Things to do in Kharkov in early winter

[SL0413]

Well, our travel plans are set for the first few weeks:

Day 1:  Arrive in Kiev at 3 PM.  I booked both the 6 PM IC train to Kharkov (arriving at 10:40) and the 6 PM AutoLux bus (arriving at 00:30).  I booked both in-case the flight is delayed and I miss the train.  The bus leaves from the airport.

Days 2-5:  3 nights in Kharkov:  one of Mila's apartments

Days 5-7:  2 nights in Poltava:  Airbnb Apt

Days 7-9:  2 nights in Kiev:  Airbnb

Days 9-12:  3 nights in Bratislava:  Airbnb

Days 12-15:  3 nights in Vienna:  Airbnb

Day 15-16:  1 night in Bratislava - airport hotel:  Booking.com

Days 16-18:  2 nights in Myrhorod:  Booking.com

Days 18-26:  7 nights at T's home

Days 26-48:  3 weeks in Kharkov (plan may change)


About Day 1's travel from Kiev to Kharkov - has anyone travelled on the AutoLux bus?   It seems convenient - I can board from Boryspil airport and not have to travel to Kiev center to catch the train (and possibly miss the train if the flight is late and traffic is heavy).   If I land on time and clear customs relatively quickly, I wonder if I should still wait and take the bus.  The down side is it takes 2 hours more to get to Kharkov.

The ticket cost for each is about the same, and cheap.  $14 for the train (first class IC+), $15 for the bus (normally $5, but the 6PM bus is the VIP - 3 seats per row instead of 4).


Not sure where to spend New Years and Christmas.  Maybe at T's home town to party with her friends, perhaps in Kiev to spend the holidays with her sister's family, or another place.  I am hoping to visit Lvov, but T may need to stay within a day's driving distance to Kharkov depending on developments.

[AvHdB]

About Day 1's travel from Kiev to Kharkov - has anyone travelled on the AutoLux bus?   It seems convenient - I can board from Boryspil airport and not have to travel to Kiev center to catch the train (and possibly miss the train if the flight is late and traffic is heavy).   If I land on time and clear customs relatively quickly, I wonder if I should still wait and take the bus.  The down side is it takes 2 hours more to get to Kharkov.

When departing I have seen the bus at both terminals, they look modern and clean.

I would confirm from which terminal the bus boards passengers.

[Steveboy]

Is it possible to get engaged after one meeting?

Oh yes, most definitely.  It is possible.

Is it advisable?  No.

Is it stupid?  Highly possible. 



I dated my previous wife for 3 years, was engaged for 2, was married for 2, was separated for 2, and then was divorced.  My last girlfriend, who I wasn't sure about initially but eventually thought might be the one, I dated for 3 years before we became just friends.

With T, I thought she might be the one on the first day, and was sure after a week.

It doesn't mean I'm blindly heading into this.  I still keep a paranoid eye out for signs that she might not be who she seems or if I am deluding myself.  Hence I am on this forum and looking at other websites, seeing if what is going on with me has any similarities with others whose relationships failed.

Also, engaged doesn't mean married.  I am heading to Ukraine on this next trip to spend a little over two months with her, giving us time for more evaluation.  And because I miss her.

In the meantime the K1 visa process is chugging along glacially in the background.   If our relationship goes on strong, we can be together permanently by next spring.  If not, then we can decide what to do.   I still have my job and friends and home, she has hers.  The worst would be us spending about a year together and having enjoyed a few trips to cool places.   

Actually, the worst would be if she is bait for FSU mafia who will kidnap me to harvest my organs or sell me as a sex slave.   This is actually what one of my paranoid friends think might happen.

Its not so bad being a sex slave..

[andrewfi]

Organ harvesting in Ukraine is for real: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/22/ukrainian-teacher-accused-trying-sell-student-organ-harvesters/ or: https://www.globalresearch.ca/organ-harvesting-in-ukraine-goes-unreported/5390599 and many others.

A man on his own in a strange city, lured by an attractive (? ) young woman. Is it such an incredible idea?

[dcguyusa]

A British man who died while on holiday with his family in Egypt had his heart and kidneys removed before his body was sent back to the UK.

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/organ-harvesting-probe-british-tourists-remains-returned-from-egypt-without-heart-kidneys/

I guess they must have a backlog of people waiting for organs, so why not get it from the deceased?   

[SL0413]

While researching Slovakia my surname popped up as names of various businesses - a hotel, a company that builds delivery trucks, a few bars...

Looking into it further there are more businesses listed under that name in Croatia.

My father was born in the US but his side of the family is Slovakian.  I am now less concerned about being kidnapped by the mafia versus being recruited as the "american cousin".  I hope the initiation task isn't something... gruesome. 

[AvHdB]

As way of history, Yugoslavia, means Southern Slavia. These people were an ethnic group on the North West edge of Greater Slavia, think Poland, Western Ukraine and parts of Belarus.

Caught between two stronger ethnic groups over a generation in the 5th century they moved south to present day Serbia and Croatia and even further south to the borders of Greece. This is the foundation of what was Yugoslavia. It makes sense some stayed in the regions they crossed over, i.e Slovakia.

In all fairness there are historians who have published very different accounts of the regions background. To me they they seem complicated and twisted.

[SL0413]

Well, I am flying out in less than a week 

I will start a trip report after I get there, and hopefully update it once a week.  It will be less of a relationship report and more of a travel blog, unless things go squirrely with Ms. T.

Any restaurant recommendations for Kharkov and Poltava?

[Steveboy]

Well, I am flying out in less than a week 

I will start a trip report after I get there, and hopefully update it once a week.  It will be less of a relationship report and more of a travel blog, unless things go squirrely with Ms. T.

Any restaurant recommendations for Kharkov and Poltava?

What happened? You have been there over a week ...surely not the same as what happens to most who go to that festering city..

[SL0413]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reminder, Steveboy.  I am on another discussion website as well, and have been posting there as counter-point to some of the weird relationship stories going on.

The story so far:

Nov 12-13: 

Flew to Kiev via Munich on Lufthansa.  Got through passport and customs quickly, was accosted by many independent taxi drivers, found "Nyet, spasibo" worked better than plain "Nyet".  I originally planned to use Skybus, but there was no way I could fit my 28 inch hardside, 22 inch hardside, backpack and a shopping bag of scotch and wine from Munich duty-free on the bus.   Instead used Uber to get to Kiev Passazhyrskyi.

