The Luggage - Again!
Friday, June 16
Since I had already scoped out the trip to the train station (Vokzall), we felt comfortable leaving the apartment at 6:15 a.m. We up at 5 a.m. and this time Ed showered first – even though the hot water heater had supposedly been fixed, you never know about these things in Kharkiv. After about 10 minutes he called out to tell me that he had run out of hot water – oh well, I’ll shower when we get back or, if we stay in Kyiv, I’ll have a nice hotel shower to use.
We walked to the metro station with Belle trotting along beside us. We had her little case (not the more commodious one I had bought for use on the airplane after we had checked in) and a small rollie. I refuse to travel without a toothbrush and something to sleep in, and I had also decided that I could eliminate bringing back one gigantor suitcase by moving a few things into the smaller rollie I was bringing with me. When I reviewed my inventory list I saw that one of the big suitcases that I was planning to bring to Kharkiv had my jeans, a couple of Capri pants I like to wear all the time in the summer, my bathing suit, and a very useful baggy long linen dress, plus about 20 LL Bean cotton tops. I thought I would need all of these things, plus my running shoes and my gortex shell, but as for the Hermes purse, the Botega Veneta bag, the Ralph Lauren and Stuart Weitzman shoes, the blue silk Makola dress and jacket, the red silk Ferre dress and the Burberry rain coat – FORGET IT!!! I’d never wear them in Kharkiv, that much was clear. Eliminating these things would be a big help in getting back to Kharkiv.
We got to the metro and boarded with Belle with absolutely no problem. Of course, this was pretty early in the morning. I don’t think I’d do this during rush hour! We got to the station easily and even had time to look around. It's quite beautiful inside - looks like a turn of the century (19th to 20th turn, that is) interior. We found the track with very little difficulty, boarded the train and had an uneventful trip to Kharkiv, with the same annoying TV screen and movies playing in our compartment (which was completely full). Ed and I both read our guidebooks on the Ukraine, Ed thinking he would plan a little trip for us the week of June 24, when Arkadiy and Gennady would be at a human rights conference in Israel and nothing would be going on in Khariv. We talked about the Crimea or Lviv or Istanbul – but, to tell the truth, I’m not so anxious to travel right now. I’d really like to feel a bit more settled before I take off again. And this time it would be without Belle. It turns out that Gennady has two daughters – one a 25 year old dentist and the other a 17 year old student. They both live with him and his wife, but the dentist works right near our apartment (in fact, I just noticed the other day that the building at the edge of our “courtyard” is a dentist’s office – and there was a woman working there – I wonder if that’s his daughter), and the other goes to school right near our apartment. Gennady had told Ed that they would be more than happy to stay in our apartment and take care of Belle. That’s great – because we will definitely need someone to "babysit" when we meet Bob and Dian in Moscow and go to Riga with them in late July.
Ed had called the same minivan that had taken us to the station from the IRF offices when we had left Kyiv for Kharkiv. (Only 9 days before!! Impossible!!) He negotiated a price and arranged for the minivan driver to meet us at the track, go with us while we tried to buy tickets on the return train that evening, take us to the Hotel Kreshchatek to pick up the 7 huge boxes and suitcases, take us to the IRF office on Artema St to store four (hopefully five, if I could transfer the necessary stuff to the small carry on) of them, and then proceed to take us to the station again for the trip “home.”
He was right there when we got off the train. We finally found the counter for foreigners to purchase tickets (again, no language spoken but Russian) – it’s on the second floor in a totally modern section of the station that I didn’t even know existed – and learned that there were indeed no seats available. We decided to take the late train on Saturday so that we could rest up and sleep in instead of getting up at the crack of dawn. We purchased the tickets, explained the change in plan to our driver (now we go to the hotel instead of the train station after Artema Street) and went to deal with the luggage.
Ed didn’t understand why I couldn’t just stay at the Hotel Kreshchatek that night – I just looked at him as if he was crazy and said nothing! We got the luggage – I made the quick switch to the carry on, stuffing things in every which way, and then we went to the offices, dropped off the five boxes and suitcases (actually Ed and the driver struggled mightily to get them out and squeeze them into this narrow space that was allocated to us for them). We then proceeded to the Hotel Vozdvyzhens’kyi on, where else, Vozdvyzhens’kyi street. Well, the driver took us to a construction site, where we proceeded up a dirt road full of potholes and construction vehicles and materials (I had visions of the broken back in Africa episode) until we reached a green barrier. We could see the hotel over the barrier, and there were cars parked right in front. After many cell phone calls from the driver to his boss, and presumably to the hotel, a bellboy emerged and he, Ed and the driver carried all the bags up to the hotel. (It turns out I had neglected to tell the driver that this hotel – which is a small boutique hotel with only 22 rooms, and not widely known in town – is right off Andrivs’kyi uzviz, which is very famous – it’s in the heart of old Kyiv - Podil - and lined with artisans selling their crafts). I stayed behind with Belle (I had stuffed her into her case just in time to avoid the bellboy’s eyes), and waited, as per our plan, for Ed to check in, get the luggage up to our room and then come and get me so that we could just casually stroll by the front desk and high tail it to our room. Everything went really smoothly – we were on the second floor in a standard, rather than deluxe, room for $140 including breakfast – and Belle was liberated from her little case. The room was small, but quite nice, and certainly seemed to be worth the price. We had the same kind of bed we had at the Hotel Kreshchatek, the Hotel Kharkiv and in our apartment – I guess this is the way beds are made here. They are very low to the ground, on some sort of platform. The bottom (a foam mattress) is covered with a sheet that can’t really be tucked in and a duvet, which exactly fits the size of the mattress, is put on top, with the result that when two of you get into the bed one of you comes up short on blanket coverage!! But the sheets and towels were good quality, and I was happy to be there instead of on a train back to Kharkiv.
