A Day Without Adventure
I can't believe it - a day without an adventure. I walked over to the travel agent (after changing many many hundred dollar bills into Hryvnas) and paid for our tickets to Moscow and Riga and back; then I went to the train station and got my money back for the train tickets to Moscow (minus about $10); then I found the post office, right next door to the train station. But of course I couldn't find anyone there who spoke English, so I gave up on trying to find out how to mail a letter to the U.S. I did find a big map in the post office which seemed to be a listing either branch post offices (this seemed like the main post office) or, at the very least, the location of letter boxes. I copied down three addresses that I thought would be quite close to me so that I could investigate.
I noticed several hot dog sellers near the metro station outside the Poshta (that's post office in Ukrainian, and probably Russian too), so I bought two - each from a different vendor so that I could taste test. I ate about half of each before wrapping them up and putting them in my plastic carry bag that I always take with me in case I buy something (they don't give you carry bags here) so that Ed could taste them too. We both agreed that two dogs in each bun were required (I had only gotten one in each bun - getting two is an option they offer), that one roll was way too big and bready, and that the bready one also had too much mayonnaise on it. They all put the same stuff on the dog - mustard, ketchup (I said NI NI very quickly and loudly so I avoided that), a cole slaw like mixture, but without the mayonnaise, and then a separate dollop of mayonnaise. It's pretty good, but the perogies are by far my favorites, and these dogs don't compare to a Pink's dog!
After getting home, I researched hotels in Vilnius, made reservations at two of them, and looked into the bus schedules to and from Riga and Vilnius. I also studied our map with the names of the streets in Russian and managed to locate two of the addresses for the post offices (or letter boxes) I had found in the main branch. Before I knew it, it was time to take a shower and wash my hair (I don't look forward to this since I have not yet been able to finish the whole process without running out of hot water, even if I turn the water off in between rinses), because Ed and I had decided to go "out" and go to a restaurant (as opposed to a neighborhood cafe) for dinner. We picked the restaurant in the Hotel Kharkov because it was highly recommended for excellent Georgian food in our Bradt guidebook, and because I liked the room there and the waitresses at breakfast had always been so nice to me and Belle. We walked over, looking for the two post offices that I had located on the map, but when we found the street and number, there was no post office there. I can't say I'm surprised.
We also looked for the bowling alley that I had read was in Lenin Square (which is where the restaurant is), but we didn't see anything that remotely resembled a bowling alley or a "sports palace." It's amazing how there are some things I just can't find. There is a circus here - and I found a reference to its existence as late as March of 2006, (in some Jewish newsletter announcing that over 4000 people were expected at the Purim festival to be held in the Circus in Kharkov!!!!). There is also supposed to be a race track here - but I can't find any information at all on that either.
It was nice to walk into the restaurant (which oddly, had a different name than the name in the guidebook) and see the smiling faces of the waitresses who had served us breakfast while we stayed there during our first few days in Kharkov. They were delighted to see us again, and asked us about Belle - next time we'll have to bring her with us. The pancakes with red caviar were delicious (and there were 6 of them, which is really a lot), the borscht was pretty good but not fantastic (they bring it with 3 half slices of raw bacon - they call it lard or "salo" - and a raw clove of garlic, as well as sour cream and dill. You're supposed to put the sour cream and dill in the soup and eat the salo and garlic on dark bread). Needless to say, I ate the salo and garlic - Ed wouldn't touch it. Ed got a pork steak with apricots and cranberry that was good, but a little dry, and I got "pork in a barrel" which was like beef strogonoff, only made with with pork chunks instead of beef (again a little dry). But the piece de resistance were the home made potatoes that were like home fries, made with onion and a few pieces of lard, really crispy, and just delicious. I ate those up in a half a second and took most of the pork home!
We strolled back through Schevshenko Gardens, which was just teeming with people - it's a really nice feeling - all these people outside, enjoying the park and gardens, on a lovely summer evening - and this wasn't even a weekend night, just an ordinary Wednesday night. We'll have to do this on a Friday or Saturday - I bet it's packed. There are lots and lots of cafes throughout the gardens and they were all very lively. We couldn't resist a chocolate "morosivo" from an ice cream vendor we passed in the park because this was not prepackaged ice cream, which is all we have ever had (except once in Kyiv) - this was a cart with different ice cream flavors in tubs. The server scooped some creamy chocolate into the cone for 40 cents and handed it to us. It was really, really good and definitely reminded me of my youth.