I hailed the uber at 16:15 or so, needed to catch the IC+ train at 18:03.   With bridge construction that narrowed the 4 lanes to 2, plus rush hour, made it to the train station at 17:40.  I scanned the information board and saw my train scheduled on track 8, had to lug everything up the escalator (easy), then down a long flight of stairs (hard).  Resisted offers of aid from opportunist "helpers" with "Nyet, spasibo".

Got on the train, relaxed, texted T that I was on my way, and settled in for the 4.5 hr train ride to Kharkov.  Noticed that the 2nd stop on the route was Boryspil....should have researched my train route back in the states and went to Boryspil town train station instead.  Would have alleviated a ton of stress of thinking I would miss the train. 

Got to Kharkov and reunited with my angel.  She had her car with her, and drove us to the apartment we rented from Mila.  T told me to shower and refresh myself as she prepared a meal - takeout from a Georgian bbq.  Kabobs, pork ribs, lamb chops, stuffed eggplant, grilled veggies, fresh veggies with hummus, bread, cheese, crackers and olives.  Ate as much as I could and rolled to bed.


Nov 14:

T had some business in the morning and I tagged along to her appointments.  We then had lunch at Gdeburger:  pretty good burger selection, but I had basically an open faced burger for lunch, with 2 poached eggs.  We then drove around for an ATM.  I eventually found out that OTP Bank was the best - 20,000 UAH withdrawal limit vs 5,000 and 4,000 at others (Credit Agricole had a 500 UAH limit!).  But not all OPT Bank ATMs allow 20,000 UAH - some are only stocked with 200 UAH notes and won't allow such a high withdrawal.  PrivatBank also had a 20,000 limit, but it wanted to charge 300 ATM fee (OTP Bank ATMs had no fee).

We drove around a bit - my impression of Kharkov is that it is a soviet version of Kiev.  There are some new buildings here and there but nowhere near as seen in the capital.   The overcast weather didn't help alleviate the harsh site of grey buildings. 

I was still tired/jet lagged from the trip, so we went to a Klass grocery store and bought a bunch of stuff and went back to the apartment.  I took a nap as T did some research and made appointments for the next day and prepare dinner.  A couple of hours later I was woken up by a very affectionate woman...and didn't get out of bed.

Later in the evening we had dinner and chatted, catching up on the past two months we've been separated.   Then it was back to bed for more...catching up.


Nov 15:

I had to get my passport translated to Ukrainian, so we went to a place called Golfstream.  I was nervous about leaving it with strangers, but trusted T.  They did a bang up job - they made a package by photo copying all the pages and having a notarized translation at the end.

At noon we met Mila to talk about the apartment and the dates we would need it in the future, and payment.  We met at a placed called Osteria Il Tartufo - fantastic Italian food, including beef tartar and fresh pasta.  5 dishes for the two of us (Mila had to leave early) was 915 grivnas - very reasonable by western standards but pricey for Ukraine.  Worth it though.

After lunch we went back to the apartment for more "catching up", then rushed to Golfstream to pick up my passport and the translation before they closed.  We saw more of grey Kharkov, then went back to the apartment to shower and change for dinner with T's friends.

We took and Uber to V&J's apartment (T knew she had to drink, heh).  I was told a month ago, when T was visiting her friends, that V liked scotch.  So I brought the scotch and a bottle of wine I picked up from Munich, and together with V's roast lamb, had a fantastic time.  They both knew a little english, which helped, and they are both huge music fans, especially Queen.  V's a great guy, and J is just as beautiful as T, but with dark hair and blue eyes to T's blond hair and green eyes. 

After the bottle of scotch, wine and half a bottle of vodka, we took our leave and took an uber back to our apartment.  I'm a bit fuzzy about the details, but we did end up in the right place and made it more or less to bed in one piece. 


Nov 16:

The day dawned too $&@ bright (still overcast).  We grogedly got up to pack and head out to Poltava, after a noon meeting for T and I to sign some papers with the translated passport.  2000 UAH lighter we got on the road westbound.  T drove.  Actually, T has driven all the time - my personal driver!  I think she is afraid I don't know how to drive manual transmission, regardless my assertions otherwise. 

2 hours later, of mostly single lane road through flat farmland (reminded me of rural Nebraska), we arrived in Poltava at dusk.  We went directly to a restaurant called Kozachka.  Excellent food!  The restaurant is very picturesque inside and has great ukrainian dishes.  2 soups, 1 salad and 2 main courses, with 1 large beer, was 378 UAH. 

At 18:00 or so we checked in to an Airbnb apartment on the main street - Sobornosti.  We were diagonally across the corner from the large PrivatBank.   A modern style 1 bedroom, with heated floors in the bathroom and kitchen.  The only issue we had was the large main room only had 1 radiator at the far end - it stayed pretty cool relative to the rest of the apartment.

I discovered another thing about T - she gets very affectionate after a good meal.  After some quality time together, I quietly vowed myself never to take her to McD's. 


Nov 17:

I had to do some work in the morning.  T showered and made breakfast.  We noticed the apartment didn't have a hair dryer, so T patiently read a book while waiting for her hair to dry.  At noon we headed out to the Poltava battle site and museum.  T got us the extra pass to allow us to take photos, and I was glad she did.  I am not cultured enough to appreciate fine artwork and such, but I am interested in military and battle artifacts.  2 items stood out for me at the museum.  First was extremely well crafted Turkish flintlock rifles, with custom carving and mother-of-pearl inlays.  The second was a brass cannon, which also was finely crafted with badges and emblems.  The top hooks for lifting the cannon were designed as sculpted fish - very cool. 

Afterwards T drove us to Dykanka, a small town to the north that was the setting for some Gogol stories.  The road up there was rough, with a lot of potholes and shoddy repair patches.  T welcomed me to typical Ukrainian roads, but I told her we had a lot of the same in Massachusetts, especially after a harsh winter.

In Dykanka we went to the Holy Trinity Church, which had a ceremony/observance going on.  Two people were chanting from a podium on the right section (the interior of the church was a cross -- "+").  The acoustics of the place filled the entire space with their voices.
 The priest, in full pope regalia, swinging an incense urn, opened a panel on the false wall ahead of us, chanted a few verses in tune with the others, and then opened a second panel to return out of sight.  He then opened a 3rd panel, chanted a few more verses, then went back through a 4th panel.

