My First Trip Report

[Hammer2722]

Although this is my third trip to Ukraine, I decided to write about this trip. I flew into Ukraine on 12 Aug. My trip began in Seattle to NY to Kiev and I was  in country till the 29th.

I met Olga several months ago on Ukrainedate. I had an account for only 3 months and was about to let my membership expire when I got an IM from This lady name Olga. She's 29, lives in Kamyanets-Podilsky and has a 10 yr old son. We instantly moved our chats to Skype and spent over 3 hrs talking. I was very impressed by not only how attractive she was but she has a great sense of humor and most importantly, she never seemed to have a problem with communicating her feelings. After a few weeks chatting, I decided to fly out and meet her before the summer ends.

Thursday, 12 Aug, 2010

It's 2 AM. Time to get up and get ready for my third trip to Ukraine. The first 2 trips I'd flown into Odessa. This time I will be flying into Kiev to meet my special lady Olya. I paid a little extra to get direct short flights round trip through Delta Airlines.

After showering, dressing and doing a double-check of everything I packed last night. I'm sure there is going to be something I forget to bring. I just know it. My 18 yr old son Alex is still up playing WOW on his pc so I put my things into the car and give him a big hug before leaving to meet the airporter shuttle at the park n' ride at 3:10. On my way, I've got this nagging feeling that I have forgotten something at home. I meet the shuttle and am on my way to Seatac airport. I decide to take stock of all the little electronics stuff I'm bringing with me to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. I soon discover that sure enough, I left my Sony 'webbie' webcam still charging on my kitchen counter. I guess I'll be taking just photos instead of videos. DOH!!!
We make good time to the airport, check-in is a breeze with my 1 check-in bag checked all the way to Kiev. Last time I flew, I had to pick up my bags in JFK and re-check them in at Polish Airlines. What a pain that was!!!! My flight to NY leaves on time and all seems good. The flight was not that bad beside the fact that the plane was very cold and my little air dispenser above my head was broken so I could not shut or adjust it. Little did I realize this was a bad prelude of things to come.

As we get 20 minutes from JFK, the pilot comes on and says due to heavy traffic, we need to circle around for a while till our turn to land. After about 30 minutes, we get clearance but it looks like we'll be parking on the tarmac and not at a gate. I look at my watch knowing that I only had an hour and a half in between the original flight schedule so I'm starting to hope I don't miss my connecting flight. Upon landing , we deplane and get on a bus that takes us to the gate while I'm constantly looking at my watch. Fortunately, my connecting flight is a short walk from where the bus drops us off and I get to my connection as they are boarding the plane. Dodged a bullet there!!!

As I find my seat, get settled and ready to go, the pilot tells us that due to the backup, it'll be about an hour before we depart!!!!! It seems like everytime I fly Delta, there is always a delay either in arriving or departing. I'm so psyched up right now I won't be sleeping on this flight at all. Once again, as we take off and get settled into the flight, I find that the plane's AC is very cold. Halfway thru the flight I start to get a scratchiness at the back of my throat. Crap!!!! I'm praying that I don't catch a cold!!!! Not now of all times!!!! .........

[Hammer2722]

Friday, August 13th 2010



We arrive in Kiev after about a 9 hour flight. It was a rather uncomfortable flight due to the cold air conditioning and my throat scratchiness was in full swing. I knew by the time I got off the plane I was going to get sick!!!!!

As I get in line at the customs I fill out my arrival form. When I get to the customs window, the lady tells me I have to go back and fill out the departure part as well. If I remember from my last 2 trips, I thought I was only required to fill out the arrival form. I flew into Odessa both times so maybe in Kiev they do it a little different. I decide that I'm not getting in the back of the line so I jump back to the front and just let others continue to go up while I'm filling out the rest of the form.

After clearing customs and picking up my bag I started to think to myself how much easier they are here than in Odessa where they gave me the third degree and even once made me open up my suitcase to get inspected.

