Sunday. We woke up to a beautiful early spring day in Kiev. Liesl and I were up early this morning. Luciana was tired and needed a lot more sleep.
First task this morning is getting all of the devices in the house charged. Most things are dead after a full day of traveling yesterday. So we carefully got as many things plugged in as we could.
One semi-casualty of the packing and moving is my Kindle Fire tablet. At some point in Noto it had fallen into a couch and been lost. It worked its way into the mechanism of the pull out folding bed and had been sat on, a lot. The case is pretty much destroyed and we thought that it was completely dead for sure. But after working on it for a bit, it seems to take a charge still and turn on. So it might limp along for a bit. It is certainly in very rough shape, though, and I can’t believe that it will last for much longer. Any abuse and it is just going to fall into pieces.
This afternoon Anton and Max picked us up, and two of Anton’s kids came along, and we went out to go sight seeing in Kiev. We explored some parks and historic areas, walked some downtown neighbourhoods and then went out for lunch in a really cool restaurant with hanging tables. I had a veggie burger that was really excellent.
Then we went out for pastries which the girls liked very much. The meringues in Kiev are amazing.
On the way home we went up one of the big hills in Kiev by taking the city’s public funicular up the hill. That was a cool treat. We miss out in the US by not having these types of transportation. They only make sense in cities that cater to a populace that gets out and goes lots of places on foot. If no one is walking around, funiculars just do not do anyone any good.
We had a very fun afternoon and Kiev really is a gorgeous city. It is the seventh largest and one of the oldest cities in Europe. The Internet access here is crazy. It is so fast. Maybe the fastest that I’ve ever gotten to use at home. Although my Internet at the house in Texas is quite fast.
After the family was dropped off back at the apartment, Anton and I ran some errands and went back to his apartment for tea.
While Anton and I were running errands, Max went to the apartment and picked up Dominica and the kids and took them out to the local grocery store so that they could stock up on supplies. The apothecary is right around the corner from the house, between the apartment and the grocery store, too. So everything is easy to get to and she knows where it is now and we are all set for a couple of days before we need to venture out and figure out grocery shopping on our own.
After tea we drove out to meet up with Max and Taras at a hard core, underground, knock and know the password speakeasy. It was a great place and the drinks were fantastic. We had a really cool evening out. What a great introduction to Kiev.
So it is only one day, but we are already loving this city. Great food, beautiful parks and architecture, the people are wonderful, the bar scene is excellent.
We are looking forward to our time here in Ukraine. Tomorrow I will be going into the office to hang out with the guys.