The boat trip was interesting. Our cabin was nice; it was in the front corner of the cabin area, had two windows and was far away from the siting area where everybody smoked. There were five of us in a four person cabin and I slept on the couch. The food was OK, but the bread was really bad. If you wanted to eat it you had to smother it with butter or dip it in your tea to moisten it a bit or do both. We thought that the boat trip was 3 days 2 nights, but it was 4 days 3 nights. (more food for our buck) but not every one was so happy because they had places to be, unlike us. When we arrived in Odessa it was about 6:30-7:00am we disembarked around 11:00am and made it through customs at 12:30 my parents arrived 15 minute later. It was kind of fun going though customs without my parents, the guy checking our bags asked Sam why we had come to Ukraine and Sam said: “travel”. The guy then responded with a curious: Alone? But the first guy ( the custom's guy) never questioned us and we could have told the bag guy: Yes, we are alone, and I think he would have been fine with that.
The hotel we had in Odessa had really good wifi and a little to good air conditioning. The room was tight, but the weather was good so we didn't do much hanging around in the room.
The train to Kyiv was very nice. About on par with the Turkish trains but maybe better. We arrived in Kyiv at about 8am and found our way easily to our hostel. Kyiv would have been really nice if it had been sunny but it rained most of the time. I still liked Kyiv but it could have been better. We stayed 3 nights 4 days and I think it was the perfect amount of time.
The train we took to Kamyanets-Podilsky wasn't as nice as the train to Kyiv but it wasn't bad and it was half the price of the first train. The hostel in Kamyanets-Podilsky doesn't have as good internet because it is a bigger building but the hostel is good.
We went and saw the K.P. Fortress one day and on Canada day we went and saw another fortress out of town they were both very fun.
In the market here in K.P. They have kittens, puppies, bunnies, chicks, ducklings, chickens and rabbits for sale. I don't think any of them except the chicks, ducklings and chickens were for eating. I tried to convince my parents to buy me a kitty or a puppy, but they wouldn't. What's more, they wouldn't even let me collect a sample of radioactive silt from the river bank/ beach in Kyiv. My parents are no fun!
Istanbul
We did all the normal things in Istanbul Aya Sofya, Blue Mosque, Bosphurus Cruise...
My least favourite thing was the Basilica Cistern which was kinda boring, damp, wet, (yes they are different) and full of people.
My favourite thing was going into some random mosque I forget the name of. It was just Dad, Sam and I. We were just wandering around Istanbul looking at all the big mosques we saw while Mom went to the Grand Bazaar. Just Sam and I went in to this one at first because Dad had to go the the bathroom. (handy tip for when in Turkey you can almost always find a washroom by or in a mosque complex.)
This mosque was really pretty. It had a different colour scheme to all the other ones. It was really quiet and there were 2 guys praying. Sam and I were too scared to make any noise so we barely talked. But loosened up a bit when a little girl came running in yelling quietly the way little kids do. And the guy at the shoe shelf didn't ask Sam and I for money. He only asked Dad later.
You happy now Rey!
