Home » Ukraine » Try and stop me.

I didn't sleep too badly on the train, but I still felt very uncomfortable when I arrived in Kiev. The youngest man from my carriage showed me how to get to the main hall of the station before catching his next train. Ana didn't arrive until 8.15 so I had a three hour wait. I slept on a bench for an hour before meeting her under the huge Christmas tree at the entrance of the station.

Try and stop me.

Jonathan Campion
2006-04-15 15:54:14

Displayed times (last time: )

I didn't sleep too badly on the train, but I still felt very uncomfortable when I arrived in Kiev. The youngest man from my carriage showed me how to get to the main hall of the station before catching his next train. Ana didn't arrive until 8.15 so I had a three hour wait. I slept on a bench for an hour before meeting her under the huge Christmas tree at the entrance of the station.

We text and email every day so we already had a lot to talk about. We waited for a friend of her father's - Sergei - to pick us up and drive us to his appartment where we would be spending the night.

Just driving through Kiev for ten minutes I could already feel that I was somewhere new. The centre is very attractive; most of the buildings are at least 150 years old and they are all well designed and colourful. There are no overpowering buildings, no litter and almost no graffiti.

Sergei's appartment is more like a university building than a block of flats. I watched a Ukrainian soap on his television that was surrounded by plants, then we had a much needed shower and unpacked our bags. Then he took us to a buffet for breakfast.

I had barely eaten since yesterday morning so I stacked my plate as high as I could with black bread, pork shashlyk, dumplings and coffee, and when we got to the counter he wouldn't let me pay. It is probably for the best, I have no idea how many grivna there are to the rouble! As we ate it started to snow outside.

Before Sergei went to work he showed Ana how to use the metro, then we walked around town on our own. The part of Kiev that is on a hill is very beautiful, with cobbled streets and few cars. The buildings are small, with their signs in a pretty Ukrainian font. The atmosphere is not like I have become used to in Russia; when Ana asked directions to the office she was looking for people tried their best to help her, and said "I'm sorry" if they didn't know. People talk ...