As I leave the customs area to the airport and exit, I see lots of people waiting on the other side of the exit barrier. I'm slowly walking and looking into the crowd to find my Olya. As I'm near the main exit of the airport I have a brief moment of panic thinking she didn't make it. I then see her off to the side near the exit and she waves to me. All I can do is smile a big smile. I give her my biggest hug and we kiss like lovers who haven't see each other for a long time.

I forgot to mention that I took Baron's advice and brought with me a single red rose all the way from my home town. I must say it was quite the job trying to keep it safe and undamaged throughout the whole trip. I present her with the rose and her face just lights right up!!!! Thanks Baron! This advice most definitely scored me bonus points that night if you get my meaning!!!! 

We immediately head out of the airport and like a good American tourist I keep my trap shut and allow Olga to haggle with the taxi drivers over the fare for the ride to her brother's apartment. It only cost about 100.00 grivna and she pays for the fare since I have yet to change any money over.

We chat a little in the taxi but mainly we both are so happy to see each other we mostly just hold each other and kiss through most of the trip to her brother's place. After what seems like about 30 minutes driving back and forth trying to find her brother's apartment, ( the buildings all look the same and Olga is not really all that familiar with Kiev) and a few placed calls to her brother Roman who is currently away in Poland seeing his son, we finally find the right building.

As we make our way to the second floor apartment I am informed that her brother has no tv, air conditioning or anything else for that matter. Now up to this point I did not mention that the temp in Kiev that day was over 100 degrees (over 40 C) and humid as hell. Her brothers apartment was hotter on the inside than it was outside!!!! I tell Olga that it doesn't matter to me as long as I'm with her. After getting settled in the spare room which Olga and I will share, I give her the first of 2 gifts I brought her. It a bottle of perfume which I am hoping she likes. She opens the package and sprays it on. It smells heavenly on her and she tells me she really likes it.

Now at this point I have not slept at all since I left Seattle and I'm starting to yawn, Olga asks if I would like to take a nap for a few hours before we meet with her brother's friend Ruslan who is going to show us around Kiev tonight. I decide that a nap is just what I need but not before this wonderful lady feeds me some of her left over borsch from the fridge. I absolutely love Borsch by the way. I even make it at home myself. I fall fast asleep on the couch in her arms. She is holding me and running her fingers through my hair till I fall asleep with the feeling that this is going to be a wonderful 2 weeks......

[Hammer2722]

13 Aug 2010:

I slept for about 2-3 hours and woke up feeling refreshed a bit. Olga had been busy on the phone with business dealings. She runs several kitchen appliance and dinnerware stores with her mom so she will be on the phone alot while we are together to answer any questions her mom has. She also took the time to heat up some leftovers she made from the previous day. They are peppers stuffed with meat, potatoes and vegetables. Not sure what its called but she says its also made with cabbage instead of peppers. Very tastey!!!

Its about 1 PM and the heat is almost unbearable in the apartment so Olga suggests that instead of staying in Kiev for the 2-3 days we originally were planning, we should take the train to Odessa earlier since the temps there are a bit more bearable and her friend Yulia already has an apartment ready for us to rent close to Otrada Beach. Having been to Odessa twice before but never during the Summer, I am really looking forward to sitting on the beach with this great lady!!! I eagerly agree and we make plans to stop by the nearest train ticket sales office before meeting with Ruslan this evening for out tour.

After taking a cab to the nearest place to buy the train tickets to Odessa, we meet up with Ruslan, a friend of Olya's brother Roman. He speaks pretty good English. We meet him near a park close to St. Sofia Church. We walk to the church. Its pretty late by now with only 30 minutes till closing time at the church so we choose not to pay and go in. We just take some pics of us outside the church and around the plaza. We also have to gets some pics of us near the St Olga Statue of course. We then start to make our way towards the St Andrews Church. On the way we come across what looks like a children's park with statues, a water fountain and all kinsds of art made in mozaic. Ruslan tells us that one man built this whole park by himself. I especially like to cat along the wall with a mouth big enough to stand in so we get some pics of us. Really cool. On the way to St. Andrews we come a across what looks like a grassy area with an old stone circle that reminds me of the stonehendge setting. Ruslan says that they believe it is the remains of an old Druidic circle. I took a picture of it since I am a real big history buff.

