First Day in Kiev

Monday, Sept. 8, 2014--Kiev

After spending half the morning doing some research, I decided just to stay in Kiev the extra days until my flight to Georgia.  It was the simplest thing to do, and I am tired of train travel and making arrangements for places to stay.  Plus, today I was just tired in general.  I guess it was due to the long trip yesterday and getting to bed so late.  I contacted Sergey to let him know so they would not rent the apartment to anyone else.

I didn't realize that Kiev is built on hills.  In my tired state and with the heat today, I didn't accomplish much.  That's fine, though, since I have 8 more days to explore the city.  What I also discovered was how well located I am.  It is just one block to Independence Square, the main square of the city and the location where a million people came together as a part of the Orange Revolution when Ukraine won its independence from the USSR.  And Kreschatyk St., the central business and shopping area of the city, passes along one side of the square.  I can walk to most of the major things to see in the city without going many blocks.  Both Independence Square and Kreschatyk St. are lined with large, Russian-style buildings--rather massive, yet somehow a bit bulky looking. 

From Kreschatyk St., I turned to the area with the T. Shevchenko National University.  Young people were streaming out of the buildings and into a park in front of the campus.  The buildings are rather plain, but this is the major university in Ukraine and has 30,000 students.

I was already tiring, so I turned in front of the campus to head back to my apartment.  In doing so, my walk took me in front of the National Opera Theater.  There were many other things in the area that I was near and will explore further in the days to come.

I had packed a partial bag of prunes in my suitcase, and I thought I would eat a few as a snack.  I had about 9 of them, I think around 14:00.  It's now 18:00, and my stomach has been gurgling and growling for the past 2 hours or so.  Can prunes go bad?  Did I just eat too many of them?  I definitely have stomach uneasiness over eating them.

I forgot to mention last night that I finished reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters on the train.  It is a gothic mystery set in the late 1940s in England.  The book was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize a few years ago.  I enjoyed reading it, and the author was good at raising suspicions of what was happening that would implicate many possible things.  I give the book 3 stars out of 4.