We observed a bit and discretely left.  We then went to look for the 300 year old oak that is supposed to be in Dykanka, but couldn't find it.  It was getting late, so we decided to head back before dark on the rough road.  For dinner we went back to Kozachka, this time ordering 7 dishes (but no beer - just coffee and tea) for 415 UAH.


Nov 18: 

We got up, packed our stuff, and left at around noon to head to Kiev.  We arrived at our Airbnb apartment near Zhuliany airport.  It was a cute place at a new apartment building, decorated with Futurama theme.  The problem we had was that we could not reach the owner listed on Airbnb.  Eventually, Victoria, a business partner of the owner called us and checked us in.  We had to hurry because we were going to be late for Sunday dinner at her sister's house.  It was special that day because her nephew was turning 16 the next day, and her mother was in town (from Donetsk) to celebrate.

We arrived by uber at around 6 PM for dinner.  Mama was happy to meet me finally, and prepared a huge batch of meat and potato pies, as well as cinnamon apple pies.  I brought all the gifts I packed - Under Armour and Levi's t-shirts for the boys, Celtics hoodie for her youngest nephew, Bruins shirt for the birthday boy, nice sunglasses for Mama, Neuhaus chocolates and a special eyebrow gel for her sister, and a Red sox jersey for her brother-in-law. 

Dinner was crab salad, the potatoe meat pies, grilled fish, grilled chicken wings, homemade pickles and a herring salad.  All was very good, except for the herring salad which I didn't try (I don't like fishy fish..)   It was great seeing everyone again (I met them in June) and meeting Mama for the first time.   

After dinner and several drinks and a board game, we took a cab home that night (brother-in-law arranged it).  About 30 minutes after we got in to the apartment, T noticed the room was getting colder.  She set the temperature on the heating unit up, but 5 minutes later the CO detector attached to the gas line went in alarm.  It reset after a bit, but it didn't reset the shutoff valve for the gas line.  The heating unit kept trying to heat up the water for the radiators but faulted out.  I could not reach anyone - the owner didn't respond to messages, the number she had listed with Airbnb was out of service, her partner - Victoria, didn't answer her phone or texts.  With no heat or hot water at 2 AM, T calmed me down and guided me to bed and snuggled up to heat ourselves.  The building had enough residual heat for the place to be cool and not cold.


Nov 19:

We got up late, after 9 AM.  I was able to reach Victoria at 9:30, but she had no idea how to fix the heater or gas valve.  She told me to shut it off and then back on, but the heater had no on/off switch, and I couldn't see where it was plugged in.   After 30 minutes of waiting, and no update, we had enough and packed to leave.  I booked a hotel near T's sister's house, and we left at around 10:30.  Later in the afternoon I finally got a message from the owner, who apologized and refunded the entire amount for the 2 nights I booked her place.  Except for the Airbnb service fee ($13), which she didn't control and was non-refundable.

At noon we went to Kiev center to buy 2 cell phones.  One for me, a Nokia 8.  I wanted a good phone with dual SIM slots - I have an iPhone 7 from work that I need to keep with the original Verizon sim card (which I can use with Wifi to make work related calls and have people reach me).  A second one as a gift for her nephew, that T and I got together - a Pocophone F1.  His old cell phone broke and his parents could only afford a basic one.  We planned it in advance, so that we didn't duplicate gifts. 

Dinner at Sestra's this time was Donald and Oscar.  2 ducks that Mama brought with her from Donetsk.  She prepared them with apples - roasted?  Braised?  Not sure, but Donald was delicious.  Or was is Oscar?  We also had grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, seafood salad with salted octopus, Olivier salad, Herring under fur coat salad, and dried fish that was to be eaten with beer.   Lots of fish and seafood, but I stuck with Donald/Oscar and potatoes and Olivier salad. 

There were a lot of toasts for the birthday boy, all in russian, with a video call from his great uncle in St. Petersburg and his grandfather in Donetsk.  I tried some of Mama's home-made wine, which was actually pretty good.  Nephew ran off to his room to put the new cell phone through it's paces while the rest of us chatted.  I think it was all in russian, but after two or three glasses of the strong wine I am not sure.  I may have spoken russian as well. 

...
To be continued. 

[rosco]

Nice trip report.

A couple of things you said reminded me of my experiences in Ukraine;

. Lots of eating out in restaurants in between church visits and the like, followed by more eating at peoples houses. In fact too much eating in general.

. Everywhere is very flat and you can drive for hours through fields of nothing. Did you see lots of stray dogs?

. Ukraine is very dull and grey in the winter months.

. That something another fur coat salad is rank. I like fish but hate this dish!! MIL always forgets and dumps loads on my plate and then gets upset when I pick around it.

. Too much seafood on the menu for my liking. Coming from an island, I know what fresh fish is like, I always tend to stick to meat when in BY or when I was in UKR.

. Always stuff needing fixed and plenty botched jobs. If you ask about it the answer is always, hey its Ukraine.

Thanks for the read. 

[AvHdB]

Nice trip report.

A couple of things you said reminded me of my experiences in Ukraine;

. Lots of eating out in restaurants in between church visits and the like, followed by more eating at peoples houses. In fact too much eating in general.

. Everywhere is very flat and you can drive for hours through fields of nothing. Did you see lots of stray dogs?

. Ukraine is very dull and grey in the winter months.

. That something another fur coat salad is rank. I like fish but hate this dish!! MIL always forgets and dumps loads on my plate and then gets upset when I pick around it.

. Too much seafood on the menu for my liking. Coming from an island, I know what fresh fish is like, I always tend to stick to meat when in BY or when I was in UKR.

. Always stuff needing fixed and plenty botched jobs. If you ask about it the answer is always, hey its Ukraine.

Thanks for the read. 

A succinct summation ~ Julia trusts my cooking now, though she does not care much for chicken and farm raised salmon, in her opinion it is artificial.

[Steveboy]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reminder, Steveboy.  I am on another discussion website as well, and have been posting there as counter-point to some of the weird relationship stories going on.

