These updates take an hour or three to prepare on just a cell phone but I am enjoying it as part of my trip. Maybe next time I will bring something with a full keyboard or a Bluetooth one that I can connect to my phone.
A factoid I picked up: Kiev is the Russian transliteration if the city’s name, and Kyiv is the Ukrainian transliteration. While it is not quite offensive to use the first it seems to be more courteous to use the second.
This morning I decided to use the brown out as an excuse to sleep in a bit. When I finally got moving I decided to take the metro in the other direction this time; but first, lunch at my new favourite restaurant. It was time to give the borsht a try, after all, how could I be in Ukraine and not at least try the borsht. To be safe I also ordered the fried potatoes as a backup and as added fuel for walking in the falling temperatures. Turns out is better than I expected! Not sure how to describe it, but I like it.
Once completed, I went on to the metro. As deep as Arsenalna Station is, when taking the train east it emerges from the steep river bank onto the next station above the river’s shore. But my goal was the second station, on a big island in the Dnieper River. Most, or all, of the island is devoted to Hidropark.
Given the weather it was not surprising, but still disappointing that the park was almost empty. Many of the businesses on the north side of the tracks appeared to be closed, but I decided to wonder around anyway. First I took a look at chapel, then walked over to the Bakkara, a ship permanently docked at Hidropark and converted into hotel. This was actually a runner-up for my accommodations. But now I am glad that I did not choose the place. It looks great, but the surroundings are so desolate I’m not sure I would have overcome my tenancy to stay in.
From there I wandered to north across a bridge to the next island to gaze on an empty beach and sports complex, mostly to take advantage of the benches. Also the bridge was a good spot to get a couple pics of the bank I am staying on. Finally I made my way to the real purpose for my visit to Hidropark: Ukraine in Miniature. I took a lot of pics there and thought it might be a good source of inspiration for the remainder of my stay.
I walked around the park bit more, but there was not much to see. However there were a few more people walking about south of the tracks. Finally I decided to return to the apartment but not empty-handed. I took a second trip to Silpo, the supermarket, for water and also decided to buy some sausage and put my kitchen to use.
To bring the day to a close, the sausage was not quite what I expected but still excellent and easy enough to cook after a brief false start trying to operate the stove. Also just a full power was restored just a few minutes while preparing this update.