Dnepropetrovsk (say it don't spray it)

[2tallbill]

I went to Dnepropetrovsk and got back this morning about 2:00 am
I am not filing a trip report because my girl friend said

"Beeel I weeel keel you"

I will post a photo or two here and maybe an anecdote or two
when I get caught up with my life.

[fireeater]

I went to Dnepropetrovsk and got back this morning about 2:00 am
I am not filing a trip report because my girl friend said

"Beeel I weeel keel you"

I will post a photo or two here and maybe an anecdote or two
when I get caught up with my life.

Welcome back Bill to Tall. hope you had a good trip. 

And she will know you posted how............  

[mendeleyev]

Welcome back Beeeel!   

[Chris]

Hi Beeeeeel , welcome back 

[sparky114]

Glad you got back safe Beeeeeeeel 


Mark

[WestCoast]

Welcome back Bill.  With apologies to Manny, RUA can't be that well known in Dnepropetrovsk.  How would your g/f know if you did file a T/R?

[Jared2151]

 

2Tall, your girlfriend's comment, "Beeel I weeel keel you" had me in stitches.

Maybe it is because I'm a fan of Jeff Dunham, a ventriloquist, and his dummy, Akmed The Dead Terrorists whose tag line is "SILENCE, I keel you."

[2tallbill]

I used my Delta skymiles to buy a round trip ticket to Kiev from San Francisco.
I have to pay about $180 for the taxes and misc stuff. I was scheduled to leave
San Francisco at 6:30 am on December 19th.

I made the 10 thousand arrangements that a single dad must make to
be at the airport at 5:00 am that morning. I was promptly stuck at the
end of a line that was about a mile long.

In a short 3 hours of waiting in line I got my turn with the haggard Delta
airlines employee who already got told how, where and when to stick his
head up his @$$ by a hundred people before me. I didn't have any new,
insightful or particularly clever ways to tell him that it sucked that the flight
was canceled and that there were no available flights today, or even
tomorrow.




So the Delta agent sent me off on Sunday evening traveling to Atlanta
and eventually getting to JFK after many hours of layovers. No they
didn't really give a crap about my non refundable Aerosvit tickets that
I would be losing, they didn't really care about anything except getting
me out of their face.

I left, broke the news to my Girl friend, and began trying to find a ride
home rather than pay a $90 cab fair.




I got home about noon and called Delta customer dis-service. I looked at my
ticket leaving Sunday evening and many hours of layovers and rescheduled
it to leave on Monday morning and arriving in Kiev at the same time. I also
arranged exit row seats to help my long legs survive the flights.

The Monday flight 5:00 am drop off and again I was in a huge line. I got though
it and I was on my way.

[2tallbill]

fireeater, jared, westcoast, sparky, chris and Mendy thank you for the
welcome back wishes.

They were having a snow man building contest, Dnepropetrovsk
already has the first huge snow ball ready

[Jinx]

 Welcome back Bill!

 Can you at least tell us a little about your lady? How you met, how long you have been communicating, etc.?  I hope this is the ONE, but only you know for sure...Nataly and I wish you luck, you deserve a good woman. 

[2tallbill]

Welcome back Bill!

 Can you at least tell us a little about your lady? How you met, how long you have been communicating, etc.?  I hope this is the ONE, but only you know for sure...Nataly and I wish you luck, you deserve a good woman. 

David,
I met her on Lucky Lovers, we have been talking twice a day every single
day for many months with web cams on Skype. Plus phone calls, sms and
emails. I should have visited her months ago.

In my mind she has it all. She is pretty, tall, educated, very smart, excellent English, she can make me laugh and laugh, is sexy and has amazing green eyes. She can walk a zillion miles in the ice and snow in high heel boots and keep up with my long strides without any visible effort. I could go on and on.

[2tallbill]

My GF found an apartment for about $27 per night
since it was in Grivnas it's hard to say exactly what
the rate is.

Like most FSU apartments it looked like a demilitarized zone
on the outside.

The steel entry


The stair case which looks like one of the "projects"


The homey little staircase was not nearly "inviting" as the photo suggests
because it was absolutely dark and the photo was done with a flash.

[2tallbill]

I rotated the photos in photobucket but can't get them aligned properly here.
Maybe someone can tell me how? I have several other photos which need to
be rotated one way or the other.

[fireeater]

Paint must be a very expensive commodity in this town. 