We stop at a nearby sidewalk cafe to have a few beers and rest our feet. After about an hour or so we finally head to the St Andrews church. I am amazed at how beautiful all of the churches here are with the cupolas and gold gilding. It starts to get dark now so we decide to call it a night. We hail a cab and thank Ruslan for the nice time and tour. I am hoping to be able to stay in Kiev longer next trip and see more of the city. We catch a taxi back to the apartment. At least now that the sun has gone down the temperature in the apartment is bearable. We decide to curl up in bed together watch a movie on my small dvd player I brought with me and drink some wine we purchased earlier in the day. The rest of the evening is just absolute magic for us......

[groovlstk]

Nice TR, Hammer. I'm enjoying reading it -- keep it coming!

[Vaughn]

Have to say - you two look very natural together, and are an attractive couple.

I look forward to reading more.

[Hammer2722]

More Pics.....

[Hammer2722]

14 August 2010:

Well, I mentioned earlier that my throat was pretty scratchy coming off the plane. I woke up to a stuffy nose,headache and sore throat. Yup, I got a cold. Olya and I are scheduled to take the 5pm train to Odessa and I am feeling like crap today! Fortunately for me, I've got and amazingly wonderful woman here. She makes me a nice hot tea. A special blend great for colds and makes me a nice breakfast of omelet with lots of veggies. After several cups of hot tea, I was feeling well enough to go with Olya to the market to get somethings to take with us on the train.

We take a nice walk down to the local grocery store and pick up some bottles of water, sunflower seeds, pistachios, bread, cheese and salami to make sandwiches on the train. It's a 13 hour trip to Odessa. This is actually my first ever train ride in Ukraine and being under the weather, I am not looking forward to this. We get back to the apartment and just spend what little time is left before heading to the train station lying in bed. Olya lies next to me holding me and stroking my hair. I could get used to this!!! LOL

Before we know it, it's time to get our bags and catch the taxi to the train station. We find our car and sleeping compartment. We didn't buy the whole sleeper room cause there was already someone scheduled to be in there with us. I only hope it isn't some obnoxious person or a lady with a screaming child.
Fortunately, it turns out we only have 1 other roomie and its a 12 year boy old boy named Maxim. He seems very quiet and Olya tries to get to know him. Soon we are off and after about a half hour, Olya decides to take a look around the train and see how full it is. Remarkably, there are like 3 sleepers in our car that are completely empty. Olya decides to talk to the conductor and see if they can move our roomie to another sleeper. She wants to have our space all to ourselves. I'm not sure what she told the conductor but before I know it, Maxim is being told to move to another sleeper by the conductor.

In a way I felt sorry for the kid. I could tell he was not happy about this by his look when he came for his things. At last, Olya and I are alone and I decide to take a nap while she talks to her mom and son on her mobile. By now my nose is starting to run so I am going through quite a lot of napkins. After my short nap, Olya makes me a sandwich and we eat some the snacks we brought along. Olya starts to become very playful if you know what I mean. It is a side to her that I never would have figured her for. Needless to say the rest of the trip was quite nice considering I was feeling like crap. This lady sure knows how to make a man feel nice even when he's sick. I was able to finally go to sleep but tossed and turned most of the night due to the air conditioning being turned on and off throughout the trip.

[Faux Pas]

Good stuff Hammer! Thanks for sharing. Why the nickname, are you a carpenter?

[Hammer2722]

Good stuff Hammer! Thanks for sharing. Why the nickname, are you a carpenter?

