Exploring Kyiv

Two firsts today: riding the Kyiv Metro, and eating in a restaurant all by myself! Both were rewarding experiences.

My student, Mykola, was taking his son Danimir to the zoo and invited me to come along. In order to get to the zoo, I had to take the Metro. According to my Lonely Planet travel guide, it was very easy to use-- and so I tried it. It definitely helps if you can read Cyrillic, since all the maps and announcements are in Russian, but you could probably figure it out even if you didn't know. It only costs 2 hryvnia (about 25 cents) for a token (below). 1 token = 1 ride.

The cool thing about the Kyiv metro is that it is all on one level... so depending on where you get on, you might have to take a really really long escalator ride. From Maydan Nezalezhnosti, where I got on, the escalator takes easily over a minute to ride down. It reminded me of the absurdly long and creepy escalator out of the subway in Silent Hill 4.

(Left: Kyiv, Teatralna Station; Right: Silent Hill 4. ...or have I got them backwards?)

But I digress.

Anyway, I successfully negotiated the metro and found my way to the Київський Зоопарк, or for those of you who don't read Cyrillic, the Kyiv Zoo.

The zoo was surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) similar to an American zoo, although perhaps more of its exhibits were outdoors, and it definitely seemed more like a park with a zoo in it rather than the other way around. Mykola brought some stale bread for Danimir to feed the ducks, which he rather seemed to enjoy (and so did the ducks).

Seriously, how cute is this kid!?

After the zoo visit, I returned to my apartment using the Metro (which resulted in much less walking!) and stopped by the cafe on my street for dinner. Boris and I had been amused by the name of this American-style cafe chain... the "Кофе Хауз," which may be transliterated as "Coffee House"-- no translation needed. There I ate "panini" which was actually chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber in a wrap that had been put in a panini press... and Холодний чай (iced tea) with lemonade. It was tasty, but a little on the small side.

Tomorrow is my last day in Kyiv for now. I'll be going to church with Mykola and his family, and now that I can navigate the Metro, I might try to make it to a few last sights in the afternoon.