Thanks to all have provided me with feedback and information. I did book with the Kiev Apartments group, I have a friend who has stayed with them in the past. I leave next Friday and I will give everybody an update as to how my week went.
Hi, Nathan!
I am from Ukraine,
on your expenses will say so - Kiev is an expensive city, looking in what club/restaurant you will go to rest. it is possible to spend and 50$ , or 200$.
In Kiev there are good inexpensive fast-fuds where it is possible to bite relatively inexpensively (10-20$)
with transportation laptop\camera on the custom of problems think it will not be.
answering a fourth question will say so - problems with the Ukrainian men on this occasion will not be. -)) but does not advise to walk by an evening/night on the Kiev streets in "sleeping" regions, the level of criminality is strongly developed. it is better to take a taxi. -))
I leave next Friday (March 13) also for a 9 day stay in Yalta with a girl I have been corresponding with for the last six months. I hope everything goes well for you and when I return I'll likewise "report in" !
I'm not superstitious but I do worry about the Aerosvit airlines I have booked with! Are there many clubs that have live music where you can dance to in Yalta? It seems very small. I promise to respect the lady... this is my first trip to Easteern Europe where I'll only visit only "one" girl... I must be crazy!
Clubs....music....dance....Yalta...March.......something does not fit!!!
Not much in the way happening..... wrong time of year and no.....odessa is not nearby.
My gf took me to Paradise Cabaret at Oreanda Playboy Club in Yalta in November. There were three customers: Me my gf and one more person. There was a separate hall. I looked there on the way out. There was a bowling alley and casino card games. They were fully staffed, well dressed but had no customers. It was probably a Wednesday night.
Not been in winter. Summer is full to the brim, very busy and very hot.
Prolly be the same as RB describes in winter.
Bars will be nice and quite then for you to get to know your lady.
Never much into nightclubs anyway.
The day stuff was great from a personal point of view.
The zoo is pretty good. Down the harbour nice too.
I took a few trips to see the British connection to the general area. If you have a penchant for history try the Livadia Palace where the Tzars lived. This is where Roosvelt, Stalin and Churchill made their plans to carve up Europe once Hilter was out of the way.
Balaclava is interesting too, for historical reasons if you're a brit. Has an old submarine base in the mountains you can take a look at. Few hours by taxi though.
Sevastapol is well worth a visit too. Has the Black sea fleet...or what's left of it.
Reason I'm saying this is; when I was there the lady I was with tentatively asked if I'd like to visit these places since she did anyway. I went and she was mightly impressed and suitably proud of my reaction to the things I saw. Especially Sevastopol. This lady was rightly proud of her peoples triumph against the Nazis. The fact that I agreed with her on this put the western guy idea she probably had about me right out of her head.
It’s what I mean by respect. Too many guys from the west go there flash their wad about and if they don’t get mugged for it, the ladies treat them with the disdain they earn.
If you take time to soak up the culture, go with the flow and learn why they have pride in their heritage.
Now, the night club in Kiev was nice. There were some very nice women there on the dance floor. They loved to dance. Some didn't even go to the dance floor. They just got up and started dancing beside their table or in the hall or above the steps. I can't quite tell you where it is exactly, because I was just being led, but was in the middle of town, near the NOKIA sign and the statue in the middle of the park.
They had a nice show of singing and dancing of men in drag. The star was one of the most beautiful blondes I have ever seen (except for my gf, of course), and she did not look like a man, but since all of the others were, she must have been. They had no bowling alley, but just like in Yalta, their casino games had staff behind the tables, and no customers. They also had a dance afterwards with techno-music. A couple of the guys on the dance floor, my gf pointed out were part of a TV variety show. Sure enough, the next night, she turned on the TV and there they were.
The show at the Oreanda Entertainment Comlex still went on in spite of the low, very low turn out. The number there is 8-067-657-3793. The address is 35/2 Lenina St. Try it on a week-end. Perhaps, it will be kicking. Tell them ragingbull sent you. he he he.
"The star was one of the most beautiful blondes I have ever seen (except for my gf, of course), and she did not look like a man, but since all of the others were, she must have been."
RB.....you are calling a man in drag, "one of the most beautiful blondes you had ever seen and then mentioned other than your gf, ouch.... if I was her!!!! What is it with the he/she thing...they were all guys dressed as girls....they were all HE'S!!!!
She was probably a he, Beemer. What can I say, she was beautiful. People were all smiles on her, more than they would a regular lady.
There were about two or three out of twenty in the cast that I would not be able to tell. I once went to a party of about 40. I recognized the one in the drag that went, right off. I told my friend and he agreed, but did not notice until I told him.
I did not understand a word she was singing, which is probably why there were all smiles on her. Get ready for this one, Beemer....
There were lots of guys and girls putting a bill down their breast, especially this "girl". No, I was not one of them. My gf wanted to, but I did not have change.
RB....probably was a he???? Sorry..... WAS a he!!!! You keep saying that he was a 'she', no never was and never will be.
I agree some could be hard to tell with all the makeup and clothing BUT instinct will tell best. What??? putting bills down their breast? Why would they put bills down their own breast....even the guys??? Strange!!!!
Sorry, Kirkland. I did read your bit about where they carved up Europe. I didn't realize that was in Yalta. I wish my gf would have told me more about that. It's a part of history that's not covered much. Why did they allow the Soviet Union to form? I wonder what would have happened if they allowed General Patton to continue the war with the Russians as he wanted to. One interesting thing is the big statue of Lenin is about 100 yards from a McDonalds.
Now, the church tour in Kiev was interesting. The church goes back about a thousand years. They were inhabited by monks who dug catacombs underneath. Some of the Russian Orthodox Church's saints are still there, in glass coffins. People go there and still kneel and pray to them. You hold a candle going there, and you must hold the candle correctly, with palms open upward and in between your fingers.
It was rather commercialized. I think it cost me $25 USD a piece to get the tour.