After our appointment on July 1, we were not able to book a train ticket until Thursday, July 3rd in the evening. So we had all day on the 2nd and most of the day on the 3rd to be tourists in Kiev. Some of the things we did:
Traveled to outskirts of Kyiv to the Ukraine Museum of Folk Architecture where we were able to see houses from different regions of Ukraine.
Attended the Ukrainian National Opera and a rendition of Verdi’s the Masked Ball.
Unfortunately the opera was in Italian and “subtitles” in Russian so it was even hard for Donna to follow. Had to do a “google” of the play when we got home to figure out what was going on.
Went to a large market on the metro north of Kiev. The number of stores and the selection puts West Edmonton mall to shame. Of course the stores are just stalls, but it’s a good place to make a deal. And Donna was in shopping heaven.
Visited Chernobyl Museum which commemorated the lives lost including the fire fighters and army officers who went in to clean up the mess after the nuclear reactor exploded.
Climbed “Andrews Descent” (Andrivskiy Uzviz) (which seemed “oxy-moronical” to Murray…) which is an historic road from St. Andrew’s Church down to the lower town of Kyiv along the river. Along the street are vendors selling many cultural wares, so we did some wheeling and dealing on Ukrainian embroidered shirts and Donna was almost sweet-talked into the full outfit.
On July 3rd, we left our $70/night apartment…Kyiv ain’t cheap and got prepared for our overnight train ride. But first we experienced our first metro rides on a regular business day. We have been on the trains in China, Tokyo and New York and nothing matched this as far as the sardine can crowds. You get to make some really close friends whether you like it or not on the Kyiv metro trains….
Then it was on to the overnight train to Donetsk in East Central Ukraine. From there we traveled by hired car to the city where the orphanage is located. The train was quite the experience. We were booked into first class, two sleepers per cabin for the 12 hour trip. The trip over all was comfortable, although we woke often during the night to the sudden jerking of the train. It was good to watch the country side as we traveled along. Lots of wheat and sunflowers and the crop looks good so far. But I guess that info is too late for those of you who are deciding whether to plant wheat or canola back home.
Special mention is required of the bathrooms on the train. On her visits, Donna felt like one of those workers at the Chernobyl site after the explosion. There was a 2 minute time limit for exposure and the aftereffects are yet to be determined at this point. I’d hate to see what 3rd class was like…
We arrived in Donetsk at about 7 a.m. Although “Y” (our interpreter, facilitator and guide and all-around dependable woman) had requested a minivan, we were met with a car. So we stuffed our stuff in (including the big duffle bag of 75 Dawgs shoes) and hit the road. The drive included passing through some smaller towns. In some ways it was no different that driving through a town like Lashburn on the way from S’toon to Lloydminster. The countryside was quite similar to home; the only weird part was that there were no farms anywhere. I have no idea where they store their equipment in Ukraine, but they must have it somewhere because there are a lot of acres in crop.
We have been in town now for three days. All we can say right now is that things are going very well. Your prayers are working and we are forever grateful to everyone. Thanks in particular to Rev. and Jimmy…you know why. Oh, and of course, thanks to God for where were we are at this point. Hope to give you some real news real soon…really we promise.
1 comment:
Glad things are going well - hope you'll be able to share more soon. BTW, I sent you an email with some details, so let me know if you didn't get it.
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