Carrie trying on the procured hat of a Kiev statue. A cool fountain Kiev architecture On the train back to Chisinau.

Kiev

Me, Carrie, and Simone, at Simone's apartment in Kiev Ha! Me and a swimsuit model just hanging out. Kiev, a busy and beautiful city. Very Western European in architecture and design Carrie and I after the most difficult ticket buying episode EVER!! Thankfully we finally procured four tickets back to Chisinau for Carrie, Adam, Simone and myself, but OH the headache!! :)

Fortress ruins A church in Feodosia On the 13 hour train ride to Kiev

Sudak

From the top of the fortress you could see the Black Sea curve off into the eternal distance. Adam, Carrie, and I Cool fortress right?! And it wound all over the place!

Day trip to Sudak fortress

Vineyards on the ride into Sudak. Adam and I looking tough at the bottom of the fortress hike. We looked progressively less tough as the hike and the heat of the day wore on. :) A view of the fortress. A view of the ocean on the way up to the fortress. I love the ocean!! Sigh!

Goodbye Odessa; Hello Feodosia!

Carrie's version of the Sandman at the beach in Odessa. Amazing, Western European architecture was everywhere! Much different from Moldova's soviet block buildings. An evening stroll along a quaint street in Feodosia. An interesting chapel-looking tower in the center of Feodosia.

Odessa continued

Carrie and I shooting cannons atop the city of Odessa. Everywhere we looked, there wandered half-naked, suntanned people of every size. Adam trying to push me off the wall. The day spent at the beach was incredible, all except for the overabundance of speedos! AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! so scary! I don't care who you are: a speedo is NEVER a good idea!!

UKRAINE

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Ukraine with fellow volunteers, Adam and Carrie. Here and above are a bunch of pictures taken. We started by taking a loooong bus ride to Odessa. We spent the day in Odessa wandering around and hanging out on the beach. Then in the evening we caught a night train to Feodosia, Crimea. It was an 8 or 9 hour train ride, but quite comfy as we had our own compartment with beds and somewhat functional air conditioning. Motion lulls me to sleep and I enjoyed the excuse to just lay around, read, sleep and eat. :) We found a nice little boarding house that gave us a great room with 3 beds, a bathroom, complete with shower and toilet (more than I have in Moldova:) and a cute little balcony that overlooked their beautifully landscaped flower garden and courtyard. That day we just wandered around Feodosia, bought ice cream, kebabs, and more ice cream, and we had a nice dinner at a sit-down restaurant. The next day, we took a three hour bus ride to Sudak, where we hiked up to a huge and very interesting forest. From the top of there, we had an amazing view of the Black Sea, and it was such a beautiful day spent outdoors. Then we headed back to Feodosia. The next day we headed to Kiev on another loooong train ride, 13 hours or so. From there, we spent the majority of the morning hunting down an old friend of mine, Simone, who lives in Kiev now. Simone and I met during my study abroad in Russia about six years ago. It was great to see her!! While Simone ran some errands, Carrie, Adam and I explored some of Kiev, and also ran into quite a headache trying to buy our tickets back to Chisinau (Simone was coming with us too). Then, we all met up again in the evening for a meal at TGIF!!!!!!!! After dinner, Simone and a friend of hers showed us around Kiev a bit more. Then we headed back to her apartment for a good night's sleep and an early start the next morning. We left Kiev around 9AM and 13 hours later, arrived in Chisinau. Unfortunately, Simone only had a day to spend in Chisinau, which we spent wandering around. And then, she was off to Ukraine again. All in all, a very fun, but exhausting trip!! Can't wait to do it again! :) The picture above is of Adam and Carrie mimicking the background at a Cafe in Odessa. My first glimspe of the sea in AGES!!! I think I got a little misty-eyed. The Odessa Harbor. Look at all those cranes! Carrie and I goofing off.