Last Day in Kiev: On Second Thought…

“On second thought, let’s not go to the Open Air Museum.  It is a silly place.”  That is what I finally surmised about the thing I wanted to do in Kiev the most, on the last day of being there.  But I’m starting in the middle of the story here…which would be like saying a duck weighs the same as a piece of wood (which technically could be true since you can make a piece of wood any size you desire).

The night before I said goodnight to Tom, and told him I to come over around 8am the next morning and we’d head out to Independence Square to take pictures and film before it got crowded, then look up how to get to the Open Air museum.  At about 10am, I woke up to pounding on my door.  I jumped up thinking the building might be on fire,  and answered the door.  It was Tom, who was starting to get worried about me.  After 10 days of hiking 10 hours a day and traveling (and various meds for flying), I felt like I had been attacked by the killer rabbit.  I wasn’t sick or anything, just exhausted.

I started to research the best way to get to the Open Air Museum.  And I continued to try.  And then kept trying.  It was over an hours’ drive out of the city, and I knew that a taxi would be impossible.  Apparently they have recently changed how all of the metro stations and bus lines work, so depending on what website you go to, it gives you completely different directions…even calls the same station by different names.  Google maps was of no help either, as it was just as confused as we were:   “11 hours walking, an hour and fifteen minutes by car, and by taking public transit good luck.  We have no idea either.  Just pray for the best.”  So after almost 2 hours of searching online, I looked at Tom and said “Tom, I’m really tired.  On second thought, let’s not go to the Open Air Museum.  It is a silly place.”

Tom left me to reenact the park and river walk I did on my first day (he promised to bring me back a shrubbery), and I spent the day recharging my batteries in my hot tub and with some writing and reading and researching Lviv (my next Ukrainian destination).  That evening Tom and I returned and decided it was a good idea to walk to McFoxy’s for some fun pictures and a chicken sandwich.  I had never walked there, but Tom said it was about a 25 minute walk.  90 minutes later we arrived at what used to be McFoxy’s.  It had closed down…which was so heartbreaking!  I suppose they did not correctly answer thee these questions three?  No matter, we walked the 90 mins back and called it a day.

Fully rested, I am leaving for Lviv, a place I have never been before, for the Independence Day celebrations! Until then….nee! Nee!

Jeff:  Aug 23^rd, 2017