Arrived overnight into Kiev from Moscow to a crazy train station and sort of good sleep from the train bed. Our host for Kiev was named Andrii and until then had a hard time getting in touch with him so we had been contacting other people to couchsurf with. In the end we did reach Andrii and after wandering the city of Kiev for a day he picked us up at the train station and tok us to his flat. One note about Moscow-Jessica left her underwear in Anton's flat and I left a sweater, I guess we were not ready to leave. Anton has agreed to mail them to Italy along with his dog chasie.
Andrii is 24 and just moved into a flat with Nik from India and Pierre from France. What a great experience for us to stay with such an international mix of people. Pierre was catching a night train to Lyviv(our next stop) so Andrii took us out for some real Ukrainian food. It was cafeteria style and pretty tasty. He then showed us the city at night, the lights on the buildings made things look very european. We then came home and crashed for the evening. We awoke early on a miscommuncation that we had to leave early with Anton. He decided to work from home so we got an early start. Jessica was not please to be up early without cause, I did not blame here. But we got in some sights although rather late, bought some underwear at the metro station for Jessica and made it home for dinner with Andrii, Nik and Niks' couchsurfing friend from Spain(his name escapes me). We had friend potatoes and eggs, salad, bread and wine from Spain. It was all Andrii knew how to cook and it was a great meal because we discussed our different cultures and life in Ukraine. Nik introduced us to a term known as BRIC-Brazil, Russia, India and China. It suppossed to indicate the world powers that are on the rise. Sorry USA I think our time has come and gone. After dessert Jessica and I hoofed it to the train station on the metro for the overnight train bound for Lyvov or Lyviv, or Lvov depending where you are from. Our thanks to Andrii who was a great host and a great person. We wish him well on his travels in the future.
We arrived into Lyvov to our first hostel of the trip(not including Rome). Turns out we were overbooked so we had to wait for them to make things right. Meanwhile we toured the city which is a great walking city. We also called Pierre, Andrii's flatmate and met us for a walking tour of his favorite sites and coffee. He was very generous of his time and very interesting to talk with about France, USA and Ukraine. We wish him well.When we first arrived into Lviv we decided to investigate and book our tickets to Krakow, Poland. The train was not overnight and expensive so we opted for the overnight and cheaper bus. Our first bus trip, fun. After spending a nice day again touring the city by foot and having tea at 4, we bought groceries and figured out to get to the bus station 5 miles outside of town.
This last section is reserved for our trip across the Ukrainian/Polish border. We arrived at 12:30am and left at 3:00am! What a clusterfuck, we moved about 200 yards over that time. I peed in the bushes on the border and Jessic and I navigated the particularies of sleeping across the aisle from each other. We did arrive into Krakow at 6am, 3 hours early but not very rested. I am not sure who does not trust who at the border but man get it together folks we all gots to get along. P.S. if you have an american passport it seems to go by easier. Oh and we were stopped twice at the border and once in Poland by customs. We had to take all our belongings off the bus so they could look for vodka and cigarettes. Somebody must really like their booze and smokes! Judging by how many people smoke in Russia and Ukraine they must be on to something! Next stop Poland! No jokes please...