The story so far:

Nov 12-13: 

Flew to Kiev via Munich on Lufthansa.  Got through passport and customs quickly, was accosted by many independent taxi drivers, found "Nyet, spasibo" worked better than plain "Nyet".  I originally planned to use Skybus, but there was no way I could fit my 28 inch hardside, 22 inch hardside, backpack and a shopping bag of scotch and wine from Munich duty-free on the bus.   Instead used Uber to get to Kiev Passazhyrskyi.

I hailed the uber at 16:15 or so, needed to catch the IC+ train at 18:03.   With bridge construction that narrowed the 4 lanes to 2, plus rush hour, made it to the train station at 17:40.  I scanned the information board and saw my train scheduled on track 8, had to lug everything up the escalator (easy), then down a long flight of stairs (hard).  Resisted offers of aid from opportunist "helpers" with "Nyet, spasibo".

Got on the train, relaxed, texted T that I was on my way, and settled in for the 4.5 hr train ride to Kharkov.  Noticed that the 2nd stop on the route was Boryspil....should have researched my train route back in the states and went to Boryspil town train station instead.  Would have alleviated a ton of stress of thinking I would miss the train. 

Got to Kharkov and reunited with my angel.  She had her car with her, and drove us to the apartment we rented from Mila.  T told me to shower and refresh myself as she prepared a meal - takeout from a Georgian bbq.  Kabobs, pork ribs, lamb chops, stuffed eggplant, grilled veggies, fresh veggies with hummus, bread, cheese, crackers and olives.  Ate as much as I could and rolled to bed.


Nov 14:

T had some business in the morning and I tagged along to her appointments.  We then had lunch at Gdeburger:  pretty good burger selection, but I had basically an open faced burger for lunch, with 2 poached eggs.  We then drove around for an ATM.  I eventually found out that OTP Bank was the best - 20,000 UAH withdrawal limit vs 5,000 and 4,000 at others (Credit Agricole had a 500 UAH limit!).  But not all OPT Bank ATMs allow 20,000 UAH - some are only stocked with 200 UAH notes and won't allow such a high withdrawal.  PrivatBank also had a 20,000 limit, but it wanted to charge 300 ATM fee (OTP Bank ATMs had no fee).

We drove around a bit - my impression of Kharkov is that it is a soviet version of Kiev.  There are some new buildings here and there but nowhere near as seen in the capital.   The overcast weather didn't help alleviate the harsh site of grey buildings. 

I was still tired/jet lagged from the trip, so we went to a Klass grocery store and bought a bunch of stuff and went back to the apartment.  I took a nap as T did some research and made appointments for the next day and prepare dinner.  A couple of hours later I was woken up by a very affectionate woman...and didn't get out of bed.

Later in the evening we had dinner and chatted, catching up on the past two months we've been separated.   Then it was back to bed for more...catching up.


Nov 15:

I had to get my passport translated to Ukrainian, so we went to a place called Golfstream.  I was nervous about leaving it with strangers, but trusted T.  They did a bang up job - they made a package by photo copying all the pages and having a notarized translation at the end.

At noon we met Mila to talk about the apartment and the dates we would need it in the future, and payment.  We met at a placed called Osteria Il Tartufo - fantastic Italian food, including beef tartar and fresh pasta.  5 dishes for the two of us (Mila had to leave early) was 915 grivnas - very reasonable by western standards but pricey for Ukraine.  Worth it though.

After lunch we went back to the apartment for more "catching up", then rushed to Golfstream to pick up my passport and the translation before they closed.  We saw more of grey Kharkov, then went back to the apartment to shower and change for dinner with T's friends.

We took and Uber to V&J's apartment (T knew she had to drink, heh).  I was told a month ago, when T was visiting her friends, that V liked scotch.  So I brought the scotch and a bottle of wine I picked up from Munich, and together with V's roast lamb, had a fantastic time.  They both knew a little english, which helped, and they are both huge music fans, especially Queen.  V's a great guy, and J is just as beautiful as T, but with dark hair and blue eyes to T's blond hair and green eyes. 

After the bottle of scotch, wine and half a bottle of vodka, we took our leave and took an uber back to our apartment.  I'm a bit fuzzy about the details, but we did end up in the right place and made it more or less to bed in one piece. 


Nov 16:

The day dawned too $&@ bright (still overcast).  We grogedly got up to pack and head out to Poltava, after a noon meeting for T and I to sign some papers with the translated passport.  2000 UAH lighter we got on the road westbound.  T drove.  Actually, T has driven all the time - my personal driver!  I think she is afraid I don't know how to drive manual transmission, regardless my assertions otherwise. 

2 hours later, of mostly single lane road through flat farmland (reminded me of rural Nebraska), we arrived in Poltava at dusk.  We went directly to a restaurant called Kozachka.  Excellent food!  The restaurant is very picturesque inside and has great ukrainian dishes.  2 soups, 1 salad and 2 main courses, with 1 large beer, was 378 UAH. 

At 18:00 or so we checked in to an Airbnb apartment on the main street - Sobornosti.  We were diagonally across the corner from the large PrivatBank.   A modern style 1 bedroom, with heated floors in the bathroom and kitchen.  The only issue we had was the large main room only had 1 radiator at the far end - it stayed pretty cool relative to the rest of the apartment.

I discovered another thing about T - she gets very affectionate after a good meal.  After some quality time together, I quietly vowed myself never to take her to McD's. 


Nov 17:

I had to do some work in the morning.  T showered and made breakfast.  We noticed the apartment didn't have a hair dryer, so T patiently read a book while waiting for her hair to dry.  At noon we headed out to the Poltava battle site and museum.  T got us the extra pass to allow us to take photos, and I was glad she did.  I am not cultured enough to appreciate fine artwork and such, but I am interested in military and battle artifacts.  2 items stood out for me at the museum.  First was extremely well crafted Turkish flintlock rifles, with custom carving and mother-of-pearl inlays.  The second was a brass cannon, which also was finely crafted with badges and emblems.  The top hooks for lifting the cannon were designed as sculpted fish - very cool. 

Afterwards T drove us to Dykanka, a small town to the north that was the setting for some Gogol stories.  The road up there was rough, with a lot of potholes and shoddy repair patches.  T welcomed me to typical Ukrainian roads, but I told her we had a lot of the same in Massachusetts, especially after a harsh winter.