[Paul]

In my mind she has it all. She is pretty, tall, educated, very smart, excellent English, she can make me laugh and laugh, is sexy and has amazing green eyes. She can walk a zillion miles in the ice and snow in high heel boots and keep up with my long strides without any visible effort. I could go on and on.

Welcome back Bill, the above reads like you are describing my g/f, even the part about the green eyes. We haven't walked in any ice or snow together yet, but will soon She can make it up the steepest stairs you've ever seen while wearing high heels and not using the hand rails a hell of a lot faster then I could in my shoes and using the handle rails.

I rotated the photos in photobucket but can't get them aligned properly here.
Maybe someone can tell me how? I have several other photos which need to
be rotated one way or the other.

What do you mean? They look aligned on my computer screen.

For some reason the mentioning of you writing a TR reminds me of the dog whistles that are too high pitched for humans to hear. I imagine that a large group of women from somewhere are at full attention now that it has been mentioned. 

[WestCoast]

Got to agree with day_dreamer on the photos Bill, they show up perfect on my monitor.  In fact the combination of text and photos is very good, whatever you are doing is just perfect, you don't need to adjust anything.

[2tallbill]

I rotated the photos in photobucket but can't get them aligned properly here.
Maybe someone can tell me how? I have several other photos which need to
be rotated one way or the other.

What do you mean? They look aligned on my computer screen.

For some reason the mentioning of you writing a TR reminds me of the dog whistles that are too high pitched for humans to hear. I imagine that a large group of women from somewhere are at full attention now that it has been mentioned. 

The photos are on their sides and need to be flipped 90 degrees left or right depending
on the photo.

The dog whistle comment cracks me up  

[2tallbill]

The outside of the apartment was pretty beat up but inside was
renovated and modern.

The bedroom / dining room






The bedroom view other side






The covered balcony had a view but was freezing cold which served as a
refrigerator for left overs.

[2tallbill]

I never saw an FSU apartment with a tankless water heater
before. It worked well about 60% of the time but added
quite a bit of excitement in the shower when suddenly
the water became a few degrees warmer than freezing.

[2tallbill]

This is NOT a trip report just some photos and some observations.

It has been said elsewhere but I will repeat it here, never step on
a man hole cover!! !!! You will never see an RW do it. Often times
there is not a cover on at all.





Another

[2tallbill]

Here is a view outside the kitchen window. It was
very cold by my weenie California standards.
The apartment was on the third floor the steps didn't
seem too bad.

[WestCoast]

Bill I never used Photobucket so I don't know how it works but if you are using Windows Vista (as unfortunately I am) you can open the photo in Windows Photo Gallery and right click on the photo.  This will open a box with a number of options that you can do with the photo.  Options include rotating the photo clockwise or counterclockwise.  Microsoft Office Picture Manager should also offer these options.  Also, if you are using a Mac computer all of these options should be available on the photo manager that comes with the Mac.

I would also be surprised if Photobucket did not not offer these options somewhere on the site.  Have you tried right clicking on the photo while in Photobucket?   

Very good photos.  Have you been taking lessons from day_dreamer?

[mendeleyev]

Bill, nice photos!  And you're doing all this without a trip report!  Very creative.   


I realigned the ones on their sides and converted them to a more manageable size for the bandwidth.  Hope you don't mind.   

[Jared2151]

2Tall,

   Great pics.  I've only read about the stairwells on the forum,  the pics proved them to be everything I have ever heard them to be.  Luckily, we don't have smell-a-vision.  LOL

   I read a previous TR of yours, don't cheat us out of one this time.  Please.

[mendeleyev]

Paint must be a very expensive commodity in this town.

That is an interesting observation.  When the state gave ownership to apartment owners back in the early post-CCCP days, there often were no clear direction on who was to maintain the "common" areas.

That has become more refined over time, but underfunded and overlooked.  Most apartment owners see it as someone else's responsibility and if enough complain something can get done.  But these scenes are so common that after awhile its as if residents don't even notice it any longer.

Given the extreme winter weather, the way the entrances are designed, and the drinking problems among the population, after dark and in the wee morning hours the outer entrance walls are a urinal of sorts for men and for dogs who live in the apartments.  Many apartment entryways have a distinct odor upon approach.

While I've never relieved myself on an entry wall, I will admit that in some winter conditions I've taken our little dog down the lift and stood as close to the building as possible to get some shelter from the wind while he takes a pee in the snow nearby. Then we make a mad dash back inside and up the lift.

Given Bill's good photos and his experiences, I hope that he will tell us about any interactions he had with his neighbors.  Also did any of them have pets that he noticed?