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On station and orbiting...
Oct. 12th, 2008 03:56 pmIt's been decades since I've been to Ukraine.
I'm on the wifi in the business center of the Ukraine Grand Hotel in Dnepropetrovsk. Our group just got in. Some of us will be taking off in about 90 minutes to attend a concert by Deep Purple (yes, that Deep Purple... to the extent that it can be that Deep Purple), and I'll be going along.
The flight over was uneventful, except for the last part of the leg landing in Vienna. We were descending through heavy fog and I was looking out the window, expecting to break through the clouds as we approached the ground, when I noticed runway markings flashing below me, just a few yards under the trailing wing of the aircraft. It was pretty much a zero-visibility landing.
My first impression of Ukraine after all these years (and after visiting Moscow so many times over the years since) is of a strange mix of old and new. Looking out the window of the business center, I see a lot of bright colors out on the street, lots of ads. Inside, the hotel itself reminds me of the Soviet period in its more lavish days.
The lock to the door of my room is an old fashioned key lock (not electronic). The single elevator is tiny. The main staircase is not quite large enough to accommodate the people marching in the New Year's Rose Parade. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling and there are oil paintings in lavish frames on the walls of the room I'm in.
But then again, I've only just gotten here. I need to grab a quick nap before the evening begins.
Cheers...
P.S. Don't let me be the one kicked out of LJ Idol, not this week! Vote for me here to keep me in the game!
I'm on the wifi in the business center of the Ukraine Grand Hotel in Dnepropetrovsk. Our group just got in. Some of us will be taking off in about 90 minutes to attend a concert by Deep Purple (yes, that Deep Purple... to the extent that it can be that Deep Purple), and I'll be going along.
The flight over was uneventful, except for the last part of the leg landing in Vienna. We were descending through heavy fog and I was looking out the window, expecting to break through the clouds as we approached the ground, when I noticed runway markings flashing below me, just a few yards under the trailing wing of the aircraft. It was pretty much a zero-visibility landing.
My first impression of Ukraine after all these years (and after visiting Moscow so many times over the years since) is of a strange mix of old and new. Looking out the window of the business center, I see a lot of bright colors out on the street, lots of ads. Inside, the hotel itself reminds me of the Soviet period in its more lavish days.
The lock to the door of my room is an old fashioned key lock (not electronic). The single elevator is tiny. The main staircase is not quite large enough to accommodate the people marching in the New Year's Rose Parade. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling and there are oil paintings in lavish frames on the walls of the room I'm in.
But then again, I've only just gotten here. I need to grab a quick nap before the evening begins.
Cheers...
P.S. Don't let me be the one kicked out of LJ Idol, not this week! Vote for me here to keep me in the game!
