Kiev

I hit Kiev with Toddy and Hirdy over the Easter break and had a fantastic time. Lots of caviar, cheap vodka and beer (everyone drinks beer in Kiev at any time of the day which is no wonder considering it is about 80 aussie cents for a 500ml stubbie!) and women wearing short skirts, also at any time of the day and big mafia looking dudes in big black suits - again, at any time of the day.

Kiev was an amazing city and somewhere I would like to return. It hasn't encountered the wrath of British tourists yet (unlike the Baltic states and some other Eastern European destinations) which really preserves it as an authentic, not too touristy destination to travel too. The only pain being Aussies need a visa but hey, I was willing to sacrifice and it was worth it.

From our 3 bedroom apartment with jacuzzi launchpade on the main street in the city, we hit the attractions (one of the beautiful orthodox churches, St Andrews I think is shown above with Toddy as well) which included churches, an interesting market where you could buy everything from old rusky passports to Nazi war medals and KGB IDs. I bought a beautiful painting of the St Andrews cathedral in a winter scene. It will be on the wall one day back at home.

The restaraunts and bars were interesting. Of course we had chicken kiev (c'mon! you gotta do it!) which was delicious and all the meaty dishes the Ukrainians love so much, and the bars which were interesting moreso because of the shady mafioso looking characters lurking around with the beautiful women sidekicks to match. All in all, a fantastic holiday and somewhere I can recommend anyone to visit (before the Brits invade anyways ;))! The other picture is me standing in the market with all the dodgy memorabilia. I got myself an old Red Army broach and commy belt (very cool) 'apparently', according to our Jewish market stall owner, belonging to soldiers in the Red Army from the first world war. He also sold Nazi war medals and the like - go figure.