Its a shortened version of my online gaming user name "warhammer". I guess I got so used to using it every site I've registered it just stuck. 

[Dave13]

Great trip report Hammer, your lady is very beautiful and you look very happy together, can't wait to hear more! 

Dave

[Hammer2722]

August 15, 2010;

We arrived at the Odessa train station around 5:30 AM. I have always been an early riser so I was up at about 4 am. Olya is not a morning person so she did not get up till about 5 or so. I went and got cleaned up at the toilet ( basically splashed some water in my face). LOL

We packed are things up and left the station. Once again I played the mute while Olya haggles with the army of taxi drivers for a good rate to our rental place. Olya had to call her friend Yulia to find out the address of our apartment. She got the owners phone number and was able to call her and get the address. We discovered that we could not move into our apartment till noon today but the owner, a lady named Lyuba told us that we could put our bags in her house which happened to be next to our apartment but we would have to find something to do till noon.

The taxi ride to the address ended up being a very short ride. I would later discover that it was only a 15 minute walk to the rail station from our apartment. The apartment is in an enclosed and walled property. We found the main door was left open and went in. The property was basically a hollow square with a courtyard in the center, the apartments were all along the outer perimeter. We guessed that the bigger house should be Lyuba's place so we started kncoking at the door after not getting any answer on the phone. Apparently, Lyuba went back to bed after giving Olya the address. We waited outside what seemed like 20 minutes before Lyuba finally aswered the door. She is a very attractive lady in her early forties (I would later find out that she was the Miss Odessa Beauty Queen many years before). She greets us and invites us in to put our bags in her living room.

Olya chats with her for a awhile and she tells me that she wants to go to the beach and kill time till noon so I open my suitcase up and search for my beach stuff (trunks, towel, etc..) and we head outside the property. We soon start to walk down the street towards the beach and pass by a big hotel on the corner (Black Sea Hotel). After about 5 minutes walk we get to the steps that lead us to Otrada beach. I have never been to this beach before. On my first trip I had taken a walk along Arcadia Beach but is was in April and still cold. Otrada seemed like a fairly clean beach as far Odessa beaches go. Since it was very early we had quite the pick of any spots. Most of the beach area in front of us had cabana type setups where you could rent a beach chair, mattress and umbrella. You could even order food and beverages from the servers on the beach. We picked one spot close to the water and paid about 80.00 grivna for 2 chairs and mattresses. We took turns changing into our swimwear at the changing area with the short swinging doors like a saloon from the old west.

Since it was too early, we could not order anything to eat or drink till 9 Am when the restaurant in our area opened up. We just relax, lay out on the chairs and enjoy the sun as it rises over the ocean. The weather is warm but soon it will be very hot (40+) in a few hours.

We were at the beach for quite a while just enjoying the sun and popping into the water to cool off. Olya became soo playful, we started wrestling in the water. It was such a pleasure to relax after being on a train for soo long. After about 1:30 PM it got soo hot we decided to head back to our apartment and get checked in. When we got back there, the current occupants were only now just leaving. so we had to wait while Lyuba and her daughter cleaned the apartment for us. It did not take very long since the apartment was very, very small. A tiny living room/ kitchen with the toilet/ shower in the corner and a small bedroom with a tv and a queen sized bed. Not much else in the bedroom for furniture so we both just used our suitcases to store our things. We were staying here for 10 days at $47 US per night. The location close to the beach was the selling point for me and I really liked the big bed.

After settling into the apartment, we both decided to shower and get some groceries for our tiny fridge. We found a grocery store several blocks down from our street in the opposite direction from the beach. After buying some croceries and storing them in the fridge we relaxed on our bed and just watched tv while cuddling. After a couple of hours we decided to dine out for tonight so we caught a taxi back to the rail station and found a Top Sandwich restaurant. This is a well known restaurant chain here and I have always enjoyed eating breakfast lunch and dinner there. The cost is very reasonable compared to many of the others in Odessa with good quality food. We both settle on sushi for dinner. She had a warm sushi platter and beer while I chose a cold one and beer as well. They were both quite good and I was very impressed with the quality.

