Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Flew from Moscow to Kiev in uneventfully except my old Russian watch, which had kept stopping till I gave it a k'nock, seemed to have stopped for good. I couldn't bear to take it back. I decided to try to get it fixed.
Kiev is beautiful. Lots of greenery.
After getting settled in my apartment, laundry, a few groceries, I set off in search of a watchmaker. The first one I found was in a high end store, maybe Tiffany's? He gave me the card of a place that specializes in Russian watches. So I set off for the metro nearest to it.
First problem was that there's an underground warren of shops surrounding the entrance. I get lost several times. Find it. Miss my stop. Find the right stop, change trains, exit, no idea where I am. Ask for directions, once, twice, three times. (Actually, each of those times is more than once as some people don't want to interact since I don't speak the language, even though the card of the shop has a small map on it.) Guy walks with me a few blocks then points me in the general direction.
Find the shop, eventually. Go in and tell one of the guys, 'perkeet?', pointing at my watch. He doesn't get it. I try, perneet? Perfeet? I know one of those words is repair. But I might have just said preposition, repair, loudly? He smiles and takes the watch. Couple people in the store are smiling. Two minutes later the watch is fixed.
He was smiling the whole time he was working on it. I don't know if it's because I'm funny or he liked the watch because it's so old. And then he doesn't charge me! I'm all, Bravo! He smiles at me. Haven't wound it since yesterday and it's working like a champ.
I'm loving Kiev. People here smile more than they did in Russia.
Stopped for a beer on the way back and called Beer King about meeting with the Kiev Hash. That'll be Friday at 6 in a pub. Then I made my way to the opera house and bought a ticket for tonight's ballet, Don Quiixote. Almost front row and it's only twenty bucks, 160 hyrvna. Prices are back to normal, though some things are undervalued. For instance, the price from one end of the metro to the other is only a quarter.
Today I saw the Lavra Monastery and Caves. Miles of underground tunnels, the guide book says. But they only let you see about two hundred yards of them. Didn't want me to use my headlamp in the tunnel. Candles only. Women have to wear scarves over their heads in the churches but men have to take off their hats. Cars drive up over the curb to park on the sidewalk. The smell of baked goods is around every corner.
Tomorrow I have a day off. Nothing to do but get together with the hash. I'm thinking I'll do some souvenir hunting. Then the next morning I fly to Feodosia, early!
- comments
bob thanks for the info, that's where my step mom's family is from...somewhere in Kiev...do they have perogies there, or maybe they are called varenikes
Andy They have both, I think. There are a lot of different kinds of food here.
Jennifer Siu Sounds like you are having a great time. Love the photos.
Don F. Very nice. Enjoyed your story about the watch. Sounds like quite an adventure. What is the brand of the watch and it's history. Sounds important in your life, and it got you into amazing interactions with the locals. Keep on truck'n.
Andy In feodosia now. Levant, my landlord, is looking at the watch. It's a sporte comne? Circa 1956 Thanks. :-)
Peter Andy, Peter. Its great you are in Feodosia. You got that watch there or is it from here? Cody is waiting to go for a walk nut says Hi. He is curious about Feodosian dogs and would appreciate photos and an understanding of one of their typical meals. He also wants to know if they eat puppies, or is that Korea or China. ? He is a little concerned.
Andy, the blogger Hi Peter brother! :-) You can tell Cody that he need not be concerned about dogs being eaten here. There are quite a few strays. Stray cats too. But they seem to get along okay. Although the cats don't seem to like the dogs even though the dogs seem friendly enough. I guess it's the same all over! Last night my landlord went to a couple of clubs. So I'm still a little hung over seeing as how I don't think I got to sleep till four. A lot of people here say, "Wow!" when they here I'm from California. Very few American tourists here, including Canada and all points south. Limited internet access. I'm at one of the two or three places in town that has wifi, pizzamania. But they don't have pizza?