I had been in two minds whether to go directly back to the hotel or go to a concert in The National House of Organ and Chamber Music. It is a large Gothic style church with an organ at the east end. As I passed Maiden station, I realised that the timing was perfect to go the the concert, so I jumped off the train and took another metro to Olympiyska. I took a 20 minute walk to the station. I told Marta previously that I might go to the concert but, when I arrived at the church and bought my ticket, the battery in my Ukrainian phone was flat and I was unable to tell her of my plans. That was a great shame because she was expecting me to go directly back to the hotel and was anxious that something had happened to me. But I knew that the duration of the concert would be 90 minutes and calculated that I would be back at the hotel by 9.30pm. I was then able to contact her, by which time she had arrived back home.
The concert comprised a number of Bach organ pieces and the main item, the Pergolesi Stabat Mater which uses two female singers, one soprano and one contralto. The orchestra of two violins, viola, bass and harpsichord was, I think, their resident backing group. The keyboard player was a young girl but the others were older men, I assume retired. The two violins were not always in tune with each other when playing unison, which rather spoilt the effect. The two singers were excellent. A young man in evening dress came on to announce each piece. The organist was a rather large woman. Forgive my mentioning it but it was very difficult to avoid! She played the Bach Tocata and Fugue in D minor faultlessly.
Saturday was a day at leisure, as the travel brochures describe it. Marina was due to arrive at 6pm so I was free all day. The weather every single day was superb so I paid for a late checkout at the Ibis Hotel and took the Metro into the centre, this time getting off at Arsenalena which is one stop beyond Maiden. Then I took a walk down to Mariinskiy Park which overlooks the river. I visited briefly the places that I planned to visit with Marina. I had lunch in my favourite restaurant which Marta introduced me to - Kamoucha, it has a 50s theme and a colour scheme which I remember is called Gingham. Their theme is a red and white check fabric.
I went back to the Ibis Hotel, checked out at 5pm and walked down to the central station to meet Marina. For reasons of economy, we were staying in Hotel Florida which is a little out of town, near to Nyvki Metro. Although it was cheaper than the Ibis, the standard was excellent. We took a taxi to the hotel and had a meal in the evening.
On Easter Sunday, we went to a blessing outside a church at Kontrakto Plosohova which is a large square slightly to the north of Maiden. We then retraced the route I had taken the previous day. All these photos were taken in The National Culture and History Centre overlooking the river.
We went shopping in Ocean Plaza. Not exactly accurate as we didn't buy anything! I have bought lots of clothes recently, so there was nothing I needed. We returned to the hotel by Metro and then a bus. But once or twice, I walked between the Metro and the hotel, it was only about 20 minutes.
The original plan for Monday was for us to stay in Kyiv all the time untill I came back to Spain on Wednesday 11th but Marta suggested I visit her in Nizhyn on Monday which was a holiday. For a while I thought about leaving Marina in Kyiv but instead the plan was for us both to go to Nyzhin. I suggested an early train but, at that point I left home for Kyiv and decided to book trains later. Unfortunately, by the time we decided when to travel, the trains were fully booked. It didn't help that I read "09.00pm" as "09.00" online - I thought we had plenty of time to buy tickets. So neither of us went to Nizhyn and instead I took Marina to Mezhyhirya Residence because she wanted to visit it too. The weather was still magnificent. We took the Metro to Herovi Dnipra and a small mini-bus was waiting. This time, we paid less but the driver waited till the seats were filled. This was no great hardship as I went to get a coffee.
We stayed till about 5pm and then took a car back to the Metro, this time I paid a little extra (the same as I had paid with Marta) in order to save us waiting for more passengers. There were very many visitors, it being a bank holiday Monday but because the site is so huge, they were soon scattered around the park. We waited an age to get some food when we were down by the river. The small kiosk was not really up to the task.
Next day, Tuesday, was a slight anti-climax. Marina had a cold and we didn't go to the centre till around lunch time, so that gave us very little time to walk around before having to return to the hotel to check out. Marina's train was at 6pm and we left the hotel in plenty of time at 4.30pm. I saw her onto her train and then took the Skybus to the airport. As the bus was leaving the centre the road passes by the railway and, at 6.10pm Marina's train passed by!
The rest of my journey was routine! The Skybus drops off passengers at International Departures on the top level (of 3) and that is where Ligena Hotel picks up its guests, so there was no need to enter the airport. I rang the hotel, their min-bus arrived after 15 minutes and very soon, I was having a beer in the restaurant. For some reason, I slept badly but I managed to catch up on the plane. The hotel took me to the airport at 7.30am and I took the regular Barcelona flight at 9.55.
And now, I will not be travelling much for the next few months. I like to travel to France but the strikes on SNCF will make that difficult. I can travel to France with my passport copy but I can't fly anywhere for 4 weeks until I get my new passport.