After heading back to our apartment, we decided to just spend the rest of the evening inside and relaxing. It was quite a wonderful evening just cuddling and kissing my beautiful Olya. She truly is a very affectionate lady and it felt like we'd know each other forever. It all just felt soo right....

[Hammer2722]

16 August 2010:

Once again, I rise up very early at about 5:30 AM. Olga can't believe that I keep waking up so early. LOL She is defintely not a morning person. I decide to just lay in bed next to my baby and watch her sleep for about an hour. She thinks I'm crazy when I do this. I finally get up, shower, make some coffee and watch tv till my baby decides to wake up. She wakes up about 8:30 and I hand her a cup of hot coffee which she appreciates. She makes me a nice veggie omelette for breakfast while she eats some bread with butter and caviar. I have never tried this before meeting her and have found it to be very good.

we decide to be at the beach for only a few hours since Olya wants to find the Addidas outlet store in Odessa. She has arranged for Yulia to meet us at the beach so she can show us where it is. Olya really likes the Addidas sportswear and I have noticed that this line of clothing and shoes is very popular here in Ukraine. She wants to pick up a hat for the beach and has already told me that I am getting a bikini brief swimsuit!!! Doh!!!! I haven't worn one of those since high school!!! I know better than to argue with her so I just acknowledge her. LOL

We pack up our beach gear and start our 10 minute trek to the beach. This time Olya wants to try a different section so we walk further west along the beach and discover a nice area with all white beach chairs. The price is the same as the last place so we get our mattresses and chairs for 80 Grivna. We find a spot close to the water and reserve an extra chair for Yulia when she gets here. Well, its at this point when I am taking my shorts off that I notice right behind us were 2 very nice young women at least 20 years old with what seemed to be their boyfriends. Normally I would not really be watching them with my Olya to watch but they were both lying on the sand on a beach towel topless!!!! Needless to say, It was very hard for me to keep from staring. (hey, I'm a guy and that's what we do!!! LOL) Especially when they walk right by me topless to go into the water. 

Unfortunately, the show did not last that long. With half an hour, they packed up and left. Soon Olya gets a call from Yulia saying shes on the beach looking for us. She finds us in no time. Olya introduces Yulia to me along with her 8 year old son Vadim who came along. Yulia has brought along some food since Olya had asked her to bring some food. She has brought a whole grilled chicken, JO-JO Fires, bread, cheese and crackers. It was all delicious and I order us some beers from the waitress that roams the beach in our area. I have started to aqcuire a taste for Baltika 7 beer. This is the first time in 3 trips I have tried this beer. I usually drink slavutich.

We eat, drink and lay out on the beach for a few hours and by 2PM the heat is pretty unbearable so we decide to head back to the apartment. We shower and dress getting ready to take the taxi to the Addidas store. It took us about about 30 minutes to find the store Yulia wasn't as sure about its location as she thought she was. We finally find the place and head into the store. Its actually a pretty big store with 4 floors. The entire store is absolutes humid as hell even with the AC. It was just that hot outside!!!

Olya and I head upstairs to the men's floor and I qucikly spot the mens swimming briefs. I find my size (a 32) in black for $20.00 and I'm pretty much done with my shopping so I follow Olya around while Yulia and her son wait near the exit for us to shop. After about 30 more minutes of looking around Olya finds a hat for the beach along with a shoulder bag and a very nice powder blue jacket to match some of her clothes.