In Dykanka we went to the Holy Trinity Church, which had a ceremony/observance going on.  Two people were chanting from a podium on the right section (the interior of the church was a cross -- "+").  The acoustics of the place filled the entire space with their voices.
 The priest, in full pope regalia, swinging an incense urn, opened a panel on the false wall ahead of us, chanted a few verses in tune with the others, and then opened a second panel to return out of sight.  He then opened a 3rd panel, chanted a few more verses, then went back through a 4th panel.

We observed a bit and discretely left.  We then went to look for the 300 year old oak that is supposed to be in Dykanka, but couldn't find it.  It was getting late, so we decided to head back before dark on the rough road.  For dinner we went back to Kozachka, this time ordering 7 dishes (but no beer - just coffee and tea) for 415 UAH.


Nov 18: 

We got up, packed our stuff, and left at around noon to head to Kiev.  We arrived at our Airbnb apartment near Zhuliany airport.  It was a cute place at a new apartment building, decorated with Futurama theme.  The problem we had was that we could not reach the owner listed on Airbnb.  Eventually, Victoria, a business partner of the owner called us and checked us in.  We had to hurry because we were going to be late for Sunday dinner at her sister's house.  It was special that day because her nephew was turning 16 the next day, and her mother was in town (from Donetsk) to celebrate.

We arrived by uber at around 6 PM for dinner.  Mama was happy to meet me finally, and prepared a huge batch of meat and potato pies, as well as cinnamon apple pies.  I brought all the gifts I packed - Under Armour and Levi's t-shirts for the boys, Celtics hoodie for her youngest nephew, Bruins shirt for the birthday boy, nice sunglasses for Mama, Neuhaus chocolates and a special eyebrow gel for her sister, and a Red sox jersey for her brother-in-law. 

Dinner was crab salad, the potatoe meat pies, grilled fish, grilled chicken wings, homemade pickles and a herring salad.  All was very good, except for the herring salad which I didn't try (I don't like fishy fish..)   It was great seeing everyone again (I met them in June) and meeting Mama for the first time.   

After dinner and several drinks and a board game, we took a cab home that night (brother-in-law arranged it).  About 30 minutes after we got in to the apartment, T noticed the room was getting colder.  She set the temperature on the heating unit up, but 5 minutes later the CO detector attached to the gas line went in alarm.  It reset after a bit, but it didn't reset the shutoff valve for the gas line.  The heating unit kept trying to heat up the water for the radiators but faulted out.  I could not reach anyone - the owner didn't respond to messages, the number she had listed with Airbnb was out of service, her partner - Victoria, didn't answer her phone or texts.  With no heat or hot water at 2 AM, T calmed me down and guided me to bed and snuggled up to heat ourselves.  The building had enough residual heat for the place to be cool and not cold.


Nov 19:

We got up late, after 9 AM.  I was able to reach Victoria at 9:30, but she had no idea how to fix the heater or gas valve.  She told me to shut it off and then back on, but the heater had no on/off switch, and I couldn't see where it was plugged in.   After 30 minutes of waiting, and no update, we had enough and packed to leave.  I booked a hotel near T's sister's house, and we left at around 10:30.  Later in the afternoon I finally got a message from the owner, who apologized and refunded the entire amount for the 2 nights I booked her place.  Except for the Airbnb service fee ($13), which she didn't control and was non-refundable.

At noon we went to Kiev center to buy 2 cell phones.  One for me, a Nokia 8.  I wanted a good phone with dual SIM slots - I have an iPhone 7 from work that I need to keep with the original Verizon sim card (which I can use with Wifi to make work related calls and have people reach me).  A second one as a gift for her nephew, that T and I got together - a Pocophone F1.  His old cell phone broke and his parents could only afford a basic one.  We planned it in advance, so that we didn't duplicate gifts. 

Dinner at Sestra's this time was Donald and Oscar.  2 ducks that Mama brought with her from Donetsk.  She prepared them with apples - roasted?  Braised?  Not sure, but Donald was delicious.  Or was is Oscar?  We also had grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, seafood salad with salted octopus, Olivier salad, Herring under fur coat salad, and dried fish that was to be eaten with beer.   Lots of fish and seafood, but I stuck with Donald/Oscar and potatoes and Olivier salad. 

There were a lot of toasts for the birthday boy, all in russian, with a video call from his great uncle in St. Petersburg and his grandfather in Donetsk.  I tried some of Mama's home-made wine, which was actually pretty good.  Nephew ran off to his room to put the new cell phone through it's paces while the rest of us chatted.  I think it was all in russian, but after two or three glasses of the strong wine I am not sure.  I may have spoken russian as well. 

...
To be continued.

   Still alive then..

[SL0413]

. Everywhere is very flat and you can drive for hours through fields of nothing. Did you see lots of stray dogs?

T commented about this in Kharkov.  No stray dogs to be seen anywhere.  Saw a couple of stray cats and that was it.  In Poltava we spotted one or two stray dogs.  Saw more in Kiev, but not as many as we saw in Odessa in June.

. Ukraine is very dull and grey in the winter months.

Yep.  But so is Massachusetts.  T is going to fit right in here. 

[SL0413]

Nov 19, continued:

Before dinner, T drove us to leave the car with her sister.  She lives in a town/subdivision south of Kiev.  Every time we visited, we stopped at a restaurant at the corner of the main street of their town and the motorway, and waited for them to pick us up.  The night before I payed attention to the road as we left sister's house, so I was pretty confident I could navigate us without help.

We drove down the main street of the town, and I spotted an old house I remembered as a landmark to turn left.  I told T to turn, but she said No!  She was 100% sure that they lived on the right side of the street.  Rather than argue, I said "we'll see" and let her drive on.  After a few kilometers T backed down, getting more and more unsure.  She actually put on a Queen CD with the song "I'm going slightly mad."   

She turned around and let me navigate.  We got back to the street, which is now to our right.  She turned in and drove a bit until the street split into 3 directions.  I thought we needed to drive down the left or center, 50-50 each.  I knew it wasn't the right fork.  T got frustrated at this point, not with me but with not remembering the way herself.  She called her sister, who sent her husband to pick us up.  T backed up, wanting to go back to the main road and to the restaurant near the motorway, but I convinced her to wait where we were.  T was still sure we were at the wrong turn-off, but a few minutes later the brother-in-law showed up coming down the center fork.  She said, "Oh my god, I'm going slightly mad".

