This is on the small playground just outside the apartment building. There are several of these scattered around the apartment area just above the main square in downtown.
So, as Brian said on his post, we just hung around the apartment on Saturday and he played on the computer. I tried to nap, but without much luck. We woke up late, so had a late breakfast at McD's, which doesn't serve breakfast past 10am, so we had chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers for breakfast - apparently this is quite common! We ate dinner at our favorite buffet, which is really cheap, but has decent food and selection, and then got picked up for the train by N's husband.
2nd class train car - two bunks on top, two on bottom
As Brian also stated, I HATED the train. I took a dramamine (regular, NOT non-drowsy) and a sleeping pill, but that still didn't put me to sleep. I woke up later and took two more dramamine. I must have fallen asleep, or something inbetween awake and sleep because it was less like dreaming and more like vivid hallucinations keeping sleeping at bay. Of course the lurching of the train and sudden stops and starts, the lights flashing into the window, people smoking and talking in the hall ... didn't help. The bench was firm and did not give way to my body, so I had to toss and turn all night long. Both my hips hurt by 6am, when I first woke up ... and we still had 3 more hours to go.
We thought the train stopped at 9:15am, so when I was feeling really queasy at 8am, Brian offered me another dramamine, but I declined because I didn't want to be too groggy to get off the train and hall my own 3 bags of luggage! :) The train didn't stop until almost 10am ... I guess the driver must have said 9:50 and not 9:15.
Ugh, I feel your pain. Neither of us slept a wink on the train. PAINFUL!
ReplyDeleteThe plane was so worth it and only cost 107 each to fly from Kiev to Donetsk where Sergei picked us up. But sergei said there was a plane out of Lugansk as well.
ReplyDeleteThe plane will be SO worth it for me, too ... if only I can convince my husband. He slept on the train and the hard seat didn't both him. He neglected to tell me there were bed rolls on the top bunk, so that might have helped, but I doubt I've have slept.
ReplyDeleteI could never sleep on the train. Too much stopping woke me up everytime. Yes, there are sheets and pad type things you can use on those benches, but they never helped me sleep any better. Plus they keep it soooo hot in there!
ReplyDeleteYes, there is an airport in Lugansk. We had friends that flew from there to Kiev and back. The one consideration, though, is that since it is winter, the trains always run, but planes might be delayed because of snow and ice.
June
PS --- Okay, I should read all the post first, then comment:0 You stayed right on the biggest main street, Kreshatik. That is the street with all the underground shops. There is a story about the tunnel. When the Nazis marched into Kiev, they were greeted with explosives which made the tunnel under Kreschatyk Street. They of course killed thousands of Ukrainians because of that 'greeting.' Now the whole 'tunnel' underneath the street is all underground shops ending in the mall at Independence Square.
ReplyDeleteJune