After paying for our items we meet Yulia and her son at the store's entrance. We decide to take a taxi to Privoz market as Yulia wants to make us something nice for dinner and cook it at our little flat. We catch a Gypsy cab and head over to Privoz. Now I have read and heard all about this market and have never before had the opportunity to visit this place. I your ever in Odessa and want your lady to cook for you, this is the place to find lots of fresh fruits, veggies, meats and seafood at great prices!!! This place is huge!!! lots of venders which means you'll spend lots of time and have a wide range of choices to find what your looking for at a great price.It did seem like the place was a little dirty with lots of trash and litter around but it could be because we were there near closing time for the market. I basically just followed Olya and Yulia around while they did all the shopping. Yulia was basically in charge of food selection and just asked me if I liked seafood to which I responded yes. She said she wanted make some Mussels and maybe some shrimp or something else. So we follow and watch as she makes her way around all of the stands. First up, she shops for different herbs that she will use with the seafood. Not sure which herbs she got but there were at least 4-5 differents ones besides the 2-3 we had back at the flat already. Shegets some tomatoes and then its off to the seafood section which happens to be in a separate area in a building.

The seafood section I find to be very impressive. Lots of venders selling everything from shrimp to fish to lobsters. Frozen or fresh with a wide variety. Yulia decides on some very nice fresh jumbo shrimp and mussels. What I found interesting when buying any seafood, that at every exit there were scales so you could weigh your purchases. I suppose it is to ensure that the vendors scales anr not rigged if you know what I mean. We make our way out of the exit after paying about 200.00 grivna for what seemed liked 3-4 pounds of shimp and an equal amount of mussels. Olya and Yulia decide that we need to get some wine and beer for dinner as well and head across the street to a liquer store. Along the way we see a van parked near the store with a lady sitting at the back of the open van. We decide to see what she is selling and find that she has several large coolers with live Crayfish. These are some of the largest Crayfish I have ever seen and must admit that I have never tried it before. Yulia asks if I would like to try them so I say yes. When end up getting 30 Crayfish for 300.00 Grivna and may our way into the liquer store. Now at this point, who do you think is carrying all of this stuff? LOL. Me, of course!!! after looking through all the wine selections they decide upon 2 bottles of a wine I can't recall the brand now but they were white. They decide that the beer selections are not good and Yulia calls her husband Alex and tells him to pick up the beer and meet us at the flat.

We catch a Gypsy cab back to the flat and find Alex already waiting for us by the entrance with several 2 liter bottles of beer. I find out that there is a local store down the street from us that sell all different kinds of beer. They are on Taps and when you buy it, you can get them in 1 or 2 liter bottles adn the preces were quite cheap. Alex bought a bottle of dark and light locally brewed Odessa beer. Never did get the name of it.

[Hammer2722]

16 August 2010 continued...:

Well, we all make our way into the courtyard and find lots of children about 7-8 year old range (all boys) playing. We make our way past them to our tiny flat and so I drop all of the food on the table and Yulia just starts right in preparing the food. I ask if she needs any help and she just shoos me outside. Olya in the meantime has grabbed 3-4 live crayfish out of the bag and taken them outside to show all the boys. I soon see that she has put them into a bucket full of water she found and takes two of them out and lays them out in from of each other with all these boys watching. Looks like she is trying to goad the Crayfish into fighting each other. It is soo funny to watch her crouched down there like one of the kids. I wish I had taken a pic of it. It was a sight. Alex and I just stood there watching the show and broke out the Odessa beer. Now I must say that the dark beer was really awsome!! I made a an effort later on to get some more of this beer and see this place that sells it for myself!!!