Anyway, after dinner T's brother-in-law drove us to our hotel, which was only about 3 km away.  We were tired from the evening of eating, drinking and toasting, so we decided to head to bed and get up early the next day to pack.


Nov 20:

We got up at 06:00 to pack our bags.  We had to consolidate our stuff into 2 small carry-on bags and 2 small check-in bags for our flight to Bratislava (Wizz Air).  We managed to get a week's worth of clothes and items to a 22 inch hardside, 20 inch duffel bag with wheels, and 2 backpacks.  The rest was packed into the larger luggage to be kept in the car that her sister will keep for the week.

T's sister picked us up at 09:00 and we got to Zhuliany in plenty of time.  I lost sight of T as we went through security and passport check.  T was randomly selected for a full search, which she cleared, but she was out of sight for about 10 minutes.  I panicked a bit, and realized that I didn't have any of her friends or family's contact information.  When T came through the passport control section I was so relieved.  I immediately got her sister's phone numbers (she used dual SIM carriers), her mother's number and the number of a friend back in her town. 

Our flight was at noon, so we sat at a cafe between gates 4 and 5.  The host of our apartment in Bratislava forwarded a link to a taxi service for the ride from the airport - taxi bratislava.  Their rate is 16 euros - I think normal taxis can charge 25-35.  I filled out a taxi request form on their website with our flight details and got an email confirmation. 

We are not sure why, but I had priority boarding while T did not.  T purchased extra weight check-in luggage for me - perhaps that came with priority boarding?  When Wizz Air called for priority boarding passengers, T and I waited nearby, to go as soon as regular boarding was called.  The agent noticed us hanging around and I guess he spotted the priority tag on my boarding pass.  He motioned us over, but I informed him I was waiting to board with T.  He was nice and told us both to board early.

We went down the boarding stairs to outside, where a bus was waiting to take everyone to the plane.  This was the first time in a while I boarded a plane via open stairs - I used to do that on small commuter airlines for out-of-the-way destinations for work.  The stairs for the Wizz Air plane was nice - it was covered for inclement weather, even though the day was sunny.

I liked Wizz Air.  They offered no frills but for a 1.5 hour flight we didn't need any.  The only odd thing was the seats didn't have a recline function.  The flight left early and landed early in Bratislava.   I guess it rained earlier there, but it started snowing as we disembarked...on a open air staircase.  If only they could have switched the stairs with the one in Zhuliany.

The passport control lines at Bratislava were long and slow - they only had 2 windows open for internation passports, and 3 for EU.  After a while, a border security official picked those of us with biometric passports to head over to the open EU booths.

We cleared passport control, collected our luggage, and exited customs an hour ahead of the time I requested the taxi.  Using airport wifi I emailed the company and they responded right away.  Our taxi arrived in 10 minutes and we were off to Michael's Gate.  The ride was nice and smooth.  The car was a Mercedes E-class.  Our driver pulled as close to the walkway to Michael's Gate as he could, and I tipped him an extra 4 euros to round the fare to 20. 

Our apartment was down a small street to the right just after passing Michael's Gate in the pedestrian zone of the old city.  The one bedroom apartment was roomy, with working heat and hot water, which was the first thing T checked. 

We showered, changed clothes, and headed out to the nearby mall - Eurovea.  I needed a Sim card for use in Bratislava and Vienna.  We stopped at O2 first, which only offered 1 prepaid card with 1 GB of data.  Then we stopped at Telekom, whose logo is suspiciously similar to T-Mobile.  Hmmm.  There we had to get a number, like at a supermarket deli.  After standing around for a while, with only 1 person ahead of us in the queue and an employee with no clients but looking busy by browsing his own cell phone, I tossed my ticket in the bin and headed off to Orange.

At Orange I had to get another queue ticket, but my number was called almost right away, to a desk with a woman who didn't speak english.  She pointed to service desk 2, indicating the guy there spoke english.  I waited about 10 minutes for him to finish with his clients, who purchased a full package (phone and mobile service). 

I ended up with a 10 GB prepaid data plan card, with free roaming in Europe, plus 9 euro credit for voice and sms. 

We walked back to the old city to go to a restaurant.  We walked along Hviezdoslavovo street, which was decorated for Christmas with many stalls selling spiced warm cider, spiced wine, pastries, grilled steak and smoked sausage sandwiches, and holiday nick-knacks.   We didn't stop at any, but planned to return the next evening.

We went to Koliba Kamzík, a great little restaurant with Slovak dishes and drinks.  We got some warm mulled wine, soup, roasted duck leg (for T), lamb shank (for me) and a traditional dish to share called Bryndzové halušky.  Everything was great except the Bryndzové halušky, which wasn't seasoned that well and tasted plain.  T's soup was garlic with smoked cheese, which I thought would have meant a cheese soup seasoned with garlic.  I was wrong.  It was garlic broth, with tons of minced garlic, with pieces of cheese in the broth.  If only I booked a two bedroom apartment....

Dinner for the above, with one desert and cappuccino, was 68 euros.  I am not sure if that is good or bad since it was our first meal in Bratislava.  I suspect it is high, but then again we are in the tourist area of the city.

[AvHdB]

She actually put on a Queen CD with the song "I'm going slightly mad."   
 
She said, "Oh my god, I'm going slightly mad".

That can happen when you fall in love.

Thank you for writing an enjoyable Travel Report!

[SL0413]

Hi guys,

Quick update.  Nothing much happened in Bratislava/Vienna except for Black Friday sales and other shopping, sightseeing and enjoying various restaurants.  But Ukraine got more interesting:

Nov 21 - 27:

Had a nice week in Bratislava and Vienna.  Nov 20-23 in Bratislava, Nov 23-26 in Vienna, and last day back in Bratislava before flying home.  In addition to Black Friday purchases (clothes and 2 wallets - one for each of us), T purchased a lot of unique socks at a kiosk at a mall - 11 pairs.  Half were for gifts. 

I really enjoyed flying Wizz Air.  Very basic service, but they were on-time and efficient.   We are flying out on Wizz Air again, this time from Kharkov to Wroclaw, to visit T's friend there for 2 days and then drive to Prague for next weekend (Dec 5-9).


Nov 27-28:

Spent a night at T's sister's house in Kiev.  Rented a Banya for a couple of hours.  I got mauled by T's brother-in-law who wielded a bunch of oak leaves soaked in hot water.


