A Vacation from My Vacation

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014--Kiev

I spent almost all day today relaxing inside the apartment and doing things that I wanted to do for fun.  I caught up on reading news from everywhere.  I played some games of FreeCell on the computer.  I read from my present novel.

Finally, about 2:00, I cleaned up and went out only to go to the supermarket.  I bought some things I needed/wanted--bread, potatoes, salami, meatballs, apples, and beer.  Then I returned home.

I had a relaxing early evening.  I ate some peanuts while I cooked dinner--pasta coated in garlic cooked in butter and served with a chilled white wine.  Then I cleaned the kitchen well and returned to the computer to do some more reading and some planning.  Therefore, that's all there is to report today!!

There is some news that I didn't know to report yesterday, however.  Last night as I was putting a plastic bag I use when I shop back inside the shoulder bag I carry when travelling, I discovered that my camera was missing.  I keep it in a zippered compartment under a flap.  I guess it was stolen while I was on the metro yesterday; that's the only time anyone could have easily gotten to it.  There were times when the train was cram packed as I toured the different stations.  It's not a great loss; the camera is at least 6-7 years old and was bigger and less sophisticated than most cameras are today.  It won't be worth much to whoever got it, and I had been thinking recently that I might replace it.  I will miss having photos, however, from the last half of the trip.  I downloaded all the ones that Wes and I took on the first half, so I have those.  There is a bit of a relief related to all of this.  It is somewhat freeing to be on a trip and not feel the need to take photos of things I see.

Some of you will recall that my suitcase was stolen when I was travelling in Estonia and Latvia, two other countries that used to be a part of the U.S.S.R.  There are apparently some desperate people who specialize in stealing from tourists in all of these countries.  I will have to be more careful on the rest of my trip, since all of it will be in former parts of the U.S.S.R.