Ukrainian Panda: My Adventures With a Very Young Lady in River City

[LAman]

LAman is asking about my comment about being surrounded by pretty mommies as I played with my daughter at MOCT center.   This ones for you, LA :-)

T you Simoni.....makes me wish I WAS there....
The pic in next post is nice too......oh, one on the left!!!

[Simoni]

You got that right!  The bottom line?  Snap a pic in Ukraine and somewhere in the frame you will capture a beautiful woman :-)

[Simoni]

Enjoying the sunset from our 15th floor balcony...

[Simoni]

In many ways, Dnerp reminds me of life in the 60s in the US.


Take a look at this sidewalk hardware store...

[The Natural]

Interesting with the photos of the hardware store. I reckon they have all you need to do some home improvement? Did you notice if they have gear like Makita and DeVolt?

[Simoni]

Nah, we were justing walking down the street.  But generally the brands that you see in the US are available here in Ukraine as well...

[Simoni]

While shopping for condos here in Dnepr, one place had a nice view of the new football (soccer stadium).   It is home of FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the club took on the Ukrainian version name of Dnipro, the name of the biggest river and one of the major symbols of Ukraine. The club joined the football federation of the native country and remained one of the top contenders in the newly formed Ukrainian Premier League. The team received silver medals in 1993 as well as the bronze in 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004. The team also reached the Ukrainian Cup finals in 1995, 1997 and 2004, but lost all three to Shakhtar Donetsk.



Here is some stadium info:
Since the club's foundation in 1925, Dnipro's home was Stadium Meteor in Dnipropetrovsk. It was opened in 1966 and has undergone several renovations since, the last one being in 2001. However in 2002 after several spells in European competitions, it became clear that the club needed a new modern venue. Thus, in 2005 Pryvat Group started construction of Dnipro Arena in the centre of Dnipropetrovsk. The club played its last game at Meteor on 2 September 2008, against Metalist Kharkiv.
In April 2005 the new club's arena broke ground. It was constructed by Germany's largest construction company Hochtief. The construction itself took 3 years and 4 month, but a nine month delay occurred due to a land dispute over a site where the stadium's car park was planned. The stadium's final capacity is 31,003 people and the initial estimated cost of the construction was set at €40,000,000.The stadium was opened on 15 September 2008. The opening ceremony featured a speech by Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko, a concert performance by a number of famous Ukrainian musicians and two football matches: Veterans of Dynamo Kyiv vs Spartak Moscow veterans, and Dnipro against Dynamo Kyiv. As a present to the club from the city the street that the stadium is situated on was renamed into Kucherevskyi Boulevard, in honour of Dnipro's late coach Yevhen Kucherevskyi. Dnipro played their first official game on 29 September 2008 against their local rivals FC Metalurh Zaporizhya, but Dnipro lost 1–2. They set a new attendance record for the Ukrainian Premier League 2008–09 season, at 31,000 spectators.

[Simoni]

Saying goodbye to MIL:  taking back 5 extra pounds due to her cooking... :-)

[Simoni]

Making our way home...boarding plane at Dnepr International airport...

[Simoni]

The flight to Kiev was smooth.  Hardest part was crying MIL, who hung around outside the gate until we boarded.  This is one of the first times they did not try to charge us for two bags or for extra weight.  In the past, even though it was an international flight connection, they usually suckered us for another 20 bucks or so.  I was glad to escape for no extra charge.


I was also surprised by the equipment--a brand new regional jet.  In the past I have flown this route on old, vibrating jets or prop planes.  This was nice!


The flight from Dnepr to Kiev took less than an hour.  Much better than the all night bus ride I took on my last trip.

[Simoni]

I have seen lots of changes at Boryspil the last eight years.  Gone is the extra check point that made you wait to enter into the area where you check your bags at the counter.  Gone were the agents who tried to make sure you were not flying out with too much money. 


Still there were the persistent drivers wanting to take you into the city, even though you were not going into Kiev.


We made our way through the various checkin procedures and passport control, and soon found ourselves in the new international departing area with the glass ceiling.


After a long weight, we climbed aboard our fight for the long 10 hour haul across the pond.

[Hammer2722]

Saying goodbye to MIL:  taking back 5 extra pounds due to her cooking... :-)

Great TR Simoni! After spending 6 days at Lena's parents home, I too came home about 5 lbs heavier!!! LOL Gotta love momma's home cooking!!!! You've a beautiful family there and my Lena loves your daughter's curls. We hope to one day have a little girl with curls too some day!!! 

[Simoni]

You've a beautiful family there and my Lena loves your daughter's curls. We hope to one day have a little girl with curls too some day!!! 

Thanks, Hammer!  I hope you get your little girl with curly hair--it will be the greatest part of your life when you do :-)

[Kuna]

Really enjoyed the TR Simoni - especially the photos.  I'll try to get around to adding some of my memories of Dnepr too over the weekend.

Just a short funny story about departing from Dnepr airport two trips ago. 

My wife had taken her old suitcase (large, very large) with us and we brought so much home that trip.  (Heavy stuff like photo albums, etc)  Anyway,  when we got to the airport I told my nephew I would take the big bag because I didn't want it to look too much like it was a stuggle to lift.  As we got to the front of the line I put all of the other bags up and they weighed them... and then finally the big bag was to go up.  As I've grabbed the handle and pulled the whole damn handle broke off and I'm left standing there red faced with a bag on the ground and a handle in my hand. We were (from memory) 68kg overweight in total.

They slammed us in Dnepr... slammed us in Kiev... and by the time we finished our few day stopover in Beijing I was resigned to beiing raped by airlines at every opportunity on the way home.

Air China had stuffed up our return flights (no baby cot) so instead of paying for excess luggage a little negotiation ended up with us having no extra charge AND getting 8 economy seats for the 4 adults + 1 baby on the flight home (2 x 2 @ the window and the set of 4 in the middle) which was the most comfortable leg of the whole trip.

Safe flight home...

[Simoni]

As I've grabbed the handle and pulled the whole damn handle broke off and I'm left standing there red faced with a bag on the ground and a handle in my hand. We were (from memory) 68kg overweight in total.

Much later, we can laugh.  NOW it's funny :-)

[Simoni]

Our daughter Masha was a gem on the flight home.  We had the three middle seats in coach, and she loved sitting between us and all the attention she received from the flight attendants and people in front and behind us.  Best of all-- she slept 4 hours.  Ten hours later we were picking up our bags at JFK, and taking the shuttle to our car.


Now we are home and enjoying our "normal life" again.


Great trip, great memories....thanks to all that participated in our journey via this trip report.


~Simoni