Ok, where to start...
Well, first off, I missed the 1655 to Kiev, as I strangely assumed it would be at the same time the following day, instead it surprised me by being 10 minutes earlier.
It wasn't so bad though, but this is the second time I've missed a train in Warsaw, must be something to do with the streets being longer than you expect, from looking at a map. In the end I was glad to have a train going from very early in the morning the next day (only had to pay the reservation again) as there would have been little sleep anyway.
Which brings me onto the border crossing.
The passport and Immigration checks, which I have to admit were a little unnerving took the best part of 2 hours. Perhaps it was that I didn't have a return address to give them for my departure from the Ukraine, or the fact that a guy in full military get-up would throw a glance in my room every few minutes. Maybe it was just being the sole English-speaker in the whole train that did it. Either way, I'm sure you get used to it.
After you were stripped of your passport and the Arrival and Departure Immigration card, the train then went into a huge shed where the train's wheels were replaced from the standard European (4' 8½") gauge to Russian 5' gauge. This was a system implimented to cripple the movement of the Nazis, and hasn't been updated since. Still, it was quite cool being lifted inside the train, maybe a meter or so into the air, while a team of engineers changed the wheels. You understand now, why I was glad that I wasn't fighting to get some sleep while all this was all going on!
So, Kiev then.
When I arrived here, I was faced with lots of grey, beat up Ladas, Babushkas selling fruit and other foods on the corners and even more of the military. This is when it dawned on me that I should've taken the time to learn even a little bit of Cyrillic. In the end, after a lot of running around trying to find anyone who spoke English (and failing) I hesitantly made use of a taxi after a couldn't get a response to "Metro?".
If you ever get to Kiev, you'll understand when I say it looks better at night. During the day you'll notice the horizons are all dominated with grey apartment blocks, and a very strong Russian influence (as you'd imagine). One thing that did disappoint me though, was how Western the place felt once I'd started to explore outside the doors of my hostel, after my first full night's sleep. There were McDonald's, Starbucks and lots of the other global giants. Funny then, that the only place where you could rely on someone being able to speak a few words of English were restaurants and cafes.
I suppose I was just hoping to find myself in a place with very few similarities at all with home. Maybe I'd have to go into the deepest parts of Russia to get away from all that.
I spent 3 days in Kiev, probably too much as by the end of the second day I felt like I'd seen most of the main sights. There were a good few churches dotted around, some topped with gold domes which looked all the better when the sun shone on them. On the 3rd day, as I was hanging around with a dude from Atlanta who spoke a little Russian, I went along to the Lavra monastery.
This was all well and good on the surface - some impressive structures and a good view of the surrounding areas. The main attraction though, for me at least, were the catacombs, where you could look at loads of mummified monks. You had to go down with a special candle and the women had to cover their heads. It was quite an intense, almost claustrophobic experience and I felt out of place at times as people were crossing themselves above each monk, when I was just comparing which box of wrapped up bones was the largest.
We also went to the nearby Museum of the Great Patriotic War, where the Mother Motherland monument dominated the skyline. Sounds a little dull, even to myself, but then Kiev didn't seem to have a mass of things to do. Probably, if I'd have had the same insider knowledge as in Warsaw, I'd have more interesting things to talk about.
From Kiev it was another overnighter train to Sevastopol, the Southern-most part of Ukraine, closed to the public as recently as 1996. This, aswell as being considerably warmer, was more interesting, but the language barriers still remained.
I went to the famous ex-submarine base in Balaklava (yeah, that knitted garment of the same name was first used here), witnessed open-air karaoke and got confused at how quickly it went from dusk to absolute pitch-black at 8 o'clock sharp.
The submarine base could've been something straight out of James Bond. It was concealed within a mountain and submarines, submerged, would enter, completely undetected from the outside. There were also some amazing views of the port from atop the nearby hill, with the port on one side and the Black Sea on the other.
As for the karaoke, I don't think I'll be forgetting that any time soon. Something about a woman with a greasy mullet singing Tatu songs in Ukrainian that tends to stick. Cheap beer definitely made it even pass as entertainment.
After a two-day ferry from Sevastopol (handy having someone Ukraine book tickets for you. Was impossible to get anything more recent than 7 years ago on the Internet in the way of information) I am now in Istanbul. The ferry wasn't bad at all. Meals were included and there were at least some English-speakers to keep me company.
I'm only going to be here for tonight, heading to Greece tomorrow with any luck on yet another overnight train, spending a week island hopping, then looking toward a solid month in and around Turkey.
