Ukraine

Way back when we first arrived in Germany, Nathan and I had plans to travel to Poland and/or Ukraine to see Portugal play in the Euro 2012, which can be likened to the World Cup but with only European nations competing. Then, Nathan got hooked up with writing articles for portuGOAL.net and the owner soon found out we were planning to be there. Because they wouldn't be sending anyone, Nathan was asked to report on the games Portugal played. That led to Nathan applying for and receiving a press pass. His wildest dreams had come true : ) So, off to Ukraine we went. (Not Poland. Only Ukraine, because that's where all of Portugal's games were played.)

Before we get started on this trip, let's look at where Ukraine is located.
Because I seriously didn't know exactly. From Heidelberg, it's straight east. And it's huge, compared to every other European country we've been to.


Now, let's look at Ukraine itself. We flew into Kiev, which is there in the middle. We then drove west to Lviv, where we stayed for the first half of our trip. Then, back to Kiev for a few nights. Then, east to Kharkiv, where we stayed a few more nights, 
and then finally back to Kiev to fly home.
12 days. 3 cities. 25 hours of driving.
In.sane.
But so fun!

When we flew into Kiev, they had a special line at passport control for Euro 2012ers.

As soon as we exited the Kiev airport, we picked up our rental car. It totally reminded us of Nathan's old Corolla, inside and out, shaky steering wheel and all.

LVIV

So, like I said, after driving 7 hours east to Lviv, and missing the opening game and first press conference for Portugal (which included Ronaldo and Bento), we went straight to our hotel that was outside the city a bit. The drive to our hotel was very pretty.

gate to the hotel

and the grounds were very deceiving...

As soon as we entered the building where we would be staying, I started feeling extremely anxious. It looked like an old WWII bunker. The floors and walls were completely unfinished and it smelled odd.

our room, #39

This picture in no way does justice to our room. You can't tell how tiny it is, smell the funk that lingered in the air and in the water, or see the rusted, exposed pipes under the sink. I shed a few tears upon entering and Nathan didn't even tease me about it. That's how bad it was. But after staying there for 6 days, we sort of got used to it. We washed our faces and brushed our teeth with bottled water and Febreeze-d the whole space every day.

The next morning, Nathan went to the stadium in Lviv to pick up his press passes and media gear.

media center at the stadium

stadium in Lviv

media tribune, where all the press sit

Nathan's seat in the tribune

Every day on our drive into Lviv from our hotel, we had to conquer this 1-2 mile stretch of road that we called The Road of Death or The Gauntlet. I have a video on my phone of us driving down it, but I can't get it to upload. Not only was the road in horrible driving condition, paved with huge, uneven stones, containing a raised set of old streetcar tracks down the middle and without lane dividers, but all of that was combined with the craziness of Ukrainian drivers. They basically drive wherever and however they want. There was one huge intersection without any traffic lights or signs that always resulted in multiple games of chicken.

In Ukraine, there are huuuge churches placed randomly everywhere. On the sides of streets and in the middle of fields. They are all very colorful and most have shiny metal domes.

parking in Ukraine = wherever your car can fit

Here we are parked on the sidewalk.

We drank tons of Bonaqua. And we had to order by asking for "Bonaqua" because they didn't understand when we ordered "water." The language barrier was enormous.

There was a huge market near the Fanzone in Lviv that we walked through almost every day we were there. They had such cool stuff.

Fanzone, where they had concession stands, music playing, and the games playing

big screen where they showed the games

In Lviv, they put up the big screen right in front of the most beautiful building in the city: the Opera House. We were so disappointed.

flowerscape of the Euro 2012 logo

note the multicolored buildings in the old town of Lviv and also the Ukrainian uniform 

on the fountain statue : )

imposing statue

no idea who this is...

old Ukrainian books, most look like communist propaganda

inside a church

so colorful

Nathan in front of the van of a Portuguese super fan

the best view we could get of the Opera House

Germany v. Portugal

first game of the group

I kept up with the game via Internet in our hotel room while Nathan was at the stadium.

Nathan sat right below Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid's coach. We loooove him!

The next night, we watched Spain v. Italy in the Fanzone and in the media center in the town hall. We then ate dinner and watched Croatia play Ireland at a small bar where we each had a glass of Bailey's.

We were able to watch some traditional Ukrainian dancing from the top of a tower one day while sightseeing. It was seriously awesome.

the lion of Lviv

Nathan working as the sole portuGOAL correspondent on the site

We found a great Italian restaurant near the Fanzone and had some Lambrusco there one afternoon. The writing on the glasses was neat. 