After about an hour or so of preping and cooking, Yulia calls us into the apartment and has set the dishes out buffet style for all to just dig in. I took some pics of the shrimp and she made two different kinds of dishes with the mussels. I break out a bottle of wine for the ladies and pour some beer for Alex and I. The food is absolutely delicious. Better than I would have eaten in a restaurant and I point this out to Yulia. She says many people who have tried her dishes have told her she could open up a fine restaurant and do well with all the great dishes she comes up with. She is a spur of the moment kind of cook. She will just take whatever is available and create some great tastey dishes. The mussels are just delightful and I just pig out!!! LOL I have never eaten Crayfish but she steamed them with some herbs and they were delish! Can't say enough good things about her cooking. Now my Olya is no slouch in cooking but Yulia is that kind of women where if she were mine, I would be one FAT dude in no time.LOL

Pretty soon after we have had our fill the ladies invite the boys outside in for the rest and soon we're feeding everyone in the courtyards children. I am just amazed at how Ukrainians who are complete strangers to each other just seem to get along and party together like they have known each all along. It was really fun evening and we drank and talked and met some of our neighbors for the first time. I even met this young German guy named Alex From Dusseldorf on vacation with his Ukrainian fiance Diana and their 2 year old daughter. Olya and I tried to get them to eat mussels since neither of them are big seafood eaters . I got Alex to try the mussels after Diana told him she would try after he did. Well, he did and then she proceeded to bow out.LOL

It was a great evening and we all sat in our tiny living room drinking and talking till almost about 11:30 pm. Yulia, Alex and Vadim decide its time to get Vadim home and in bed so we say our farewells and see them out to the main exit. Olya and I get back to the flat and we take turns in the shower and get ready for bed. We want to try and get up early to hit the beach. She syas she wants to see how hot I look in my new speedo type swimsuit. LOL I laugh and tell her I guess she will have to wait till tomorrow. We both hop into bed snuggle up to each other kissing and watching tv for a little while till we both start to drift off into a nice little slumber.....

[tim 360]

Great trip report Hammer.  I think I'm getting hungry for Yulia's cooking.

[Chicagoguy]

It's great that you have so many pictures !

[Durk]

Great TR!! Only one question. Is your girl named Olya or Olga? You might want to get
this correct. She may get upset.    D

[SANDRO43]

Only one question. Is your girl named Olya or Olga?

IINM, Olya is an affectionate variant of Olga .

[OlgaH]

IINM, Olya is an affectionate variant of Olga .

also olechka, olen'ka, olyushka

[SANDRO43]

also olechka, olen'ka, olyushka

Yes, Russian seems to carry this on much further than other languages:

English: James->Jim, John->Jack, Richard->Dick, etc.
Italian: Giuseppe->Beppe/Peppino/Pippo, Antonio->Tonio/Toni/Tonino, etc.
German: Johann->Hans, etc.

Definitely not in the same league, considering for instance that Svetlana can generate:

Sveta, Svetushka, Svetik
Lana, Lanushka, Lanchik

[Hammer2722]

Sandro and Olga are correct. My girl likes me to call her Olya so far be it for me to disappoint! LOL

[khelkhov]

Awesome trip report!! 

Those dishes of seafood already made me hungry!!!  I'm a big time seafood lover since I have grew up right by the water all of my life... 

[IAmZon]

hopeful

[Hammer2722]

17 August 2010

I awake at about 6.00 AM and decide to make some coffee and read my book in bed while my beautiful Olya continues to sleep next to me. This time of the morning gives me the opportunity to reflect on my trip so far. I am extremely happy with this lady and can definitely see myself spending the rest of my life with her.

Olya finally starts to stir around 9:30 and I have a nice hot cup of coffee waiting by the bed for. She really appreciates this of all the little things I do for her the most. We have a light breakfast of bread, butter and cavier and start to get ready for another day at the beach. I must say my tan is starting to come along quite nicely. Olya's is looking even better!!!!

I don my new brief swim suit, put on shorts and we head to the beach. This time Olya wants to head a little further down on the beach from where we normally lay and find a nice enclosed area. We discover that it cost only 35.00 grivna each to use their area which all includes mbeach chairs, mattresses, umbrellas and even the toilets including TOILET PAPER!!!! Score!!!! We decide to come here from now on for the rest of our stay.

We find a spot close to the water and setup up out umbrellas and gear. The sun is already out and looks to be another scorcher of a day. Not a cloud in the sky!!!

