Sleeping on a train!

Me and my other to apartment mates (? do you call them roommates when you all have your own room?) are headed to Kiev, Ukraine tonight. Our train leaves at 23.23 (11.23 pm) and we will be in Kiev at 8.20 am. We got 2nd class tickets, kupae cart. This means there is a room with 4 fold out buck bed kind of things. All with pillows and blankets. This is a first for me. I have never slept on a train. So I'm pretty excited! There are bathrooms and our little room has a door and a lock on it. I was told it is really good.

Tickets cost us about $100 each way. Not too bad, but more than they cost last year when we tried to go and they were sold out. We only had to book one night in a hotel so that wasn't too bad. We will get there Sat. morning, spend all day Saturday sight seeing, stay the night in the hotel (which is in the city center and we got a good deal on), sight see all day Sunday, then our train leaves at 9.30pm. We will get back to Moscow at about 9 am Monday morning. We have Monday off of work for Armed Forces Day, also known as Mens Day. So thank you men, I will take a short trip!

We are pretty excited. This is the first trip one of my roommates has taken since she came to Moscow in August. It is supposed to be a tad bit warmer in Kiev than here but still snow all day Saturday. They speak Ukrainian and Russian but not much English. So we won't be able to totally escape from Russia but I was told it is much more of a European city that a Russian (even though it is part of the former USSR).

Many people have asked me why I am going, what is there, etc. Well I have been told there are 2 really great monasteries (which I love seeing), churches and museums, accompanied by food that is better than Russian food. Really it is mostly a bunch of history, which I also love. So it will be like visiting Prague back in November. We will be seeing the historical sights and eating good food! Plus it is small. I have been told we will be able to see most everything in those 2 days!

Sometimes it is really great to live over here b/c I can go to another country for the weekend for about $250, before food and attractions. Who else can do that?!

I'll post some fun pics when I get back on Monday!