Saturday in Kyiv

[Robin]

There was a lot going in Kiev on Saturday. There was a stage set up in St. Sophia's square and bands and singers performing. There were LOTS of weddings with couples and their families taking pictures in front of the churches and then demonstrations/advertisements for various candidates for the upcoming elections. We took in a little of the merriment and then headed by metro to a stadium north of downtown. We had a little trouble getting from the subway station to the stadium (always looks closer on the map), but managed by walking to another area to take a trolley (tramvai) to the stadium's door. The train's driver's compartment was really cute, decorated with curtains and flowers. The stadium was hosting an Octoberfest event, which consisted of some rides for kids (ponies, trains, etc.) and a large tent housing row after row of tables of beer fans (some with Bavarian hats, and lots of them singing along to the cover band). Just like in the US, we had to pay to get a bracelet to enter. It was pretty packed in there and there was a band with people dancing in the front. It was pretty entertaining--at least the people watching and the beer was good too. We laughed when "Back in the USSR" was sung and "Billie Jean".

[Phil]
So the Octoberfest even was sponsored by the Munich brewery Paulaner. You could buy a liter of Paulaner Oktoberfest for 36 hrivnya ($7), which is very expensive in comparison to Ukrainian beers (8 hrivnya or less for 1/2 a liter). Still, everyone was drinking the giant steins of Paulaner. I guess it was a special occasion. We managed to find a fairly peaceful table, but there were alot of rowdy, drunk people there (probably just like the real Oktoberfest). They were singing to the music and clinking their glasses. We had one beer each and then took a taxi back to the opera house, where we bought tickets for the evening's performance of Rossini's "The Barber of Seville". The best seats they had left were on the second row of the first mezzanine. We took them. They cost us 60 hrivnya ($12) altogether. Very, very reasonable.

The opera started at 7:00, so we went home briefly before returning to the opera house.We got there at 6:59. We hurried to our seats and were delighted to discover that we had a really excellent view. There was one couple in front of us, but the didn't really block our view, and there was no one sitting in the two chairs behind us. This was my first opera, so I didn't really know what to expect. The orchestra played the overture, which I immediately recognized from, I hate to say, Bugs Bunny cartoons. Then the performers came out. My first surprise is that they were singing in Russian. This seemed really weird, especially during the famous"Figaro, Figaro" solo. After Act 1 we joined the rest of the crowd for a cocktail in the hallway, and then we decided to skips Acts 2 and 3 and go to dinner.

[Robin]
Sorry, Opera lovers, but opera makes me sleepy. It might have been the combination of the beer from Oktoberfest and no food, but I did a head-bob and needed to get out of there at intermission. We then went to an Indian restuarant called Himalya for dinner. The food was excellent (finally got a spicy meal to Phil's liking) and the decor attractive.

[Phil]

By the way, the Himalaya is on Khreschatyk, but on the second floor above a different restaurant. It's not easy to find! We walked around for about 20 minutes until we finally saw a tiny sign. It was very frustrating because the whole time we could actually SEE the restaurant, we just couldn't find the entrance.

Now we're having a late lunch at Le Borsch and then we will go back to the apartment to get ready to leave for Kramatorsk. Our train leaves in 3 hours. I don't know if we'll have internet access there, so this might be the last you hear for a while. Thanks to everyone for your comments.