Bill

Kyiv has a number of very nice parks. Among my favorite is Marinsky Park. It is close to Ann's apartment, and offers shade, fountains, a children's playground and benches. Several weeks ago, I was there one afternoon and saw a film crew making a TV commercial. Being the photographic "slug" that I am, I decided to stick around to see if there might be an interesting photo opportunity. One of the crew spoke English, and I struck up a conversation with him. The commercial was for one of the Kyiv banks, and the cast and crew had been there since 6 AM (it was not past 5PM!). While standing there, a woman came up to me and asked (in Russian) what was going on (as I found out later). Of course I responded I did not speak much Russian, and did she speak English. As a matter of fact, she did speak some English, so I explained what I knew. She seemed a bit frail, not unattractive, and after talking a while, I decided to ask if she would care for coffee, or a beer, or a glass of wine. Surprisingly, she accepted my offer for coffee, and we walked to the nearest coffee shop. She walked slowly, and at the curb, I offered her my arm, which she took and we crossed the street.

At coffee she asked me about the things I had seen in Kyiv, and had I seen the St. Michael's Monastery. I was not sure if I had been there or not, and she offered to give me a tour. "Why not"? I thought. "Sure, I'd like that" I responded. As I was leaving for Odessa on Monday (this was Friday afternoon), I explained I would not be back until 8 August, and could we meet on Saturday, 9 August? She agreed, and we set the time for noon, Saturday, 9 August. I was not sure she would actually show up (a week later) to give some crazy American tourist a tour of her favorite monastery. Surprise, surprise! She was there at the appointed time, and did in fact give a very good tour of the monastery.

We then walked through the park, rode the funicular down to the Podil section of Kyiv, had coffee and a pastry at a sidewalk cafe, and then back to the church (as she wanted to attend the service that afternoon).

Inna Vladimirovna has turned out to be an interesting person, and has taken the edge off of the negative experience (being robbed on 11 August in the subway) I had in Kyiv. We have visited the Kyiv Fortress and Museum, several other museums, and returned to the park several times to sit and enjoy the shade and quiet. I did not come to Kyiv looking for a girlfriend, wife, or relationship, but I did find a person whom I'm having a good time with, and seeing other parts of the city I probably would not have toured on my own. I am surprised at this "relationship" and curious where it will go, but I will be leaving Kyin on 5 September. I will keep you posted on what develops in the next two weeks.