Getting back to the village

We made it home to the village about 7 am (it’s still dark then) on Wednesday morning in Ukraine. We ended up not trying a quick trip into Rome to see the sights on Tuesday morning (around midnight Winnipeg time)since I was feeling a little dizzy with an upset stomach, although I told the boys if they wanted to try it we would. They had slept a little more than me on the plane, since there was no seatback entertainment systems- they showed movies the old-fashioned way- the Social Network and one in Italian with English subtitles.
The guys decided to head through security after we had started to the exit. So instead we napped, Seth changed some money into Euros so he could buy some Sprite and Fanta to drink (he did look for water fountains first- but couldn’t find any.) They had eaten breakfast on the plane- red orange juice(you could have tea or coffee, but the juice was good) a warm half of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a croissant. It's always interesting find out what meal you get on different airlines, Alitalia had a very substantial dinner after takeoff. The boys even took turns napping on the floor behind the bench we found near our gate, so they were well-rested for the afternoon flight- you can see them sleep sitting in the phot of the termianl. The takeoff over the water was spectacular to watch- I even snapped some photos after the plane turned and headed over Rome toward the snow-topped mountains. Then we headed into cloud cover and drank our Pepsi and ate the flatbread snack (think large crackers) – the boys once again played DS games while we were in air (about a three hour flight to Kiev)
We landed as dusk was falling,(check out the cool snowy photo I took as we taxied around the airport) made quick time through customs, collected all our baggage around 5:30 and found Garry waiting just on the other side the arrival door in the new terminal. We took our two baggage carts through the parking lot to the old terminal to get a ride over to the train station (the airport is in Borispol – the train station Kiev, and it takes around an hour by bus or marshuka (van) – we ended up at the back of the van the bus that was ready to leave when we got there said it was too full to take us and our four big suitcases. So we got to the train station about 7:30 (the recent snow slowed down traffic – just like it did when we were leaving Winnipeg) and pulled the bags inside where I camped out with them while the guys went over to Mc Donald’s and we picnicked on the floor as people hurried by- you can see Seth enjoying his fries in one photo- it was his only real meal of the day. About eight we went down to track 11 to find our train.
This year we traveled in luxury instead of third class, we had two two-person compartments at either end of the car (also number 11) The padding on the benches was thicker and the sliding door to our little room locked (I wrote about our trip last January when we were in the end of the open 6 bunk per section cars, with the bathroom door by my feet, and people going in and out all night) This car held 18 people while third class ones must have 54 in.
Garry and I even had tea and coffee after the lady knocked on the door to say we were almost to Dnepropetroesk (the train continued to Zaporosia) around 4 am. You can see Garry got one of his dollar and a half haircuts in the village on the weekend in the picture of him with his coffee.
Victor met us with the car (turned out the timing belt had broke, it even got new sparkplugs- both of which in the Lada, it turns out, should get replaced after 30,000 Kms – it had made 69,000.) After an interesting drive back -it was dark, snowing a bit and we missed the turn into the village- it isn't plowed, although the highway was- and had to turn around and try again. The other interesting thing about the ride was the car lights turn off sometimes when you hit a bump, the switch needs to be replaced, and that had Garry fumbling around for the dashboard switch at least 20 times. I unpacked later this morning and even found my cell phone in one of the suitcases- I was up hunting for it the night before we left Manitoba until 1 am.

Garry wasn't kidding when he said the snow arrived on Sunday evening. Apparently the winter wheat fields were green when he came back two weeks ago and now all you see is snow. More than six inches and tonight the temperature is supposed to fall to -21 C, so things are going to freeze in the barn overnight (like waterbowls). This afternoon Garry drove me into Dnepro and we bought two carts full of groceries- the cupboards were bare. He had been too busy (or car-less) to do a real shopping trip since getting back. So now we are stocked up and ready for the winter season in Ukraine. The potholes watch will begin- saw a couple on the highway today.