Signs of change

Subtle signs of the seasons:  Today was the first day my local bazaar (babuska market) did not have any raspberries....  But the first REAL sign of the impending chill of winter.......the t-shirt and underwear booth added a floor length faux fur coat!  Uh-oh....

Hurrying to pretty up the joint: The city is abuzz with the excitement of the Euro Cup coming in 2012.  Construction is everywhere getting ready - including building this big new soccer stadium right in the heart of downtown (behind the tall buildings) - just 4 metro stops from our house in case you want to come visit during the games :)

A few weeks back I was a bit alarmed when some workers at our house (our landlord had hired for some repairs) walked around with big hairy bellies hanging out as they worked (and smoked) on our patio.  While it was a hot day, I thought that seemed a little overly friendly.  Come to find out, that is just typical construction guy AC....

And while they are working hard to make things look nice for the big games, I feel like I need to tell someone that Westerners expect seats......(this was a bathroom I paid ~$0.25 to use....) in a mall right across the street from the new stadium!  Clearly I did not know what I was paying for



Bomb Shelter or hills: Given the impending chill of winter, I decided I'd better move beyond walking and learn the Metro.  I'd heard the Metro here was kind of deep - but hot damn, the escalator was seriously high speed and still like a 3 minute ride!  I've heard it is deep because a) there are a lot of hills in Kiev so it needs to be lower than the lowest spot and b) because the stations were old bomb shelters.  Don't know which is right - but do know that the kids are going to like those escalators!

 And maybe due to the cheap fare ($0.25) has serious ridership...

Like most cities, the Metro is pretty easy to use - all you need to do is head in the direction of the end stop.  No problem with signs everywhere!  Except.....OMG look at that alphabet!.....

Be nice to a foreigner today - they too may just be trying to figure out the damn alphabet!