At four in the morning Tbilis is asleep. Almost as in the "Flight from
USSR" from David Turashvili. Except the hotel staff. They have to
accommodate
into my room some Iranians who arrived 15 minutes ago.
Last coffee in the airport and David disappears behind the edge of the elevator.
Border guard wants to know how to say in Estonian 'hello', 'how are you?', 'bye' and 'I love you'. She thinks Estonian is a difficult language.
The security gate finds nothing on me so the young man asks me what metal objects do I have in my pockets. I have none. He looks like he was joking. Probably he is.
The country where grapes grow even in front of ugly apartment houses disappears into darkness.
I'll be back.
Kiev
I haggle with the border guard a bit because he insists of having some address or place of living where I intend to stay in Kiev. Finally I admit that I have no plans of moving in to his country.
Finding Terminal B is easy. Marshrutkas and buses to Harkovskaya metro station go from there. I also call Jana to tell her that she can start moving towards our meeting place. A persistent taxi driver keeps insisting that I should go with him. Bus ticket to Harkovskaya costs 20 grivnas. In the metro station I get two plastic pieces for 4 grivnas. These enable me the entry. It's a long ride. Most of the passangers pass their time with a book, newspaper, e-reader or games on cell-phone.
I reach Zoloti Vorota before Jana. After every few seconds the trains bring in new Kievans. There are a lot of them. We meet with Jana on the bench on the right. The first thing is to have breakfast in a French café. The weather is warm and sunny, no partial clouds as promised in the the forecast.
Fast visit to the Estonian consular department where Jana gives her advice on some everyday matters. What would this place do without her? :)
The hedgehog sits on a pedestal, with it's mouth open in surprise and looks at the horse which has appeared from the fog. The horse is really not the best-looking. Hedgehog in mist is one of those things that is equally well understood from Tallinn to Tbilisi.
The churches in Kiev are big and colorful like cakes. And there are parks and children's playgrounds. Bulgakov has a day off. But a café where they offer hand-made chocolate from Lvov is open.
We pass by a demonstration. Actually two demonstrations. For and against Tõmoshenko. The supporters sit in front of tents. The "camp" of opponents is surrounded with plastic and one can see through the gaps that there's no-one inside. That does not bother their loudspeaker going all over the neighborhood. It has been like this for some time already.
In Sevtshenko-park we meet with Roman and race through Ukrainian kitchen. Talk about life in Ukraine and that none of the buildings have a construction permission. Georgians get on with their lives a lot better. Looking for a new building for the embassy took two years before there was a suitable house with a seller who was willing to take money officially.
Speeding to the airport. I go with the embassy's car. In the middle of a traffic jam I realize that not the embassy's car is in a hurry, but me. Diplomatic post can go back if we don't make it. I arrive at the gate 2 minutes before boarding.
At home.
Let's make some order in the 1000+ photos.
დიდი მადლობა დათო!
Border guard wants to know how to say in Estonian 'hello', 'how are you?', 'bye' and 'I love you'. She thinks Estonian is a difficult language.
The security gate finds nothing on me so the young man asks me what metal objects do I have in my pockets. I have none. He looks like he was joking. Probably he is.
The country where grapes grow even in front of ugly apartment houses disappears into darkness.
I'll be back.
Kiev
I haggle with the border guard a bit because he insists of having some address or place of living where I intend to stay in Kiev. Finally I admit that I have no plans of moving in to his country.
Finding Terminal B is easy. Marshrutkas and buses to Harkovskaya metro station go from there. I also call Jana to tell her that she can start moving towards our meeting place. A persistent taxi driver keeps insisting that I should go with him. Bus ticket to Harkovskaya costs 20 grivnas. In the metro station I get two plastic pieces for 4 grivnas. These enable me the entry. It's a long ride. Most of the passangers pass their time with a book, newspaper, e-reader or games on cell-phone.
I reach Zoloti Vorota before Jana. After every few seconds the trains bring in new Kievans. There are a lot of them. We meet with Jana on the bench on the right. The first thing is to have breakfast in a French café. The weather is warm and sunny, no partial clouds as promised in the the forecast.
Fast visit to the Estonian consular department where Jana gives her advice on some everyday matters. What would this place do without her? :)
The hedgehog sits on a pedestal, with it's mouth open in surprise and looks at the horse which has appeared from the fog. The horse is really not the best-looking. Hedgehog in mist is one of those things that is equally well understood from Tallinn to Tbilisi.
The churches in Kiev are big and colorful like cakes. And there are parks and children's playgrounds. Bulgakov has a day off. But a café where they offer hand-made chocolate from Lvov is open.
We pass by a demonstration. Actually two demonstrations. For and against Tõmoshenko. The supporters sit in front of tents. The "camp" of opponents is surrounded with plastic and one can see through the gaps that there's no-one inside. That does not bother their loudspeaker going all over the neighborhood. It has been like this for some time already.
In Sevtshenko-park we meet with Roman and race through Ukrainian kitchen. Talk about life in Ukraine and that none of the buildings have a construction permission. Georgians get on with their lives a lot better. Looking for a new building for the embassy took two years before there was a suitable house with a seller who was willing to take money officially.
Speeding to the airport. I go with the embassy's car. In the middle of a traffic jam I realize that not the embassy's car is in a hurry, but me. Diplomatic post can go back if we don't make it. I arrive at the gate 2 minutes before boarding.
At home.
Let's make some order in the 1000+ photos.
დიდი მადლობა დათო!
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