Sorry about the delay; as I’ve been getting back into the right time zone, my evenings have been a little more nap-filled than I had expected. Things are better now, and I’ve been working on processing the photos I took. I’ve got a copy galleries created, and if I’m really clever, I’ll go back to the posts where they would be relevant and add links there.

Random thoughts keep popping into my head about my time in Kiev, and I’ll get to posting those plus assorted anecdotes as I remember them. But I’ll start off with a more Portland-based comment: sometime, before I die, I would really love for my bag to be the first one that comes out on the baggage carousel. My bag has never been first, or even in the top ten. I’d really like to have that experience, just once. Because of where I was on in the flight back to Portland, I was one of the first people off the plane; I think I may have been the 7th or 8th person through Immigration. But then I was waiting for my bag, and I don’t now how many dozens of people came through Immigration after me, grabbed their bag before me, and went went on their merry ways I was left to watch forlornly for my bag to appear. Oh well, maybe one day…

Anyway, here are some images from my first afternoon and evening in Kiev. I rented an apartment on this visit, and it’s always nice when the online images line up with the physical place. So far I’ve been lucky in this regard: the apartments I’ve rented on my travels have all looked like their online photos.

The Apartment

I rented a nice two-bedroom place in an historic, just-out-of-downtown area. The street name translates as “Andrew’s Descent,” and it was one of the roads that connected the “new” upper part of Kiev to the “old” lower area that was first settled. The street itself was very European, being built of picturesque irregular cobblestones. It was something of a winding street — not quite as bad as Lombard Street in San Francisco, but still having a few turns.

Andrew’s Descent is also a very touristy street. Everyday vendors would set up their booths, and there seemed to be a lot of good pedestrian traffic. During my time there, I heard lots of Russian and Ukrainian, of course, but also some English (with both American and British accents), German, Spanish and even a little Japanese.

Kiev Days, First Night

By chance, I arrived during Kiev Days, which take place during the last weekend of May. Yeah, I didn’t know either. After getting settled into the apartment, it was just a short walk over to an evening concert being held during that the first night. We didn’t stay for the whole thing; really just had a glimpse of what was going on. Nice music, but lots of opera, which isn’t really my thing. Opposite the concert area were five hot air balloons; balloons at night are very dramatic when the operator fires the engine. People could walk around them, and even from several feet away, you could feel the heat when one was being fired.