I must say, I don't understand why I find it so nice to be reminded of my youth - which I constantly am here, especially by the food. I had a fairly unhappy childhood and a very unhappy adolescence - why do I find these Proustian moments so welcome? I'll have to give this more thought. But not now. Now it's time for another World Cup semi-final match - this time between France and Portugal. But I think we'll pass on another morosivo tonight!
I noticed several hot dog sellers near the metro station outside the Poshta (that's post office in Ukrainian, and probably Russian too), so I bought two - each from a different vendor so that I could taste test. I ate about half of each before wrapping them up and putting them in my plastic carry bag that I always take with me in case I buy something (they don't give you carry bags here) so that Ed could taste them too. We both agreed that two dogs in each bun were required (I had only gotten one in each bun - getting two is an option they offer), that one roll was way too big and bready, and that the bready one also had too much mayonnaise on it. They all put the same stuff on the dog - mustard, ketchup (I said NI NI very quickly and loudly so I avoided that), a cole slaw like mixture, but without the mayonnaise, and then a separate dollop of mayonnaise. It's pretty good, but the perogies are by far my favorites, and these dogs don't compare to a Pink's dog!
After getting home, I researched hotels in Vilnius, made reservations at two of them, and looked into the bus schedules to and from Riga and Vilnius. I also studied our map with the names of the streets in Russian and managed to locate two of the addresses for the post offices (or letter boxes) I had found in the main branch. Before I knew it, it was time to take a shower and wash my hair (I don't look forward to this since I have not yet been able to finish the whole process without running out of hot water, even if I turn the water off in between rinses), because Ed and I had decided to go "out" and go to a restaurant (as opposed to a neighborhood cafe) for dinner. We picked the restaurant in the Hotel Kharkov because it was highly recommended for excellent Georgian food in our Bradt guidebook, and because I liked the room there and the waitresses at breakfast had always been so nice to me and Belle. We walked over, looking for the two post offices that I had located on the map, but when we found the street and number, there was no post office there. I can't say I'm surprised.
We also looked for the bowling alley that I had read was in Lenin Square (which is where the restaurant is), but we didn't see anything that remotely resembled a bowling alley or a "sports palace." It's amazing how there are some things I just can't find. There is a circus here - and I found a reference to its existence as late as March of 2006, (in some Jewish newsletter announcing that over 4000 people were expected at the Purim festival to be held in the Circus in Kharkov!!!!). There is also supposed to be a race track here - but I can't find any information at all on that either.
It was nice to walk into the restaurant (which oddly, had a different name than the name in the guidebook) and see the smiling faces of the waitresses who had served us breakfast while we stayed there during our first few days in Kharkov. They were delighted to see us again, and asked us about Belle - next time we'll have to bring her with us. The pancakes with red caviar were delicious (and there were 6 of them, which is really a lot), the borscht was pretty good but not fantastic (they bring it with 3 half slices of raw bacon - they call it lard or "salo" - and a raw clove of garlic, as well as sour cream and dill. You're supposed to put the sour cream and dill in the soup and eat the salo and garlic on dark bread). Needless to say, I ate the salo and garlic - Ed wouldn't touch it. Ed got a pork steak with apricots and cranberry that was good, but a little dry, and I got "pork in a barrel" which was like beef strogonoff, only made with with pork chunks instead of beef (again a little dry). But the piece de resistance were the home made potatoes that were like home fries, made with onion and a few pieces of lard, really crispy, and just delicious. I ate those up in a half a second and took most of the pork home!
We strolled back through Schevshenko Gardens, which was just teeming with people - it's a really nice feeling - all these people outside, enjoying the park and gardens, on a lovely summer evening - and this wasn't even a weekend night, just an ordinary Wednesday night. We'll have to do this on a Friday or Saturday - I bet it's packed. There are lots and lots of cafes throughout the gardens and they were all very lively. We couldn't resist a chocolate "morosivo" from an ice cream vendor we passed in the park because this was not prepackaged ice cream, which is all we have ever had (except once in Kyiv) - this was a cart with different ice cream flavors in tubs. The server scooped some creamy chocolate into the cone for 40 cents and handed it to us. It was really, really good and definitely reminded me of my youth.
I must say, I don't understand why I find it so nice to be reminded of my youth - which I constantly am here, especially by the food. I had a fairly unhappy childhood and a very unhappy adolescence - why do I find these Proustian moments so welcome? I'll have to give this more thought. But not now. Now it's time for another World Cup semi-final match - this time between France and Portugal. But I think we'll pass on another morosivo tonight!
posted by Susan Spivak at 9:53 PM
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