Nov 28-30:

Spent 2 nights in Myrhorod, at the Otte Hotel.  Had one of the best steaks ever there - a lovely T-bone grilled to perfection, for about $13.  Spent a day in nearby Velyki Sorochyntsi.  Saw the Sorochyntsi fair grounds as we drove in to town.  Went to a small Gogol museum, and noticed 2 Gogol books written in Korean (and several more in other languages).


Nov 30:

The reason for the report update - road trip to Mariupol! 

We left the hotel in Myrhorod just after 9 AM.  The two lane road S/SE toward M-03 was ok.  A bit icy, but we were able to do 80-100 km/hr.

The route had us on M-03 for a bit, and then on several P-xxx two lane roads south to Dnipro.  Again, the roads were generally ok, and again a bit icy in spots.  The only difficulty was the numerous large trucks we were stuck behind or had to pass on narrow roads.

From Dnipro we drove south about 100 km to Zaporozhye.  It was around 16:00 when we reached Zaporozhye, and getting dark.  Then the adventure really began! 

The 200 km from Zap to  Berdyans'k was rough.  Extremely rough.  T was swerving left and right to avoid the numerous pot holes and rough repair work.  I got nervous as hell, and asked her to just go slowly past them in our lane, instead of weaving back and forth across both lanes.  She said no, and to trust her.  She didn't want me to have to go out in the cold to change the tire.   There were two sections, about 20 km in length each, which had new pavement.  The second one, which started about 70 km north of Berdyans'k, had me fooled into thinking we finally made it past the worst.  20 km later, we hit a huge rough patch going about 60-70 km/hr.   Fortunately the tires/wheels/suspension absorbed it and nothing busted.  That section took us over 3 hours to cross.   Not just because of the road condition, but also due to sections of reduced visibility from strong cross winds creating a localized dust storm.

We were relieved when we reached Berdyans'k.  The road to Mariupol was in fantastic shape compared to what we crossed.

About 20 km outside of Mariupol we reached the first of 2 checkpoints.  T said this one was a police checkpoint.  She was asked to get out and go to the guard house to verify her ID.  The guards were in military uniform with what looked like AK-74 rifles.  After about 5 minutes T returned with a guard, who requested to inspect the car.  He was courteous, waiting patiently for me to get jacket and gloves on to exit the vehicle.  He browsed the interior and checked the glove compartment, and then we were free to go.  He didn't check our luggage or the trunk. 

The next checkpoint was at the edge of the city limits.  This one was more substantial - about a dozen guards and concrete barriers set up to make traffic swerve left and right to get through.  And large concrete tacks - tank barriers.  T said this second one was a military checkpoint.  This time the guards had both of us exit the car and go to a small shack set up to one side of the road.   There were 2 guards inside in military gear and one in a blue uniform - police?  He asked T several questions, then asked me a few.  One was the why I was there.  When I mentioned I was there as a tourist, he was bemused and suspicious.  He stated that Mariupol is not a good tourist destination now.  All this was with T translating.  He did ask me if I spoke Russian or Ukrainian, to which I replied "Ya gavaru pa-rusky mimnoga, ne ochen horosho."

He had us sit down - they entered our ID information on the computer and had to wait for clearance from HQ.  I assume they were running background checks.  It took about 10-15 minutes to get the response message - the all clear.  While we waited the guy and one of the guards in the military uniform asked a few more questions and made a few comments.  Later T said they were being rude - conjecturing on how I was with her and wondering if I was rich or something.

We got back in the car, and T professed that she was getting nervous towards the end of the wait.  She thought they might make some excuse to detain us, like perhaps there was a problem with our ID, and that they would need "persuasion" to look the other way.  She said something like that is rare to happen nowadays, but she didn't like the way the one guy in the blue uniform was acting or saying.

Anyway, we got through, stopped at a large grocery store for supplies, and got to T's apartment safe and sound.  From the outside it's a nondescript 5 story brown building.  The outer door is gray iron with a pushbutton combo lock, and the stairway is in disrepair.  The door to her unit is of sturdy, heavy wood - oak?  Inside it's night and day.  The interior is modern, stylish, with custom stonework walls and flooring sectioned in custom tiles and hardwood.  A lot of curves are integrated into the interior design, which I assume is to relate to the nearby sea.


Dec 1-3:

The weather has been lousy so we haven't done much sightseeing.  I have been working from the apartment while T did laundry and errands.  T has been overfeeding me and then complaining that I eat too much and need to keep in shape.   

We went for a drive around town yesterday.  Kharkov was dull grey in winter.  Mariupol is dull brown in winter.    T drove us to a lookout point to overlook the sea and port district.   Visibility was low but the coast seemed nice - the city and the park we were in is probably wonderful in the summer.   Afterwards we went to a new restaurant at the city center and had some tea and appetizers.  I noticed on the menu that the "Beer Plate" with sausages and cheese was more expensive than the filet mignon.    To be fair, it was a larger portion than the steak by weight, but still...


Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.   I will update this post if anything more interesting happens.

[rosco]

From Dnipro we drove south about 100 km to Zaporozhye.  It was around 16:00 when we reached Zaporozhye, and getting dark.  Then the adventure really began! 

The 200 km from Zap to  Berdyans'k was rough.  Extremely rough.

Years ago, I was seeing a girl who lived in Zap. I'd fly into Dnipro and drive the road to Zap. Her mother lived in Berdyansk and we drove a few times in both summer and winter. Some drive!!

I look back on my time in Ukraine with a lot of fondness but if it wasn't for the good times spent with a pretty girl, it was pretty rough to say the least. Everything seemed to be an after thought, whether it was a floor, a switch in a bathroom, a door or the roads. Totally hectic. We were in a nice apartment but each time you turned the water on, you were never sure it would actually work. I got stuck in the shower one morning fully lathered up when it cut off! 

It was also the only place where I found strangers being suspicious of me and the girl. Mixtures of jealousy, suspicion and resentment made me feel a little put off on occasion. I remember spending about 5 days in Berdyansk during the summer and a lot of it being on the beach. I spoke very little but noticed that there were often the same people on the beach during the time I was there. After a while the ice was broken at the bar and they began to tell me that they were all guessing where I was from. I had been begged as a Scandanvian and surprised them all with the Scottish bit.

