Ukraine: The Paris of Eastern Europe

25 hours and one Hungarian sausage later we were weak and slightly disoriented. We wanted a nice shower, food, and good sleep.

I heard over and over again that, in a place like Ukraine, I would be beat up, or raped, or even taken. I was not assaulted, raped, or kidnapped. I did however, fall in love with the city. Of course, it wasn’t love at it first sight.

Upon arriving in train station in Kiev it was nothing as expected. At first, as the train pulled in its last few kilometers, I saw the country as I had expected it. Dark, old, industrial, and a sea of buildings. It was everything I expected from Eastern Europe. The train station was crowded with people catching trains and greeting loved ones. Nobody, and I mean nobody, spoke english.

Train tickets to Warsaw were $100! Guess it was a Soviet train station with American prices.

We had nowhere to go and no one to meet. We saw a McDonalds and quickly headed there as if were american refugees on the lookout for capitalism. Pathetic, I know.

After we were blessed with wifi from Micki D’s we headed out.

The streets were empty and we went up a very steep hill, there was no one is sight as far as the eye could see. But we kept trekking. Passing homeless men, and men with signs of buses going to different part of Ukraine. I had often wondered what it would be like to get on one of those buses going anywhere and get lost in a foreign country.

We finally found a Hostel, but right away the place looked very peculiar and not very promising. The receptionist said the night would be around $4-5, and as jumped with joy at the price I saw the rooms. We would be dorming with 5 men.

While I am not sexist, nor do I scare easily (I’m from The Bronx, yo!) the room was very small, very warm, had 4 bunk beds, and upon entering we were greeted by 5 shirtless tattooed men in military pants. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at us, as if they had never seen an asian or a latina girl in their life. They probably hadn’t.

Needless to say, we decided against the hostel and looked for a hotel.

For $15 a night we got a room with two beds, wifi, a balcony, and breakfast. It was worth it, not to mention we had a safe and private environment. After a long and much needed shower we went out to look for food. We went to a restaurant that wasn’t authentic Ukrainian, but we were starving. Pork, potatoes, and beer.

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The Golden tops looked exactly how I pictured them, I stood at the bottom looking at their greatness. It was, I can say, one of the best moments of my life. We paid our entry, using our expired college IDs to get a discount, and went inside. It was magical, the hallways, the paintings, and the relics; there were things one could not see anywhere else. Then we climbed a thousand steps to get to the tower to finish our grand tour. 

Shan didn't weather the pork so well and after being constipated for days her stomach gave up, and had a most unfortunate experience in the bathroom of St. Sofia's Cathedral (there was no paper, how does that even happen in a bathroom?)

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Ukraine was very inexpensive and beautiful. I don't know whether it was the golden top Cathedrals, or the men singing on the very narrow cobblestone alleyways, but it enchanted me right away. Now, if we can only get the food down.