#47~ July ~ 2018~ Trip to Ukraine

We were talking for a long time about visiting Ukraine, show my girls  places of my childhood, my youth, and share memories... good and bad.
Life is always so busy, things are coming at you from all the different directions. "To do" lists  are never ending and it is extremely hard to plan such long vacation. But after my Mom passed  on July 25, 2017, I made it a priority to make this trip happen. I was so happy when Marianna (Masha) and Elizabeth said that they are going to join me. Joanna with a very active 3 year old toddler and another one on the way, had to stay behind. Lots of preparations, looking for air tickets, setting up the places to stay, coordinating calendars.
 But finally, On June 19 we boarded a plane to fly to Kiev, passing  through Paris. We had a 7 hour layover and girls were able to take a long nap.

Resting at the Paris airport

7 hour flight to Kiev was not so bad. We watched 3 movies, ate, drank, talked and around 3pm local time we arrived at the Borispol Airport.

Immediately I noticed that the airport was so clean, well organized, modern, even friendly faces and easy to navigate.

Outside we called Uber (can you believe it!!!) and were pleasantly surprised when it arrived in about 10 minutes without any problems.

Checking messages, waiting for Uber.

Last time I was in Kiev with my husband n 1998. Huge difference. I could tell that the country is changing for the better! Maybe it 's still behind, and not everything is working, but it's so obvious, if you give people freedom and a chance to use their brains, muscles, investments... thing will happen!
Our first flat was in the heart of Kiev, right on Maidan. It was small, but had nice size kitchen, elevator and bathroom. What else do we need?! It was small. Elizabeth 's first question was: " Where is the rest of the flat?'. I was laughing. That 's it! But the view was wonderful!
We had a great time having our first dinner an the Georgian restaurant, and planning our next day. Delicious and so inexpensive?!

And after the dinner we went for a walk on Maidan. It was beautiful, fun, music and dancing fountains.