Walking in Circles

1. Here is the puppy that took a shine to us. He is sitting directly under Phil's chair at an outdoor Italian cafe.

2. An inside view of the USSR (CCCP) restaurant. We tried various Georgian specialties and were serenaded by a trio of musicians playing Queen's "We are the Champions" on traditional Ukrainian instruments. Very wacky.

3. Phil outside the entrance to the Dinamo Stadium. Fans in the background are buying tickets and souvenirs for the game later that afternoon.

4. Red line of the metro. This is the bottom section where we are waiting for the train to take us to the Motherland Statue area.

5. This is a view of the street we are living on --Prorizna.

6. Robin being weighed by a babuska on Khreschatyk Street. It cost 50 kopecks (about a dime).

[Robin]

We have spent the good portion of these last two days walking and trying to find the places we have wanted to visit. Yesterday we took the red line on the Metro down to an area that was supposed to be close to the Rodina Mat and the Soviet-themed restaurant we were looking for (USSR). We got out of the station to find ourselves next to a heavily-traveled highway. Way off in the distance we could see the statue. Consulting our map and a passer-by, we attempted to continue on foot but gave up about 15 minutes later when it looked rather hopeless to find a good cross road. Phil got a taxi for us and once we arrived at our destination, boy were we glad we gave in to the ride. It wasn't really near the statue at all (which the passer-by also told us -- "Very far. Take the bus").

[Phil]

The USSR restaurant was pretty entertaining. It was outdoors and was a weird mixture of tiki bar and Soviet schtick.There were photos of Khruschev and Yuri Gagarin, the flat screens all played classic Soviet-era movies, the waitstaff all dressed in "Young Pioneer" outfits, and the background music was 70's and 80's Russian pop. I had the "Meat plate"(bacon and some other smoked meats), khatchapuri with a raw egg on top (bad choice, and nowhere near as good as Liya's), and Robin had a really delicious stewed chicken with red peppers.

[Robin]

After changing direction and taking a different metro home (much easier on the second try), we decided to go to an outdoor Italian cafe near the Golden Gate. I really wanted a glass of wine, I'm kind of "beered out" at the point (although I really do like the Ukrainian beer brands, and they are the cheapest thing to drink). I had a very nice glass of Chardonnay (not really my white wine drink of choice, but wine by the glass was limited to one white, one red). We were enjoying our drinks and spotted a little dog crossing the park. Sure enough, she was drawn to us and came up right under our table and settled in to knaw on Phil's chair leg. It was so small and cute. Phil and I both petted the little cutie and then later regretted this decision when we read in our guide that they often carry rabies and typically bite. Oh, well, nothing like being suckers for a cute little dog.

[Phil]

We need to wrap this up now because we're meeting Anne and her husband soon. Today was yet another beautiful day, and we spent much of it strolling Khreschatyk Street and the various squares, people-watching like everyone else. And I finally got to go to the stadium where Kyiv's soccer team, Dinamo-Kyiv, plays. They have a big match here tonight against their rival, Dnipro, and there were already people there at 2 in the afternoon buying souvenirs and whatnot. I got a baseball cap and a very cool pennant for my office.

[Robin]

We also spent time looking around their large Communist-era department store. It was really interesting to see what they have on sale. Lots of chandeliers, tea sets, vodka, clocks, tea and gold jewelry.