my random ramblingsan infrequent (and these days, mostly Mira related…) blog

early alarm, showered, packed and in a taxi back to the Kiev airport. flight to Paris was painless, and managed to speak 3 languages in a 15 minute span at CDG. on to Minneapolis and no longer on foreign soil. but, looking at my fellow Americans left me missing the Ukrainian streets with its beautiful women all dressed to impress. KBP -> CDG -> MSP -> ORD, and won’t be getting home until Sunday night. the last flight put me into Chicago for the yearly company meeting. got to the hip and posh James Hotel feeling horribly jetlagged, but rallied for a social downstairs in the bar with some coworkers.

had my first breakfast of the trip as it was included with my hotel room. spent the morning taking a nice extended walk around the center of Odessa. saw the Opera House, the Potemkin Steps, the waterfront, and a whole lot of pretty parks. witnessed some sort of religious event at Sobornaya Square on the church grounds. was a huge gathering with lots of security. packed up and checked out, and taxied to the airport. waited at the airport for a while, then an uneventful flight back to Kiev. on the plane heard the guy behind me speaking to his girlfriend in English about taking a taxi to Maidan, so asked him if he’d like to split a cab. was a good guy, and enjoyed chatting with him during the drive. checked back into my apartment on Myhailivs’ka and hung out on the square until dinner time. of course we had sushi, back at Kitsch. 🙂 finally got back to the apartment and managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before my flight back to the States.

took a morning walk then packed up for the drive to Odessa. was another pretty drive watching the fields of sunflowers pass by. stopped at the bus station on the way into town, then was dropped off at the Continental Hotel on Deribasovskaya. had a really cool room there – unpacked and changed, then went off to the hotel cafe. walked the streets for a while, and was dragged into numerous stores in search of some overly expensive shoes (Jimmy Whoo? 😉 ). as the day wore on, stopped by a few different cafes, finishing at a neat one right on the city garden. had dinner at an Irish pub, then spent some more time walking the streets and getting to know the city.

slept in, then continued my morning walk ritual around town. went to the river, stopped at the store, got some cash, and hung out by the free wi-fi. stopped by the Continent Hotel at the end of Sovetskaya and ran into a large group of westerners, so stopped and chatted for a bit. had a festive afternoon then taxied to the edge of town and toured a beautiful old cemetery outside of town. finally made my way to a fantastic Ukrainian restaurant further outside of town. had a great meal and got to watch a storm roll in. got back to the apartment pretty late, and was satisfied with my last night in town.

took my morning walk down Sovetskaya and again sat outside the burger place and used their free wi-fi. taxied to the local zoo, which was unfortunately built in the pre-humane days – small enclosures and lots of bars. had a good time walking around and the zoo actually had a great assortment of interesting animals. the highlight was playing with 2 baby wolves that were out for a walk and a swim in one of the fountains (bet most people can’t say they’ve had a wolf chew on their head 🙂 ). back to town, spent some more time strolling down Sovetskaya, then had another nice dinner just outside of town. tried going to the Dixie Barbecue, but it was closed.

early start and an early taxi ride to the airport. ended up waiting around for quite a while, then received another instructional class, again in Russian. eventually loaded up the 1950’s Soviet plane and we were off into the air for a static line hop & pop on old military round parachutes. perhaps a bit insane, but was a cool new experience. back into town, picked up some food from the grocery store, found a place with free wi-fi, then went back to the apartment and took a nap. got up and took another walk to the river and the surrounding area. had a nice dinner nearby and shared stories from the jump.

poked around the apartment and learned that i was to move to my original one at some point in the afternoon. took another long walk to the river and back. moved apartments to a much nicer and bigger one in a better building towards the top of Sovetskaya, but the air conditioning wasn’t strong enough to cool the entire place. met at a brewpub for a late lunch, then went to the parachuting club for instructions. was all in Russian, and found out that i will definitely be jumping an old round military parachute tomorrow. 🙁 walked back and bought a long sleeved shirt per the instructor’s advice. picked up some flowers and felt silly carrying them into a restaurant. dinner was nice and the night ended early for tomorrow’s drive to the airport and jump.

up very early, and caught my taxi to the airport for the flight to Odessa. the flight left 2 hours late, but was no real problem. climbed in my taxi and started the long drive to Nikolaev along beautiful fields of sunflowers. was an issue with my reserved apartment, so was given another one off of Sovetskaya, in a very old and sketchy building. met for lunch at a sushi restaurant of all places… stopped at a pretty park after the meal, then swung by the parachuting center for information. got back to the apartment, walked down Sovetskaya to the river and sat for a time watching the world go by. picked up food and juice on the way back, and considered heading to a bar for the night, but it turned out being an early one instead.

slept in again, and got my daily dose of the travel channel. went for a midday walk to the arch and hilltop viewpoint of the city, then made my way to Kitsch for a sushi lunch. came back to the apartment and had a hassle settling my bill. headed back down Volodymyrs’ka past the Golden Gate to rendezvous for dinner. of course, ended up at a sushi restaurant, but only after getting drenched by a sudden downpour. took a walk after dinner, then got another long taxi ride into the outskirts of the city. eventually got back and packed my things for tomorrow’s early morning flight to Odessa.

slept in nice and late after a late night. walked Khreschatyk and Volodymyrs’ka streets and again ended up getting sushi for lunch. came back to Maidan and stopped at the Double Coffee across the street from my apartment. early evening i went to a cafe on the square, then came back and had multiple plans fall through for the night. was a good time to catch up on laundry and sleep.