My last evening in Kiev saw Rostek, Konstantin and I got to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant where we ate outside (wrapped in blankets because it was cold). Rostek decided we had to try vodka that had an herb steeped in it. The herb was horseradish. It was the most God-awful drink I've ever forced down my throat. Konstantin and I kept refusing when Rostek wanted to refill our glasses. It was really really horrible. We had borsch, of course. Rostek and Kostya had red borsch and I had green borsch. I only had it once before and liked it. Then we had the obligatory pig fat (salo) and herring. Then vareniki: I chose a mix of half cabbage vareniki and half potato; the others had meat filling. Then Rostek and I had cabbage rolls and Kostya had grilled salmon. We all split a piece of what they called cheese cake. It wasn't what we know as cheese cake but was really delicious.
This morning, early, I went down to McDonalds to catch up on email and to drink a cappuccino. I walked in the rain and it felt good. When I got back to the apartment, I got fussed over. Rostek made me drink tea and Kostya fretted over my damp clothing. The we headed out to the airport. The lines were long and I was a little nervous when they could give me a boarding pass for the Kiev-Paris flight but not for the Paris-NY flight. Of course I got to Paris and found that the flight was overbooked (they euphemistically called it "oversold") so I had no way to get home today. The young woman who worked with me was awesome. She did a number of things for me:
1) she got me booked into a resort hotel bordering Disney World Paris
2) vouchers for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow included
3) she got me booked to Boston tomorrow and they're still working on getting me to Rochester from Boston
4) she offered me 600 Euros cash or 800 Euros travel voucher for the snafu. I chose the travel voucher because that's about the cost of a round trip ticket to Ukraine!
So, I took the bus to the Magic Circus hotel and was astounded at how beautiful it was! Dinner was a salad of field greens with two kinds of cheese and a pesto dressing. One cheese was provolone and the other a feta-like cheese with poppy seeds in it. Really good and baskets of crusty rolls as only the French seem to make. The entree was duck with asparagus and oven-roasted rosemary potatoes. Dessert was mango cake. Nice.
When I finally got to my room, I was, once again, astounded. It's a huge room with a super king bed, a desk and sitting area and bunk beds in an alcove. Must be a family kind of place. I may try all three beds! I'll take some pics and post them tomorrow before I leave for the airport.
That brings me up to the present and I'm tired and going to bed. Talk to you from somewhere or other tomorrow.
This morning, early, I went down to McDonalds to catch up on email and to drink a cappuccino. I walked in the rain and it felt good. When I got back to the apartment, I got fussed over. Rostek made me drink tea and Kostya fretted over my damp clothing. The we headed out to the airport. The lines were long and I was a little nervous when they could give me a boarding pass for the Kiev-Paris flight but not for the Paris-NY flight. Of course I got to Paris and found that the flight was overbooked (they euphemistically called it "oversold") so I had no way to get home today. The young woman who worked with me was awesome. She did a number of things for me:
1) she got me booked into a resort hotel bordering Disney World Paris
2) vouchers for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow included
3) she got me booked to Boston tomorrow and they're still working on getting me to Rochester from Boston
4) she offered me 600 Euros cash or 800 Euros travel voucher for the snafu. I chose the travel voucher because that's about the cost of a round trip ticket to Ukraine!
So, I took the bus to the Magic Circus hotel and was astounded at how beautiful it was! Dinner was a salad of field greens with two kinds of cheese and a pesto dressing. One cheese was provolone and the other a feta-like cheese with poppy seeds in it. Really good and baskets of crusty rolls as only the French seem to make. The entree was duck with asparagus and oven-roasted rosemary potatoes. Dessert was mango cake. Nice.
When I finally got to my room, I was, once again, astounded. It's a huge room with a super king bed, a desk and sitting area and bunk beds in an alcove. Must be a family kind of place. I may try all three beds! I'll take some pics and post them tomorrow before I leave for the airport.
That brings me up to the present and I'm tired and going to bed. Talk to you from somewhere or other tomorrow.
I wish I had read this earlier.... Brian is off work for a bit now and I'm sure would have GLADLY picked you up in Boston and driven you to Rochester!! He loves adventures! If you were landing on a weekend Jack and I would have loved to!! We all love roadtrips!! Can't wait to hear that you are home!
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