Oooh-Wee: Next up; Kharkiv

[Shostakovich]

In fact it's a strange world for me as work will likely take me in new directions from the current home base.  As I now find myself in relationship limbo, it is a perfect opportunity to explore again the FSU and see what trouble awaits me there.  To Kharkiv I go in about a week.  Boots will land in the Gostinii Dvor hotel for about 4 days.  It's WOVO - but no-no: re-read those other kiss and tells if that what spins your wheel, and good luck to you - you'll not be having any of that here.  I'll be keen, however, to offer my architectural notes, comments on the locals, culinary reviews and music critique and all else miscellaneous and sundry as strikes my fancy.  Why?  Eh, I dunno; I like writing. 

The Gostinii is a stone's throw from Freedom Park, just across the street from the opera hall.  I imagine it to be something of a hot spot but have not really had time to scope it properly.  Fine dining suggestions are welcome, as are any other ideas on field trips etc.  I may rent a car for a day.  Anyplace worth traveling too?     

Stay tuned.

[ML]

I can suggest to you several very good restaurants in the area near
Pushkin and Beketova Metro stations and Shevchenko park in the city of Kharkiv:

Stargorod in courtyard behind Lermontovaska
Golden Taurus on Pushkin at entrance to Molodezhnyi Park
Yasnaya Polyana (Clear Glade) on the north edge of Molodezhnyi Park
Adriano on Pushkin
Paris on Petrovskogo
22 on Petrovskogo
Chekov on Petrovskogo
Avlabar on Pushkinska between Ivanova and Petrovska.
Alibi on Krasina just off of Pushkinska.
Pushka on Pushkin a block or so west of McDs.

Main dining room of Aurora Hotel on Artema street.  This restaurant
is completely smoke free.  They do have a separate bar for smokers
and a very complete cigar selection case (we just took a quick glance in).

A couple of unexpectedly good places right within Shevchenko Park also,
but I forgot to note their names.  One was spelled "I Love YOU" in Italian.
It was almost straight west into the park from Lenin's statue.

Avoid Giant on Pushkin and New York Burger Bar on Petrovskogo


You can read my TR in this section for an overview of the city and its parks.

[Shostakovich]

And back in the Saddle once again. 

Ya, Kharkov, what a city.  Thanks to everyone for the many helpful suggestions about what to see and do.  As it happened, however, I kept a rather loose agenda and as normal, mostly go my own way.  I did not have much time in the city and spent most of it with the girl and went directions that seemed to make her comfortable, which generally involved a great deal of cafe sitting in conversation, eating some truly splendid food.  She's the kind who gets cold quick and as it is Winter kept my favorite Euro activity, walking ancient streets and marveling at eccentric architecture, as a solo enterprise. 

So here you have it; Shosty's great Kharkov adventure:

The Girl
  Solly

But I will say ...
It was WOVO and in fact did essentially WO.  This trip was not the result of deliberations over months carefully winnowing some field.  A window opened up and I decided to take the opportunity, it stamped the trip with a spontaneous, carefree feeling which put the girl at ease. 

The Translator
I used a translator this time which went through an iteration. Seems there are various styles here.  The first girl did a grand job with English and kept a poised, professional stance.  Not bad you say and I think for many it's probably just what they'd want from an translator, though it threw a stiff, formal element into our business and the lady said nebbish.  The next girl also was excellent with English and widely traveled with a highly extroverted personality, that worked its way into the proceedings in a more natural way, as if she was a friend who tagged along.  Also got some of the girl talk from the bathroom breaks as a bonus.  The downside was that she took it upon herself to adopt the role of relationship counselor, which I thought amusing and did consume her share of the booze and spread at table so ended with a fairly substantial bill for translation, which, on one day went to 15 hours, and another mouth to feed.  My philosophy was to keep the translator happy since they are in a fine position to throw any sort of passive-aggressive spanner into the works.  I can recommend the girl and have email for any who are interested.

