Day Eleven. київ A bit disapointing

I was really looking forward to seeing  Kiev, the day before I had spotted what looked like a good spot to park, and a check on Google maps seemed to confirm it.

We parked with no problem, but when I got out of the car, a woman started to talk to me in staccato Ukrainian. I smiled, told her I didn't understand and she smiled back and said "English?" What ever was the problem had disappeared, I asked if we were okay parking here, which she confirmed.  We then walked to the underpass together with her husband.

Except the underpass was under water. We had to find another route or wait for the tide to go.  They led us in the opposite direction, all the time talking excitedly to us about Kiev.

The only available route took us straight through the middle of a building site, lots of people were doing the same, in the UK you would have needed steel toe caps, a hard hat and a risk assessment before you got anywhere near such a site like this.  Carolyn's sandals lived up to their name, and filled with sand.

After making it through, they wished is "Bon chance" and we parted.

We took the funicular up the hill, and almost as soon as we emerged Carolyn
was covered in doves, we had unwittingly walked into a street hawkers trap. I looked at Carolyn as if to say "roll with it" and took a couple of photo's and next thing I had a bird of prey on my shoulder and my camera had been liberated. I could see Carolyn was nervous about it, but they may well have had my camera, but I had their bird, and I had a feeling the bird was worth more.

My camera returned and birds handed back we were asked to pay, "200 Hryven , for you and 200 for you", "No, it's too much" Carolyn says. "Okay, 100 and 100" Carolyn repeats "no" gives them 40 грн  and we leave, with them looking bemused and talking angrily at one another.  Later we realise that 40 грн is only £3.20 and feel just ever so slightly guilty.

Most of the day we spend wandering aimlessly around Kiev, we never seem to learn the lesson that one day is not enough to experience a new city, we made exactly the same mistake with Barcelona.

I was still desperate to fall in love with Kiev, Carolyn was beginning to hate it .

In desperation I suggested we tried using the Metro to the Hydropark on a island in the Dnipro river. There was also a bar I wanted to try on our way too.

How I wish we had got straight on the Metro from the start, it's simple to navigate, clean, very fast, and cheap. You buy plastic tokens which entitle you to one ride, no matter how far, or how many changes. They cost 2 грн which is about 20p.  The trains are every three minutes, and this seems to mean people aren't rushing to catch the trains, and if one carriage is full they will wait for the next.  It might well be different in rush hour, but it was very civilised every time we used it.  We both commented how good it was, and that we couldn't think of a better subway system we'd used.

The first stop was a thriving market, even at this later hour. Carolyn bought some perfume, after some searching we couldn't find the bar and not wanting it to be too late for the Hidropark we headed back on the Metro and towards the river.

The Hydropark has to be unique. It is like a very run down themepark, with beaches, bars, restaurants, barbecues and outside ballroom dancing (with music continuously played over a tannoy).  It had just started to get busy for the night when we arrived, and appeared to be popular, people were getting drunk and riding the attractions already.

There's something here for everybody.  Pensioners dance, children play on the rides, adults play table tennis.  There's fairground stalls, monuments celebrating the fall of communism.  There is a live act on in every bar (of which there are many).  It's impossible not to love it, even if only for its other worldly-ness.








We were tired however and didn't want to risk barbecued food the day
before we travelled back to Romania, but we would have loved to spend more time here. Tired and hungry we set back off into Kiev on the Metro.





All day I wanted to find and eat Chicken Kiev in Kiev, but we had failed. Restaurants here, and in Romania don't display menus outside, so it's hard to find something specific without constantly going inside, finding a waiter and checking the menu. But on the way back we spotted a Chicken restaurant, surely it was worth one last try? And it paid off, two Chicken Kiev later and we finished the day on a high.

(We did get lost driving out of Kiev, but hey)