The Ukraine!!!

Europe » Ukraine
October 21st 2007

Published: November 11th 2007

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td impulse

Stopping to smell the roses

Hello all,

The Ukraine was a strange mix of emotions and experience. I was really excited to visit the country my ancestors are from, and was really exited to see everything Ukrainian. Mind you, I was still shocked by some of the poverty in the country and amazed at the diversity of the neighbourhoods and the living standards. The rural areas are filled with beauty, but lined with images that will haunt you. And yet, there is something unspeakably calm about some of the towns.

We spent a few days in the city and more than a few in little towns, getting a feeling for the local culture and the people, and eventually winning people over. You see, the Ukraine still very much resembles the attitude and openness that Russia exudes... which is not to say much... but, it seams that in the Ukraine, it is simply an exterior and once you get passed that people are wonderful and helpful.

So, we worked our way into the people hearts and ate up as much cabbage as I could get my hands on. I was overjoyed to have borscht, cabbage rolls, and cabbage salad! I learned those words very

Caught!

... hmmm, this may be a problem...

quickly and even refreshed my siryllic alphabet so that I could try to hunt them out on a menu.

Unfortunately, by the time we made it down to Crimea, we were met with rain and fog - somehow the astounding views were just not so astounding. But, the good news is that we were able to rent a cheap hotel ($15 a day) and it was spectacular and even came with ever entertaining dubbed TV, so we were able to have some down time and dry off after our daily adventures.

Mind you, our adventures extended to finding food, as off season in little towns, nothing is open. I mean nothing. One day we hiked for several hours to get to a gondola listed in the guide book, only to find it closed for the season, so we hiked back, stopping to pet stray cats en-route and occasionally starring out into what was the black sea... though it was more like greyness extending from sky to the shoreline...

Luckily in and among our time in the Ukraine we were able to find some amazing castles and we did have a few redeeming days of blue skies that