The other interesting thing about working with this lady is that I got a bit of the behind the scenes perspective on this nutty international girl quest.  I'm keen to watch the couples in general and had my antenna up.   I estimate about half the plane from Vienna to Khakov was filled with non-Ukrainian men, and you see the evidence all over of the various Hanses of the world seeking their Grete.  Beauty and the beast pairings they were by in large and of various stripe and yet most everyone I saw seemed to be smiling and so c'est la vie.  Translation is big business in Khakov and the girl did a little tell about how these international dates go: The fello comes in pompous fashion with hup-te-do hairstyle and and trots out some bumper-sticker wisdom from, who knows, LA and next the paws come out and start walking all over the girl and she hits the reject button.  Fizzler - so sad. 

Then we contemplated the specter of the sex tourist and I told of exploits recorded on these very pages.  She says it rarely works.  The girls got your number while sexy and motivated to find a new life, are not desperate.  The sex-tourists generally truck with the dregs and probably come back with some disease.   

The Ukraine and Kharkov
It's an evolving situation no doubt and seems to my eyes to be rather dynamic.  They've created a really fine airport terminal in Kharkov, very zen like and quiescent in tone with a discrete pastry/bar/sandwich shop on one end and a pizza spot on the other:  No monitors blasting some sports or news program, no kitschy vendors with crap merchandise hither and yon.  It was also almost entirely empty, which I marveled at as the structure must have cost quite a sum to construct.  I thought it to be the Ukraine's announcement of some kind of renaissance for Kharkov, of better times to come.  And Kharkov has its rough edges, that is for certain.  But that is the dynamic thing about the Ukraine, hard times call up creative thinking and there is a dynamic element there - it is in the attitude of the girls, for certain, who open their perspective to include possibilities their western counterparts would never dream of.  It opens a window for the ambitious Western gentleman to up his game -- but the desirable girls aren't going to take losers.

Accommodations
As reported, boots landed at the Gostinii Dvor hotel, which turned out to be a fine choice, though must caveat my review as you will read.  The Gostinii is perched at the heart of Kharkov, about a block from the intersection of Sumskya, main drag of the city, and Rimarskaya.  It must be the cultural center of Kharkov with the symphony hall (now being refurbished), opera hall, and Freedom park just on your doorstep.  The obligatory statue of Lenin is just a trot through the park and the historical museum and some of Kharkov's best Russian Orthodox cathedrals are a trot the same distance in the other direction.  Now the Gostinii is a quirky little place, only 9 rooms in this hotel which occupy the second floor of an old structure that is entered through a courtyard that itself is accessed through a little causeway that connects it to the street.  There is quite some romance with this place and the hotel is also associated with the Chateau restaurant and cafe, which I can highly recommend.  Rooms in the hotel range from about $100-350/night.  The concierge staff were helpful and spoke fine English.  The downside, depending on your perspective, of the Gostinii is that it is something of a party hotel.  Revelers arrive at all hours and the soundproofing between rooms and the hall is not so great.  Moreover, they bunged up the bathroom ventilation so that smells from adjacent rooms get piped into yours if you don't have the fan on.  Then there are the foot falls from apartment dwellers up on the third floor.
It can make trying to get a good night's sleep while fighting jet-lag to be somewhat challenging, but I just took it as part of the experience.

The mood on the street
In the Ukraine they don't believe in shedding tears over things they can't change.  In the Ukraine you see refurbished buildings, new buildings here and there but in the heart of the city, perhaps at the epicenter are dilapidated structures quite literally in a state of collapse, with nets bolted onto the building to keep fragments of the cornice from breaking free and smashing pedestrians.  A program I saw on TV tells that many of the older structures are roach infested and the city is pretty stingy about the heat.  Nevertheless people seem to be enjoying life.  One sees a dour attitude on the faces of people from the old Soviet times but the Ukraine these days seems to be on board with that attitude that seems more generally European that enjoys good food, looking well, quality merchandise and in general, enjoying life.