As we lie in our chairs, I decide to take some pics of my sexy lady in her new hat. She really loves to pose for pics as she starts to pose is playful sexy poses. She then says she wants some pics of me and grabs my camera and gets some shots of me. We then spend the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon on the beach tanning and drinking beer till about 3 PM when the heat is just too much to bear. We head back to the flat, shower and just relax on the bed snuggling and watching tv for a few hours till dinner time.

I tell Olya that I want to take her out to Deribosovskaya to eat dinner and just have a nice walk and I want to buy her a new pair of sandals. Apparently, when Yulia came to the apartment, she borrowed Olga's best pair of sandals which matched all her blue outfits. Well, Yulia is a much bigger person than Olya size wise and she still had her sandals. Olya figures that the sandals have been stretched so she won't even ask for them back since they will now be too big for her. I tell her I will take her to the Athena mall and I'll get her a new pair.

We call a taxi and take it to Derib. for the low price of 40 grvna! We walk up and down and decide to to stop at the Irish pub for some piva and soup. We both order the chicken noodle soup which helps both of our runny noses and get some tall Slavutich drafts. The soup is excellent and we drink 2 beers and decide to start off for the mall to look for my baby's sandals.

After spending what seems like hours (I think we hit every sho store in the mall) looking at shoes, we finally spot a very nice pair of sandals in a denim blue color that Olya really like. They fit her perfectly and she decides these are them. They look really nice on her and so I pay the 400 grivna price which I think is quite reasonble considering the prices of all the others. Besides, She is happy and that's what it is all about right? LOL

As we leave the mall I convince Olya to go into the huge toy store next door. I am a kid at heart and I absolutely love looking at toys. We have also been talking about getting some card games for us to play when we are just hanging around the flat. Olya also wants to get her son some hotwheels cars. He loves to collect them. We spend probably about an hour or so looking and although she didn't find any hotwheels for her son that she wanted to get, we decided on getting a travel backgammon set. Olya plays alot on-line and it's been many years since I've played and wanted to give a try. Besides, we can also take it to the beach and play there. I tried looking for the Uno card game but could not find it anywhere in Ukraine after telling Olga about it. We pay and start making our way back towards Derib. Street. Olya says she is hungry and wants to eat. We both decide on Top Sandwich so we find a nice table outside. We Decide to try the pizza here. I have been told before that their pizza is actually pretty good. I get the personal size meat and Olya orders the personal seafood. We both get tall Pivas as well.

Now, the one thing I have learned to have patience with here in Ukraine is that no matter how complicated your dish is, your going to be waiting quite a while for your food to come. Fortunately for us, we both get our pizzas at the same time. I must say I was quite impressed with the pizza. It was very good. They had a nice thin crust and did not have a lot of sauce which would usually give me heartburn when I eat pizza at home. I especially love the seafood pizza as Olya and I trade slices. Next time I'm ordering the seafood pizza. It has shrimp, calamri, clams I think and some others I didn't identify. I believe the whole meal cost less than 20 dollars including 4 beers. You gotta love Ukraine!!!!

We decide to call it a day after taking a walk around the city center and head back to our flat and spend the evening in and play backgammon. Olya wants to get some vodka and orange juice so we stop in at one one the liquer stores nearby before calling a cab for home. We spend the rest of the evening watching TV, drinking Vodka and me getting schooled on backgammon by Olya. LOL This lady is a real pro at this game but I warn her I'm a fast learner and before our vacation is over, I will beat her......

[olgaply]

Thanks for  positive TR аnd photos. It's always interesting to read about the country which I love very much...

[FredC]

If you can't find an Uno deck you can always use regular cards. You use 2 complete decks, including the Jokers. The Jokers are the draw 5's, the 2's draw 2, the 7's reverse flow, the Jack's change suits. I think that's all.......It's been a long time since I've done it.

I'll also add great trip report.......Good Luck