At this coffee shop, we watched England play France, and then Ukraine play and beat Sweden on a big screen TV. It was a fun atmosphere and the walk back to our car through the celebrating crowds in the street was fun too.

Nathan did a podcast from Lviv in the media center located in the town hall.

We walked around this park one afternoon. It was so green.

more imposing statues

another shot of the Fanzone in front of the Opera House

us in the Fanzone

Portuguese fans

Danish fans

Nathan watched Portugal play Denmark at the stadium while I watched in the breakfast room of our hotel. Which was super swanky, by the way. Marble floors, bejeweled curtains, clean smells and all.

celebrating the win against Denmark

KIEV

We then drove the 7 hours back to Kiev and spent a few days just sightseeing since Nathan didn't have a game to report.

driving into the city

Kiev in Ukrainian with the year it was established

Euro 2012 statue

The first morning in Kiev, we shared a taxi into the center of the city with two Canadian guys. We talked about getting robbed in foreign countries haha.

Fanzone in Kiev

the deepest metro station in the world

more flowerscaping of the Euro 2012 logo

flags of the 16 countries who qualified for Euro 2012

We had to take a cog train to the top to see St. Michael's.

St. Michael's

the view from St. Michael's

inside St. Michael's

                                                       

WWII Memorial Park

eternal flame

some statue in the park, we don't know what it is for or what any of it symbolizes 

but it was very interesting

old painting on a wall outside a church

another huge, shiny-domed church

view of Kiev

Mother of the Fatherland statue

Fanzone in Kiev

We watched the first part of the Ukraine v. France game but it started raining, so we decided to leave. It was difficult trying to get out of this crowd without getting smushed and Nathan almost got into a fight with a guy who thought we were trying to get in front of his view of the screen. Nuts.

That night, Nathan watched the Sweden v. England game at the stadium and I took a taxi back to the hotel. I had to play hardball with the driver to get all of my change back. 

It wasn't hard, just took some guts.

KHARKIV

We then drove 5 hours east of Kiev to Kharkiv, to see Portugal's last game, against the Netherlands. On the drive there, a car full of cops pulled us over with the stand-in-the-road-and-point-to-the-shoulder method. We had to show our documents and then without any kind of paperwork, had to pay about 30 bucks for speeding. While in Kharkiv, we were pulled over numerous times by cops just wanting to see our documents. It was the most bizarre thing. Obviously, Kharkiv is practically in Russia and they have not let go of their communist ways as easily as the western/central part of the country.

church near a park

huge and shiny-domed

huge and colorful

inside the church

an intersection in Kiev that reminded us of 1950s Abilene

We thought it would be neat to go the botanical gardens in Kharkiv. It turned out to be just a forest, but they had this cool ride that we went on. They were hanging buckets that fit 2 people. 

So not safe, but really fun. There was nothing to secure you inside and to "board" the bucket, you had to run and jump into it. They never stopped moving.

us on our treetop adventure

some warning in Ukrainian

the "botanical gardens"

me waiting to jump into our return bucket

at the Kharkiv Fanzone

imposing structure #2,763

This was funny. They had a small petting zoo in one of the parks near the Fanzone. This piece of work with his bare chest and cigarette had a small dog and a monkey on leashes. They got into a fight.

and.yet.another.imposing.structure.

Portuguese fans

While Nathan watched Portugal play the Netherlands at the stadium, I watched the game at a small bar/restaurant across the street from our hotel. 

Portugal celebrating the win over the Netherlands

On our drive back to Kiev from Kharkiv, we had an experience we still laugh about. We were speeding down the highway, when all of the sudden we saw a cop step out from the median into the left lane. As we were passing him, we realized he was pointing to us to pull over. As it was too late, and in looking in the rearview mirror to see he was already walking back to the median, we sped on, hoping he was not planning to chase us down and fine us. Yep. We technically ran from the cops in Ukraine. We're the next Bonnie and Clyde.

Another thing we will never forget was our ride from our hostel to the airport on our last day of the trip. A young woman drove us in her seriously old car that smelled like gasoline inside and out. The dashboard had small decorative paintings of Jesus, Mary and another saint pasted on it, just above the radio controls. She spoke broken English. When she found out we were Americans, her whole face lit up and she said in an awed whisper, "It is my lifelong dream to go to America." I have never been more proud of the good old USA. Nathan and I have talked at length at how humbling it is to hear something like that. Not just how cool it would be or maybe at some point she would make it over. She was enamored with out country and spoke of it as a precious place. 

To sum all this up, our trip to Ukraine was like none other we have ever taken.