My apartment was on the street leading to Andrew's Descent, a steep decline lined with purveyors of the finest Chinese made crap, but also some decent eateries. I can't remember the name of the place my friend Natasha took me to lunch, but it had one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. In general, food in Ukraine is very good - and cheap compared to western prices. It should be added that most places prepare the food from scratch, so it usually takes longer to get it, and service as such is often poor. But the food is yummy! I had this delicious dessert in a more fancy cafe by the entrance to Mariyinsky park:
This is Maidan Nezalezhnosti - Independence Square - where the Orange revolution took place. It's on Khreschatyk. Some find it a bit touristy, but I thought it was ok:
On the sidewalk just outside my apartment there were art students selling their paintings, some of them not too tacky:
The funicular from Mykhailvs’ka Ploscha down to the Podil area, which also has some nice streets and stores. The ride costs 50 kopek (10 US cents) and puts you very close to the river. I believe there are several companies there that offer boat tours:
Some other advice/comments on Kiev: It's still a great advantage to speak Ukrainian or Russian (which I don't) or to be in the company of someone who does (check!). I can pretty much spell my way through the cyrillic alphabet (tongue sticking ever so slightly out of the corner of my mouth, finger following the lines and taking my sweet time), and this came in handy on many occasions. In most parts of Ukraine you can get by on Russian, and Kiev is a bilingual city. The languages are generally mutually comprehensible anyway. The only place I was warned not to speak Russian was the western parts, especially the city of Lviv, which seemed to me to have something of a rivalry going with Kiev and reputedly has a general hatred of everything Russian.
People seemed to be proud of their city and proud to be living in Kiev. It has a significantly higher living standard than the rest of the country (though still poor by Norwegian standards) and I kept hearing that "everything is twice as good in Kiev". Anyway, it was more than good enough for me. Kiev is definitely worth a visit and it's definitely a city I'm going back to someday, though I suspect I'll be arriving by plane, not car the next time.
