Oh my, so much has happened since my last post that the blog simply can't contain it!
Here are some highlights (and plugs for two wonderful guides!):
- Appearing live on Ukrainian breakfast TV
- Acting as the "meet & greet" for the exhibitors at Study.UA's big education expo - including a fabulous tour of Kiev with Eugenia Lamkina
- Participating in the VERY successful exhibition - over 8000 visitors. About 15 of them won a chance to study abroad & were sooooo happy!
- Saying good-bye to all my new friends in Kiev =(
- A brilliant tour of Odessa with Olga at Odessa Walks, preceded by breakfast at Sophie's Cafe and followed by at late lunch at Kompot, both delicious & recommended by Olga. Odessa is beautiful, especially in the sunshine!
- Two days in Chisinau, including lunch with Anastasia (friend of a friend of a girlfriend of a cousin of a spouse of a friend!) - more on Chisinau soon, it deserves it's own blog post....
Most recently, I experienced an epic 12-hour bus journey overnight from Chisinau to Brasov, Romania. Nothing worked on this bus (DVD player broke 10 minutes in, there were no reading lights, no air circulation, etc) so the most exciting part was the border crossing, which went kinda like this:
- Arrive at some toilets (there are none on the bus). Pay 2 lei to pee in a hole in the ground. Get back on the bus.
- Drive 100m and arrive at Moldovan border. Immigration slowly collects passports, studying each one in detail, and takes them away in a big stack.
- We are compelled to disembark from the bus, collect our luggage, and have each & every item checked by customs/security. Return slowly to bus, reload luggage, board bus.
- Driver slowly identifies each of us to return our passports.
- Drive 10m, stop at Duty Free. A few people take a looooonnnng time to make purchases.
- Drive 100m, arrive at Romanian border. Again, disembark, unload luggage, and tote it into hall for checking. While waiting for someone to attend to this task, marvel at thorough check of our bus (including engine).
- Hilarious mimed conversation with customs regarding the possible presence of "pistoles" in my backpack. Return to bus, reload luggage, board bus.
- Drive 20m, stop at toilets. Well, 2 hours have passed and someone needs to pee again.
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| Kiev tour |
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| Awesome mosaic made of painted eggs - Kiev |
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| Odessa Opera House |
Lucky you, looks like they didn't find your pistols after all :)
ReplyDeleteAaah, they had locks in Ljubljana too, unfortunately on the Butchers' Bridge.
ReplyDelete-Chris
My other "locks" photo from Odessa is from "mother-in-law's bridge" - seems quite fitting
ReplyDelete- Lisa
Too bad we didn't hear what they are asking you on the TV show, and couldn't hear better (instead of the translation over) what you said. I assume you were getting the questions translated? You looked more as though you were listening, than trying to translate in your head.
ReplyDeleteHee hee how quickly do you think I can learn Ukrainian ;-) The guy who translated my answers was simultaneously translating the rest of the discussion in my earphone. Pretty amazing work on his part!
DeleteIf you visit Kiev in winter, cozy cafes are perfect places to save yourself from cold. There is very snowy and frosty weather. Just find a place in a directory of Kiev cafes to have a shelter, warm atmosphere and taste Ukrainian food. But in Ukraine Travel guide you will find much more then cafes. There is everything for comfortable Ukraine tourism including hotels, apartments, bars, pubs, taxis etc.
ReplyDelete