29th of March – Welcome to the concrete jungle

I had to get up early to catch my flight – my alarm went off at 0500 which I wasn’t a big fan of. And even on a holiday!  Apart from me not being a morning person everything went as planned. Unfortunately the steak restaurant at the airport wasn’t open when I arrived so I couldn’t fulfil my plans with having steak and wine for breakfast. What a disappointment.

Flight to Riga went well, I had a much-needed nap and one of the few on the flight who had a free seat next to me which gave me an isle and window seat! Going from Riga to Kiev we were stuffed into a Dash8 with less space (seats and for carry-ons) so it got a bit cramped. At least I must have been more comfortable than the guy I was sitting next to who was a fair bit taller (and equivalently larger overall) than me.

Got picked up at the airport, passed by an ATM (apparently Ukrainian currency can not be bought in Denmark and exchange in Riga was atrocious) and was delivered to my hotel. After getting settled I went for a walk at 1630 – first to see how long it would take me to get to tomorrow’s meeting point and after that just to have a look around.

Kiev is very Eastern European; blocky, concrete and… grey in more ways than one. It has its own kind of charm. And it’s cold and snow is found in piles all around. As opposed to the normal grey blocky-ness their churches look pretty nice, though, colourful and well maintained.

St. Volodymyr's Cathedral.

Mural outside St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

Starting to look for a place to eat I took an underpass below the street instead of looking for a crossing and stood face to face with a heated 1-floor mall below street level! I followed the maps put up along the many exists and returned to the street, being confused out of my mind as I had passed through enough twists and turns I couldn’t relate the location to anywhere on my street map. It took me multiple tries and several walking back and forths before I finally found myself again.

I located a place to eat – which was needed at around 2000 and not having eaten anything since a small disappointing piece of chicken pie in Riga airport – at a fancy-looking restaurant called The Silver Spoon. The food was good but I had expected larger portions. Half an hour later I was on my way back towards my hotel for some much-needed sleep. Something that got a bit postponed due to the well-functioning internet connection at the hotel. Oh, well.

The hotel is located in an apartment building where they have bought a segment of one of the floors which they have closed off from the rest of the building. This means that they have no restaurant so if you want breakfast you order the day before (a range of various sandwiches) and have it delivered to your room at the agreed time. Room service!

I am being picked up at the train station tomorrow morning at 0800 which means I’ll leave half an hour before that. Breakfast can be served from 0700 which to me sounds like perfect timing.