Today I went on a solo excursion to the grocery store pictured two photos up called "Forchette." It's actually a pretty decent grocery store for here in that they have a great selection of items and they aren't unreasonably priced. Only problem is that it's a 45 min or so walk to get there from my apartment and coming back involves walking up the insanely steep hill that is the Andreevsky Spusk. So purchases have to be kept at a minimum if one plans to walk back. They did, however, have the large heffeweisen glasses in stock that I have been looking for, so the excursion was productive. "Forchette" is located in a neighborhood in Kiev called Podol. I'm not quite sure how to describe the character of Podol, but the best thing it has going for it is the lack of Soviet style buildings. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are in need of some serious repair, but parts of it (especially the parts close to the bottom of the Spusk) have gone through "remont" and look to be in decent shape. (as evidenced by the photo in the above post).



I also had to include the photo above. As long as I've been visiting Kiev I've seen this woman hanging out at the bottom of the Spusk, and I'm sure she's been there for a lot longer than that. She's an absolute crazy and just sits there with all these handmade signs around her, stinking up the corner...but all the dogs hanging out with her don't seem to mind. They're always milling about there with her, so I guess they aren't strays, even if they look it.

I have been told that there is another crazy woman that lives in my neighborhood near the Golden Gate who can be regularly spotted taking the chickens she lives with out for a walk. After hearing about this I've been carrying my camera with me everywhere in hopes of seeing her.