Monday October 22 (Part 3) Train ride from Sevastopol to Kiev
Larissa arranged for us to stay in the apartment until 4:30 p.m. The apartment owner picked us up and drove us to the train station.
We had an hour or so to kill, so sat outside in an area that had a number of others also waiting for their trains.
While sitting there we noticed a man washing his feet on the bench he was sitting at. He had bare feet and was pouring water from a plastic bottle over his feet and washing them. Larissa was embarrassed and just rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. I thought it was sort of funny for him to be bathing in front of all the other folks sitting around, but it got worse. After a while he pulled a large pair of sewing scissors out of a bag and began to clean his toe nails and trim them. For the most part everyone ignored him, but it was clear that Larissa was disgusted with him. LOL
When we bordered the train we were greeted by the same two women attendants that served us on the trip coming down. What a coincidence. One of them was a little flirtatious. I had asked permission to take a photo of the control panel that was in their private room. It appeared from the sounds while underway that this carriage was providing some of the power. I was not sure but had noticed that there were multiple cars with the electric apparatus that connects to the overhead electric wires. I was curious about the control panel and wanted a photo for future reference. One of the attendants granted me permission to enter her compartment and take a photo. She then suggested that I should also take photos of her. OK, no problem. Ha Ha, Larissa and her insane jealousy did not think it was such a good idea. In fact she later referred to them as village women. I guess that was supposed to be a put-down, but they just seemed friendly to me. LOL
As I recall , we departed Sevastopol about 6:30 p.m. and arrived in Kiev at noon the next day. The ride was great. Larissa had prepared food for the trip and the only problem was that while I was taking a nap the little one ate all the sausage. She is so cute and a great big flirt with any little boy she sees. A few compartments down the car, there was a mother and a little boy about her age. They were back and forth between compartments and giving each other little gifts of food, etc. She does a great Marilyn Monroe pose to show off. Learning young I guess. LOL
Since it was necessary for me to stay one night in Kiev before my departure at 6:40 the next morning, I had previously asked Larissa if there was any chance at staying with her at her moms apartment for one night. I explained that I was worried about oversleeping and missing my plane and wanted to spend the night together. She made it pretty clear that we were not allowed to stay at moms together. Getting an apartment for one night seemed like such a pain, but I knew mama was very strict. As we bordered the train she advised me that she had talked to mama and she would rearrange the sleeping scheme at the apartment and I could stay. What a relief.
When we got to the apartment I got to meet mama, Larissa's older brother, and Larissa's 19 year old son. We had a nice chat and everyone was very cordial. Mama and I had some in depth discussions about religion and politics. She is 75 and goes to school every day to learn Hebrew. She said that she wants to read the bible in its original Hebrew and that the translations of the bible were bogus. She taught Atheism and Religion for many years at the university and considered it part of her professional education. As far as I can tell she is an Atheist, but has very strong moral values. We discussed the parliamentary elections coming up this month and her views were the same as every one else I had talked to. They are all a bunch of gangsters. LOL As far as I can tell, things went well with the family. We were not allowed to show any physical affection for each other which I thought was sort of strange, but as much as I have read about others in this endeavor it does not seem that unusual.
We went out to pick up some champagne and Larissa took me to a supermarket that had a recreation center in the upper story. It has a bowling alley that she and her family and friends frequent. It also has a huge area for kids. This is something that I have not noticed much in the US. For one thing, the adults can be somewhere drinking and the kids are not isolated from the parents. It allows you to do more things together as a family and I am told that family get-togethers and BBQ's are the same way. The 3 of us adults had the bottle of champagne and it ended the nice evening.
Larissa woke me up at 4 a.m. and made breakfast. She then drove me to the airport and waited until I was past the security check point. Then the SMS messages started coming. LOL
This was a fantastic vacation and I met a lot of very nice people and saw a lot of great sites. It was unfortunate that my previous visits to Ukraine did not take in any historical sites, but tried to make up for it this time. As far as a dating style, I don't really have any strong feelings about what methods are best. I think it is a matter of what works best for the individual person. One thing for sure you can't do it the way I did this trip unless you have a lot of time and funds to keep you going. The biggest money hog was the apartment costs at $50 to $100 per night. That can eat your budget up in a hurry. For those lucky enough to have a girlfriend that already has an apartment, it can reduce your expenses dramatically. The costs for food, taxi, train, admittance to sites, etc. is rather trivial compared to the housing costs.
After reviewing my several trips to Ukraine, the one thing I would recommend to men from the US and Canada is to plan to take in the sites and museums rather than just making it a dating trip. The cost to go to Ukraine/Russia is so large that you might as well take advantage of the fact you already paid to get there.
