Day 10: Kiev, Ukraine

Having been travelling all these years, I have never felt wistful for a country or place, to the extent that I just wanted to give up my life at home and stay there for the rest of my life. Tbilisi has officially broken this norm. Because of the genial Georgian people, the nice travelers and the cozy hostel, it is apparent that I have found a home away from home, it seemed to be even warmer.

Nevertheless, life moves on and my trip goes on. I had to take the red-eye flight back to Kiev regardless of the nostalgia. The return flight was not as horrendous as the outbound one, there were no more strange old man and crazy party on the plane. The tranquility made me feel even sadder, and my eyes were filled with all sorrowful tears. I wish I could be back very soon, I miss Georgia!!! I miss Tbilisi!!!

The melting ice

Ukrainian mail box

Ploshcha Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Square

While I was reminiscing the happy memories I had in Tbilisi, I stayed awake for the entire plane ride. However, the plane landed on Kiev's international airport at 5 in the morning and the hostels were not opened at that time. Therefore, I had a breakfast in the airport and stayed there for as long as I could. After few hours, I started to take the airport shuttle back to the city, where I had passed by twice but never stepped inside once.

St. Sophia's Cathedral

St. Michael's Goldendomed Monastery

It's only been 5 days, there were already piles of snow on the ground in Kiev. How could I not miss the sunny moments in Georgia? As I hadn't time to search for hostel in Tbilisi, I could only make some researches at the airport. In addition to the early check-in hour that I needed, I found one which opened "24/7". This hostel is located centrally in the city and very close to the Independence Square.

When I rang the door bell, there was no response. Then I rang one more time. A very sleepy girl came open the door for me. She told me that it's not time to check in yet, but she let me stay in the kitchen to wait. After I sat on the sofa, I couldn't help but fell asleep at once. Maybe 2 hours later, someone tapped on my shoulder and told me that I could move to a room to sleep. I stood up with my sleep-deprived body and half opened eyes and followed that girl to the room I was going to stay.

St. Michael's Goldendomed Monastery

The painting on the wall

The inside of the monastery

Although I pulled an all-nighter last night, I couldn't resist the temptation of the blue sky and the bright sunshine outside the window. As well as the gloomy weather I had seen in Lviv, I decided to go out to embrace the sun with only few hours of sleep.

I first went to the cathedral square, where I could see the St. Sophia's Cathedral and St. Michael's Goldendomed Monastery. After looking around the churches, I walked slowly to the Independence Square. The local people were apparently having a blast, since there was a Christmas Market on the square. And of course, the orthodox Christmas day is on 7 Jan. Thus it'd be a good reason for people to have crazy festive celebrations in these 2 months.

The inside of the monastery

The inside of the monastery

Independence Square

This Bart Simpsons was so cheap, this boy didn't need to pay while he asked me to pay just to take photo of him

A bustling Independence Square

Berehynia

At night, I followed the direction that the "hostel staff" gave me to buy the train ticket to Moscow. Whereas, after an hour walking in the freezing weather, I still could not find out that mysterious building. So I took the metro to go back to the central train station to buy the ticket. The metro in Ukraine was mad cheap, I did not know why I would walk in the cold for an hour in the first place. Perhaps people who are lack of sleep are also lack of decision making skill. To compensate the time I lost tonight, I had a very decent Italian dinner near the Independence Square to end my night.