Blogs from Kharkiv, Ukraine, Europe

Day four in Kharkov (Last day here before returning to Kiev) Weather: Another beautiful day! Weather network says 18 degrees with a relative humidity factor of 52%. It feels a lot warmer than that (and it's only 10:00) Was up at 6:00 this morning. Watched the city wake up. Nice way to start the day, my last day in Kharkov. Received an email last night from a fellow North American traveler, Brett from New York is currently in Poltava. He found and read through my blog, and wanted to say hi. Hi Brett!! I will email you when I get home. I hope you're having a terrific time in Poltava. You didn't mention if this was your first time to Poltava or not though. If it is, I'm happy to hear that you are having a ... read more

Day One in Kharkov Weather: It's warm out today! I'm wearing the jacket only for the zippered pocket thing I mentioned yesterday, but without that, I would NOT be wearing a jacket today! Out of bed about 9:00 this morning. I can definitely feel the walking of the past week in my legs this morning! Today will be a rest and take it easy day. No hot water for a shower. Not sure if it's just no hot water, a shared hot water tank, or if I have to turn something on around here to have hot water. I'll have to email them to find out. Went for a quick walk along the main streets to get my bearings for around town. Other than this apartment, the area is very nice. Walking the streets, I don't ... read more

Today I will put down the little things I remember about my trip to Kharkov on 9-10 September 2009. Actually, it is rather difficult to describe simple walks in many different words. I just go with a map, camera and a player, make pictures, listen to music, rest and eat, sometimes get lost, look and the beautiful buildings and places, and that's all. I might do long stories, including routes or something like that. I don’t want. That autumn I was leaving in St. Petersburg for about 4 months. I went to Kharkov because Tiesto had a concert there on September 11; since he is my favourite dj, I had no doubt whether to go there or not. Tiesto is the only dj I will go to see any time he is close enough to Russia. ... read more

Took the night train from Kiev to Kharkiv last night. Almost booked out, I could only get a 3rd class ticket called "platzkarty". You don't stay in compartments, rather a whole waggon is one single compartment. It wasn't bad at all (ok, the bed only fits for people shorter than 1.80m). I only wondered why no one told the old lady not to shout in her cell phone at 5.30, 6.15, 7.40 - then she finally got off the train and I got another hour of slepp. I went staight to Hotel Kharkiv. The only central hotel, located at a metro station at Svobody square, it seemed to be the best choice. But I should have been warned. LP reads: "Non-Russian speakers might have a hard time checking into the cheaper section." The hotel has two ... read more