March 27

Hello All...

We are back in Kiev today after our two day trip via train. Unfortunately our trip was not sucessful as the child was a not a good match for us. We are now awaiting our second appointment to see more children.

Although our trip was not a success, we did make a lot of memories.....
I will try to share the highlights with you now...

We were able to travel First Class on the train down south.....our 15 hour trip...
First class meant we each had a six foot long.... foot and half foot wide bed with a two inch mattress and plenty of blankets. Although it was quite cold outside, like all the buidlings in Ukraine, the train had Central Heat that cannot be controlled. Since windows cannot be opened on the train, we were forced to endure the heat the entire trip. When we finally arrived it was cold and rainy and soon after began to snow. We were also close to the restroom, which was built around 1948 or so.......I only used it once and "held out" until we arrived... (T M I )

Our driver was waiting for us as we got off the train...of course he recognized us, since we have been told "we look very American," but I had no idea who he was. He tried to take my suitcase from me and I told him...NO!!....then I saw him talking to our translator and carrying her suitcase...oops... It is still better to Trust No One!!

-------------TRAVEL TIP--------------
When you travel to Ukraine...

1. Hire a driver

2. Do not rent a car (see number 1)

3. BYOS (bring your own soap!)
(very few public restrooms have soap)

4. BYOTP (bring your own toilet paper!)
(not many public restrooms have TP and the ones that do have something that resembles an ACE Bandage....feels like one too)
-----------------------------------------

Both of our drivers have been wonderful. They know all the shortcuts, they can manuever around 93% of the pot holes, they stay with your luggage while you go eat before your train leaves and they even help carry your lugguage from the car to the train, from the train to the car and from the car up the 3 flighs of stairs to your apartment! They are well worth the money....

Lisa's thoughts on driving in Ukraine - April 6th - Well, after 2 and 1/2 weeks here I have a few additional tips on driving here.....

1 - just don't even try it....hire someone
2 - All the driver's here must have watched Speed Racer as kids because they are all truely "a demon on wheels"
3 - When riding in a car with a native driver just don't look. If you look out the fromt window you see how many cars, busses and babushkas you might hit.....and if you look out the side window, you might see either how many might hit you, or how close you some to losing your side mirror to the truck driving 6 inches away from you.
4 - Don't underestimate the number of cars you can fit across the width of a normal street here. They park on the sidwalks, then park on the streets, and still ahve foom for 2 lanes of cars.
5 - They also drive on the sidewalks....when we went to get our passport photos today I felt like I was in a scene from "The Blues Brothers" just weaving in and out among the pedestrians with store fronts going by about 3 feet away....except no one was running away and screaming.
6 - which leads me to my last realization. To fit in here as a pedestrian, you have to be fearless. You step out in front of traffic without flinching and see who stops first, the car or the walker.


Before we got to visit the child in Crimea we had some time to get something to eat. No food was sold on the train. Only kofye or chaj (coffee or tea) were offered....we had our own bottled water and a suitcase full of snacks from home to tide us over.

We went to a "pizza place" for breakfast/lunch.....
The pizza was tasty, not as good as Ifratelli, but it hit the spot. Lisa tried another version of Chicken Kiev that was pretty good, but not as good as the one we had in Kiev....duh....lol.....

After spending Wednesday night in an apartment, we went to Mc Donald's for lunch prior to our train ride back to Kiev.

The 15 hour train ride back was also "first class," but this time both our compartment and the restroom were built in 1948 or so.....if you would like to a get a visual of the restroom add 'The Mummy part two' to your Netflix rotation and fast forward to the train scene...when the little kid flushes the toilet and is able to see the tracks below, you will know what it is like to ride a train in Ukraine in 2009. As I mentioned before, the temperature on the train ride down was quite warm.....well on the way back it was boiling! Even our translator thought it was too hot and could not sleep. We guessed it was about 85 degrees in our "spacious" compartment. The 0nly way to cool it down is to leave your door open, but if you leave your door open and fall asleep.....your things could disappear. Instead we left our door closed and tried to sleep....

to be continued....