Where’s The Chicken? II
So I didn’t get much sleep, my leg really hurt and I wasn’t able to get comfortable at all. I guess there is a lesson to be learned here, but I doubt I’ll learn it.
Anyway, the first task for today was to locate a craft supplies shop in order to procure a gift for Mrs MusingAnorak so I spent a bit of time on Google before I located a possible contender. It was not in the city, it was way out in the suburbs. A real excuse to get off the beaten track, I took the Metro very nearly to the end of the line. As we crossed to the other side of the Dnieper I was rewarded with great views of what is a very impressive river. It wasn’t possible to get any pictures from the train, and I was still none the wiser as to how I could get close. You’ll have to use your imagination, or Google it for yourselves. I promise I’ll try harder to get some pictures of it on my next visit.
In theory the shop I wanted was pretty much adjacent to the Metro station, in reality it took me quite a while to find it, only realising when I checked images of it on-line that I’d walked past it several times. Did I mention it’s confusing when you are still frantically trying to learn the Cyrillic alphabet? The shop was tiny but I did managed to find some of the sorts of items that Mrs MusingAnorak likes, and they were made in Ukraine not imported, so she’d be doubly happy with them. I made my way back to the Metro station and noticed just how ornate the decorations were, not quite as grand as the Moscow metro but certainly a step up from Hatton Cross!
The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city working my way through my list of Untappd bars that I wanted to visit, and enjoying random sightseeing on the way. As I mentioned before I’ll detail all of my bar visits in a separate post. However I will mention one experience here. I received a message from a friend via Twitter telling me of a Brewpub that he had visited when he was in the city. It wasn’t on my list but a Brewpub meant a new brewery with potentially beers not encountered elsewhere. Whilst there I ended up in conversation with a couple of orchestral musicians, one of whom was very keen for me to know that he was waiting for his visa so that he could visit his mother in Berkhamsted! The evening ended with a few rounds of horseradish vodka. Probably time to head back to the hotel.
To be on the safe side I opted to take an Uber. The app works OK there, but Ukraine is one of the places that PayPal doesn’t operate in so that aspect of my account didn’t work. I tried linking a card in to my account but it didn’t like that either so I selected the option to pay on cash. Compared to public transport it is an expensive option, but even with a generous tip it only cost me a couple of pounds to cross the city.
It was another night without much sleep, did I mention my leg hurt? So again it was a leisurely start to my last full day in Kyiv. Once I finally got myself going I spent a bit of time mooching around the railway station looking at trains. From the overbridge you can see the yard of the Railway Museum and the station itself is an impressive building.
From here it was back to wandering the city visiting bars, trying new beers and just taking in whatever sights I came across. Shortly after dusk, whilst walking from one bar to another, I ascended the hill alongside the funicular railway. This was obviously a very popular spot with locals as it was probably the busiest I ever saw any part of the city. Lots of families out for a Sunday evening stroll and good views of floodlit buildings. This “random” wandering is one of my favourite ways of seeing a city, much better than sticking to well trodden tourist routes even though I know I missed a lot of the famous sights. I mean, it’s only when I got home did I spot that at one point I was only a couple of minutes away from the Museum of Jellyfish!
And after a couple of final bars my time was pretty much up. Grabbed a final kebab from my ‘usual’ stall where they had learned what I liked in only three days! A few final beers in the hotel, a couple of hours of interrupted sleep and it was time to head back to the station for a very packed train to the airport.
As is my want I got there very early so I had a lot of time to kill. I made my way to a café to pick up one final, new, Ukrainian beer. The 70th of the trip. And there it was. Staring out at me from the menu.
Chicken Kiev.