We rested for a bit, then I took a shower while Ed stuffed Belle into her case and took her out for a little walk. Again, everything went smoothly, without incident, and Belle was an excellent girl. We were going to have dinner on the hotel's roof terrace where, I had read, you could dine and see the rooftops of old Podil. But it was closed for repairs, so we had dinner at a really sweet and adorable restaurant a few steps from our hotel called Za Dvoma Zaytsyamy (After Two Hares), named after a famous Soviet cult movie. It was so charming – like being in late 19th century Kyiv, and a terrific menu (in English). We ordered potato pancakes with red caviar, herring on boiled potatoes, borscht for both of us with their “yeast” rolls (they are like delicious parker house rolls that you dip in garlic sauce before dipping them in your borscht) and decided to split a rabbit pie. A wonderful little band started playing all kinds of terrific standards, old cabaret songs, and things like that – it made you want to get up and dance – so we did!!! No one else was dancing, and I’m sure you’re not meant to do so, but it was so much fun, and so romantic. I loved it.
I was stuffed by the time the rabbit pie arrived (it was shaped like a little bunny with bunny ears and a bob tail), but did manage to cram in one slice – delicious of course. Ed and I decided that this is the perfect place to take Dee and Michael when they come to Kyiv in November. I'm already excited about their visit.
We finished dinner at about 8 and went back to the hotel where, after once again stuffing Belle into her case and taking her out without incident, I immediately fell asleep. One thing I can say – I certainly haven’t had any trouble sleeping in the Ukraine!
Since I had already scoped out the trip to the train station (Vokzall), we felt comfortable leaving the apartment at 6:15 a.m. We up at 5 a.m. and this time Ed showered first – even though the hot water heater had supposedly been fixed, you never know about these things in Kharkiv. After about 10 minutes he called out to tell me that he had run out of hot water – oh well, I’ll shower when we get back or, if we stay in Kyiv, I’ll have a nice hotel shower to use.
We walked to the metro station with Belle trotting along beside us. We had her little case (not the more commodious one I had bought for use on the airplane after we had checked in) and a small rollie. I refuse to travel without a toothbrush and something to sleep in, and I had also decided that I could eliminate bringing back one gigantor suitcase by moving a few things into the smaller rollie I was bringing with me. When I reviewed my inventory list I saw that one of the big suitcases that I was planning to bring to Kharkiv had my jeans, a couple of Capri pants I like to wear all the time in the summer, my bathing suit, and a very useful baggy long linen dress, plus about 20 LL Bean cotton tops. I thought I would need all of these things, plus my running shoes and my gortex shell, but as for the Hermes purse, the Botega Veneta bag, the Ralph Lauren and Stuart Weitzman shoes, the blue silk Makola dress and jacket, the red silk Ferre dress and the Burberry rain coat – FORGET IT!!! I’d never wear them in Kharkiv, that much was clear. Eliminating these things would be a big help in getting back to Kharkiv.
We got to the metro and boarded with Belle with absolutely no problem. Of course, this was pretty early in the morning. I don’t think I’d do this during rush hour! We got to the station easily and even had time to look around. It's quite beautiful inside - looks like a turn of the century (19th to 20th turn, that is) interior. We found the track with very little difficulty, boarded the train and had an uneventful trip to Kharkiv, with the same annoying TV screen and movies playing in our compartment (which was completely full). Ed and I both read our guidebooks on the Ukraine, Ed thinking he would plan a little trip for us the week of June 24, when Arkadiy and Gennady would be at a human rights conference in Israel and nothing would be going on in Khariv. We talked about the Crimea or Lviv or Istanbul – but, to tell the truth, I’m not so anxious to travel right now. I’d really like to feel a bit more settled before I take off again. And this time it would be without Belle. It turns out that Gennady has two daughters – one a 25 year old dentist and the other a 17 year old student. They both live with him and his wife, but the dentist works right near our apartment (in fact, I just noticed the other day that the building at the edge of our “courtyard” is a dentist’s office – and there was a woman working there – I wonder if that’s his daughter), and the other goes to school right near our apartment. Gennady had told Ed that they would be more than happy to stay in our apartment and take care of Belle. That’s great – because we will definitely need someone to "babysit" when we meet Bob and Dian in Moscow and go to Riga with them in late July.
