Life is Beautiful

1. On our way to the Uzbek restaurant we passed a kitty sleeping on the ledge of a closed food kiosk. These kiosks are very popular for a quick soda, ice cream, beer or water.

2. The Pink Floyd-themed restaurant/bar 'The Wall", which was showing the Berlin Wall concert from the early '90s on their flat screen TVs.

3. The Uzbek restaurant Sharfar. The belly dancer is in the background. It was two floors with private rooms separated by gauzy cloths. Very cool and the food was terrific.

4. Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Square of Independence). People enjoy putting their feet and hands in the fountains.

5. One of the typically tall and beautiful Ukrainian women is in the foreground. The Monument to Independence is in the background (a golden statue with woman with a laurel headpiece).

[Robin]

As a respite from our journeys to the sad memorials, we spent the day today just walking around and looking for gifts to bring home. It was a gorgeous day in Kyiv--sunny, warm and flowers everywhere. I also had my first success going into a store alone and ordering something to take home in Russian (it was a busy bakery near our house)! We also managed to figure out how to turn our gas stove on and successfully cooked our baguettes with ham, red peppers and mushrooms....I was a little fearful that it would end up something like the washing machine experience as we sat there trying to find the pilotlight with a lit match.

We also took some pictures and had a beer in a very pleasant cafe on Independence Square. Here in Kyiv, they offer pistachios as their snack with drinks. Is this a great country or what? As today was Saturday, we saw a wedding party taking pictures in the square (as well as four more near St. Mikahil's Cathedral on our way to the wi-fi restaurant).

[Phil]

Also, last night we had a great time at an Uzbek restaurant. The shish-kebabs were delicious, the decor was very Arabian in a "Charlton-Heston-Ten-Commandments" way, and we even had a belly dancer entertain us. I had read about the restaurant in a Russian amagazine and there was a term in the description that totally baffled me. I said, "Robin, what do you think 'dance of the stomach' means?" Duh. She knew right away it was belly dancing. I guess I'm too literal!

So tonight we're going to try to go to a Soviet-themed restaurant near the Caves Monastery called "USSR". Hopefully it will be as cool as "The Wall", the Pink Floyd-inspired cafe/bar that we stopped in on the way to the Uzbek restaurant last night (photo above).

[Robin]

I've been thinking about what to write. This city is great for people watching. As far as we can tell, we have rarely passed any Americans, or even Western Europeans, for that matter. Most women stroll arm-in-arm and the men are hanging out in groups and laughing and having a good time. We have felt really safe walking around and if we have had anyone approach us it has been to ask me (can you believe this...) for directions. I don't think I look Ukrainian, but maybe people are more comfortable approaching a female with questions. And our apartment has also been an endless source of amusement to me. We live on the 4th floor and as we walk down our steps and out into our courtyard there is an ever-changing group of people are hanging out, smoking, talking, or moving their cars. We actually tried to take pictures of all the beautiful women today so that you (Spott, this is the place for you) all could see what we are talking about when we say how attractive everyone is. Of course, as soon as this was our mission we failed to find a "10" to photograph. We'll continue to keep a lookout. In the meantime, one of our pictures of the Independence Square shows a pretty woman in the foreground (Phil has gotten so jaded now that he said she's "ok"--ha!).

[Phil]

So true. We also should mention that our plans to go see Harry Potter today were dumped in favor of enjoying the beautiful weather. We may try again on Monday. Tomorrow night we're going to meet some friends of friends (American) for dinner at a Georgian reaturant in Podil. I can't wait. I haven't had khatchapuri (cheese pie) since Robin and I visited Dwight and Liya in New York so many months ago.