An die Musik?
In the disco I heard a sampled Lady Gaga and had the opportunity to reprise 'Hotel California'  for the 100 billionth time but generally my stay was blissfully free of American R&R.  The Ukrainian pop I heard seemed to be of a higher cut than I had encountered in the past, though quite forgettable.  I thought to jump the DJ and patch my iPhone into their mixing box and give 'em a taste of the Chemical Brothers, if it was a bit of end of the world nihilism that they wanted.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvOge07GcO4[/youtube]

Then I'd throw 'em a curve ball with the Kingston Trio:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FBFcIGpphg[/youtube]

Get 'em all weepy with a oldie but goodie - Russian style:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AubhcF3pKJ4[/youtube]

and then show 'em how it's done:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd62IHyodKQ[/youtube]

And what is a trip to the Ukraine without a bit of Imogen Heap?:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTswdC18rI&feature=related[/youtube]

But, nah. 




 

[Rubicon]

I enjoyed your trip report--very nice.  you have a very eclectic taste in music!!

[JR]

The dog days are over, can you hear the horses coming? Shosty's on the move....

[Shostakovich]

Thanks R & JR. 

I'll be back in March if all goes well.  If this deal closes I'll post some shots and break my silence on the girl.

[JR]

"Mum's the Word" always works well))))

[poacher]

Across from Pushka is a nice Azerbijean or Turkmenistan restaurant.
200 meters from Lenins right shoulder is the log cabin restaurant in the woods.
Dalfi mall. Pasta Project on third floor, sushi restaurant on third floor. Food court there, cinema, and ice skating. Internet cafe.
Caravan mall. Food court, ice skating, and bowling and billiards on second floor.
Caravan and Dalfi are next to each other. Spelling could be Dalphi, don't remember. Has a picture of a dolphin.
There is in the warmer months a dolphin show at night. Never been, but something similar to Sea Worlds show. Supposed to be romantic and not expensive. My buddy went there.
The Jungle. It is an indoor waterpark. Small wave pool, water slides, swimming pool. Inexpensive. They give you an electronic wristband that you put credit on, you can get food, drinks, beer, etc. on it while you are there. You cash out when you leave and get the difference.
The zoo is pathetic, but the two times I went there my dates liked it. Just don't stand too close to the chimpanzees. They like to spit at your dates. They have distance and accuracy.

PM me if you don't have a translator. I know one who is only $10 an hour. Also, only ever gets tea, even if you insist on food for the translator.

[erudite]

Kharkiv is a great city, I just returned from the second of my two 14 day trips in the past seven weeks.  Had a wonderful time and rode with Yolka (the pop singer) on my flight back to Kyiv the day after Ukraine Christmas.  My fiancee is from Kharkiv and I will return in March, having filed a K-1 for her.  After several trips to Kharkiv I am getting to know my way around the city quite well even though I cannot speak Russian.

[Shostakovich]

And lo, the story continues.  Yes, same city and same girl.  Truth, beauty and wisdom will be yours for the taking regarding the former.  Nebbish and nonesuch regarding the later: voyeurs in search of tawdry entertainments, or with advice to give on flower buying, or the normal insipidity; off you go and good riddance.  Or better yet learn something worthwhile instead of patronizing these discussions:

http://praxeology.net/zara.htm

In any event, there you have it, or will have it.  Selah!

[Shostakovich]

Also:

After reprising my brilliant trip report of last December it has come to my attention that Heap's video no longer plays.  That just won't do:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk[/youtube]

[Shostakovich]

lo again,

Seems I'll be day-tripping through Donetsk and if my plea falls on sympathetic ears, Lugansk on the return to Kharkov.  And what do y'all have to recommend about that?

[Muzh]

lo again,

Seems I'll be day-tripping through Donetsk and if my plea falls on sympathetic ears, Lugansk on the return to Kharkov.  And what do y'all have to recommend about that?

When are you heading to Xapkib?

[Shostakovich]

Be there on the 30th.

[Muzh]

Be there on the 30th.

Just curious. I'm heading there at the end of June.

[Shostakovich]

Alas, could've done lunch.  Be interesting to meet one of the crackers on this site.

[Muzh]

Alas, could've done lunch.  Be interesting to meet one of the crackers on this site.

That's why I asked. Maybe next time.