Ed had called the same minivan that had taken us to the station from the IRF offices when we had left Kyiv for Kharkiv. (Only 9 days before!! Impossible!!) He negotiated a price and arranged for the minivan driver to meet us at the track, go with us while we tried to buy tickets on the return train that evening, take us to the Hotel Kreshchatek to pick up the 7 huge boxes and suitcases, take us to the IRF office on Artema St to store four (hopefully five, if I could transfer the necessary stuff to the small carry on) of them, and then proceed to take us to the station again for the trip “home.”
He was right there when we got off the train. We finally found the counter for foreigners to purchase tickets (again, no language spoken but Russian) – it’s on the second floor in a totally modern section of the station that I didn’t even know existed – and learned that there were indeed no seats available. We decided to take the late train on Saturday so that we could rest up and sleep in instead of getting up at the crack of dawn. We purchased the tickets, explained the change in plan to our driver (now we go to the hotel instead of the train station after Artema Street) and went to deal with the luggage.
Ed didn’t understand why I couldn’t just stay at the Hotel Kreshchatek that night – I just looked at him as if he was crazy and said nothing! We got the luggage – I made the quick switch to the carry on, stuffing things in every which way, and then we went to the offices, dropped off the five boxes and suitcases (actually Ed and the driver struggled mightily to get them out and squeeze them into this narrow space that was allocated to us for them). We then proceeded to the Hotel Vozdvyzhens’kyi on, where else, Vozdvyzhens’kyi street. Well, the driver took us to a construction site, where we proceeded up a dirt road full of potholes and construction vehicles and materials (I had visions of the broken back in Africa episode) until we reached a green barrier. We could see the hotel over the barrier, and there were cars parked right in front. After many cell phone calls from the driver to his boss, and presumably to the hotel, a bellboy emerged and he, Ed and the driver carried all the bags up to the hotel. (It turns out I had neglected to tell the driver that this hotel – which is a small boutique hotel with only 22 rooms, and not widely known in town – is right off Andrivs’kyi uzviz, which is very famous – it’s in the heart of old Kyiv - Podil - and lined with artisans selling their crafts). I stayed behind with Belle (I had stuffed her into her case just in time to avoid the bellboy’s eyes), and waited, as per our plan, for Ed to check in, get the luggage up to our room and then come and get me so that we could just casually stroll by the front desk and high tail it to our room. Everything went really smoothly – we were on the second floor in a standard, rather than deluxe, room for $140 including breakfast – and Belle was liberated from her little case. The room was small, but quite nice, and certainly seemed to be worth the price. We had the same kind of bed we had at the Hotel Kreshchatek, the Hotel Kharkiv and in our apartment – I guess this is the way beds are made here. They are very low to the ground, on some sort of platform. The bottom (a foam mattress) is covered with a sheet that can’t really be tucked in and a duvet, which exactly fits the size of the mattress, is put on top, with the result that when two of you get into the bed one of you comes up short on blanket coverage!! But the sheets and towels were good quality, and I was happy to be there instead of on a train back to Kharkiv.
We rested for a bit, then I took a shower while Ed stuffed Belle into her case and took her out for a little walk. Again, everything went smoothly, without incident, and Belle was an excellent girl. We were going to have dinner on the hotel's roof terrace where, I had read, you could dine and see the rooftops of old Podil. But it was closed for repairs, so we had dinner at a really sweet and adorable restaurant a few steps from our hotel called Za Dvoma Zaytsyamy (After Two Hares), named after a famous Soviet cult movie. It was so charming – like being in late 19th century Kyiv, and a terrific menu (in English). We ordered potato pancakes with red caviar, herring on boiled potatoes, borscht for both of us with their “yeast” rolls (they are like delicious parker house rolls that you dip in garlic sauce before dipping them in your borscht) and decided to split a rabbit pie. A wonderful little band started playing all kinds of terrific standards, old cabaret songs, and things like that – it made you want to get up and dance – so we did!!! No one else was dancing, and I’m sure you’re not meant to do so, but it was so much fun, and so romantic. I loved it.
I was stuffed by the time the rabbit pie arrived (it was shaped like a little bunny with bunny ears and a bob tail), but did manage to cram in one slice – delicious of course. Ed and I decided that this is the perfect place to take Dee and Michael when they come to Kyiv in November. I'm already excited about their visit.
We finished dinner at about 8 and went back to the hotel where, after once again stuffing Belle into her case and taking her out without incident, I immediately fell asleep. One thing I can say – I certainly haven’t had any trouble sleeping in the Ukraine!
posted by Susan Spivak at 6:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home