Like I say, good times but pretty rough.

[SL0413]

So, Bratislava again.

I gave $700 to T for the trip - sometimes passport/customs in the EU countries can ask her if she has insurance and proof of funds for the trip.  I asked T the other day if she still had it.  She said no, she gave it to me after we got to the apartment on Bratislava.  Uh-oh...

I forgot that she did give it to me, and I put it away with about 2,600 UAH in an envelope.  So I checked my belongings, and I couldn't find it.  Then I remembered - I put it away for safe keeping in a desk drawer...at the apartment in Bratislava.

So I contacted the host via Airbnb.  Another renter just checked out, and she went later in the day and found the money. 

The problem is she can't send me the money via courier.  The options were for her to convert the money to Euros, deposit them in her bank and then wire or PayPal it to me, or for me to go get it in person.

Being sort of a cheapskate, and to have an excuse to visit the area again, we opted to take another short trip.  We had to be in Kharkov on Dec 4 for a meeting that T needed to attend.  So we flew out on Wizz Air from Kharkov and went to Wroclaw, Poland.  Flight was about $80 round trip, each.

Why Wroclaw?  There was a flight to Vienna, but we opted for Wroclaw because one of T's friends live there.  We flew out on Dec 5 and spent 2 nights at her friend's place. 

Then we took a rental car and drove Friday morning to Bratislava.  The Airbnb host gave us the envelope, which had all the money plus a few receipts - nothing was missing.  We wanted to treat them to lunch but they had no time.  Instead, we gave them a nice bottle of wine and some chocolates from Poland.

We had lunch at Roxor - great burgers!  Then I took T to the mall there for her to buy some more hand crafted sox.  She bought 3 pairs, bringing the total pairs of those sox to 14.

We then drove 3.5 hours to Prague.  We spent 2 nights there, parking the car at the Airbnb apartment and using public transport both days.  Saturday morning we purchased a truffle hunting tour.  Some young guys decided to learn how to forage for truffles by bugging some pros in Italy.  They then got a weimaraner and taught her to smell out truffles.  The guys staged a demo by planting a few truffles in the park at Ujdez.  They were pretty knowledgeable and the tour was pretty fun.

Sunday morning we drove back to Wroclaw to catch out 2 PM return flight.  I had a mild panick attack when I noticed I didn't have my passport in my pocket, thinking I left it at the apartment.   Fortunately it was in my backpack - where I placed it after getting the rental car.

Well, that is the exciting news this week. 

Oh, one more minor thing:  my sister texted I got a letter from Homeland security.  She opened it at my request - my I-129F, fiance visa application, was approved on Dec 3.

[SL0413]

Help!

I am at T's friend's apartment, for borscht.  An evening with 3 women.  I think they are plotting the overthrow of a small nation or department store.

P.S.   One of her friends owns a beauty salon.  Dear God,  I think they are also planning to manacure me.  They look at my nails every now and then after some intense conversation.   

P.P.S.  Her friend is petting her cat like Dr. evil...

[AvHdB]

Help!

I am at T's friend's apartment, for borscht.  An evening with 3 women.  I think they are plotting the overthrow of a small nation or department store.

P.S.   One of her friends owns a beauty salon.  Dear God,  I think they are also planning to manacure me.  They look at my nails every now and then after some intense conversation.   

P.P.S.  Her friend is petting her cat like Dr. evil...

Good Luck & go with the Flow!

For what it is worth un~manicured finger nails is a big no no in Slavic culture. Men and women.

[SL0413]

Well, I got manicured.  And pedicured.  Odd thing - the manicure, which took about 30 minutes, was 200 UAH.  The pedicure, which took over 2 hours (a lot of soaking, grinding, re-soaking, sanding, some blue liquid to stop the bleeding...), was 250 UAH.

This is my last update, I think.  I have a week left before I fly back to Boston.


Two days later (Dec 18) we travelled back to Kharkov and stocked up for Christmas and New Years, including 1/2 case of prosecco (at 120 UAH each).  We tried a bottle before getting the 1/2 case - it was pretty good.

We got an artificial christmas tree from a furniture store, of all places.  They had one on display and sold it to us for about $60, and I picked up a small desk there for $20 to use for working on my laptop.  It came in handy (the desk) during New Years to place all the food.

T spent about two weeks decorating the tree.  It was her first, and she wanted to get it right.  A few days to think about the design and colors, a few days to get all the ornaments and ribbons, and a week fiddling around until she got it the way she wanted.

We had the nephews over to spend the holidays with us.  The youngest came by train on Dec 23.  His older brother came by school bus on the 24th - his football team had a week-long tournament at the Industrial'nyi Distric at the eastern edge of Kharkov.  We picked him up Christmas morning because his game was cancelled due to heavy snow.  He stayed with us the entire week, and T drove him back and forth to the stadium. 

T's sister and husband drove over on the 30th to spend New Years with us, and left on Jan 1 to spend some time with husband's aunt in Poltava.  The boys stayed with us.  We are going to take them back via train on Jan 9.

It was a very good New Year - lots of food, lots of drinks (in moderation, but continuous) and a nice brisk walk to the main square Christmas tree at 1:30 AM.


The big news... T's K1 Visa is almost ready!  We got the application approval in early December, and the NVC assigned the case number on Dec 26.  T filled out the DS-160 form online.  At one point, when answering the security questions, T turned to me with a sad look.
 After answering "No" to drugs, smuggling, human trafficking, etc, she said she has lead a very boring life.  Heh.

The medical is scheduled for Jan 10, her police report is ready for her to pick up back in Mariupol, and her Visa interview is scheduled for the end of Jan.  We are hedging our bets and have purchased her an airline ticket to Boston for Feb 9.  We purchased a semi-flexible business class ticket on Turkish Airlines for $1,629.  Interestingly, the fully flexible ticket was $2,200.  The difference between the two tickets is the cheaper one has a rescheduling fee of about $59 and the expensive one doesn't.  Not really worth the $571 difference...


If all goes well we will be Mr and Mrs SL0413 by Valentines Day.   Fingers crossed!

[AvHdB]

If all goes well we will be Mr and Mrs SL0413 by Valentines Day.   Fingers crossed!

If you 2 have a sproglet will you name it R2D2?

Joshing aside, WELL DONE! compared to some other stories recent and long past it is reassuring some one can do this correctly.