And then I had to go into this little office and fill out tons of paperwork, which they then processed on this machine from the early industrial age...

Anyways, I eventually made it into the main airport area and met Auntie Linda - good thing she caught a glimpse of me though the doors about 30 minutes before or else she probably would have assumed I had been kidnapped or something.

One thing about Kiev is we walked a LOT. We took the metro there, which has 4 lines. In order to get to the metro though, you walk and walk and walk. And after you get off you walk a lot more! The sidewalks are lined with people selling anything from underwear to lettuce. My first ride on the metro conveniently coincided with rush hour... that was fun. One of the stops has the longest elevator - just under 4 minutes long. I took a video in case you don't believe me.

Men playing chess - not really trying too hard to sell that
pork fat. It must sell well enough on its own.

Auntie Linda took me to see the WW2 memorial, and right next to that is the famine museum. Ukraine had 3 periods of government-planned famine during the periods of Lenin and Stalin. We then continued to the downtown touristy area of Kiev, where we saw the square where the Orange Revolution took place, and went to this little food market that has been there for 100 years. All the fruits and things were displayed very nicely, and so was the raw meat laying out on counters with no ice or anything. The most delicious thing I saw there was the slabs of pork fat, which tastes even better than a roast! 

Where the Orange Revolution happened - now there's a
huge monument and a clock on the grass.

I then took my first taxi (scoff) ride to the train station for my first ever night train. First of all, it wasn't even really a taxi. Just some guy commissioned probably to drive us. Then my seat did not have a seat belt, so I was fearing for my life before we even started driving. THEN I got my first taste of European driving - no rules, no lanes, no problems.

View from the Kiev apartment.

Needless to say - my first night train (and my first train period) resulted in no sleep. At least we arrived without derailing!

I will try to take more photos of real life Kiev when I go back this week.