So its back to one of my favourite countries, the Ukraine. This time it was for more than just the football. Our mate Sed had met his wife to be when we went out to the Euro's last year, so they were now getting married so we headed out to the Ukraine a few days early for the Wedding in Dnipro.
Friday
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A well needed first beer for me
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I had flown out on the 00.10 flight Friday morning to Kiev and I hit my first problem! Gatwick check in had me going on to Donetsk when I was in fact booked to Dnipro. I had to fly to Kiev and then sort that out. I landed 5am and in took me until 8am to get it sorted, the internal flight was now led by a different airline, hence the problem, but thankfully by 10.30am I was in Dnipro and a short taxi ride later I had got to the hotel and met a few others who had come out 24 hours earlier.
So at 3pm it was time to head to the Wedding. Sed and Anna had gone off for the morning to complete all the legal elements of the wedding, now it was the time for the party and other Ukranian traditions
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| They step onto a mat - tradition 1 |
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| Breaking the bread - tradition 2 |
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| Dogsy picks the ones who spoke little English, but got on surprisingly well..! |
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| The Grooms mate have to dance to win his bride back - tradition 3 |
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| Nope I cant explain what me and Jimmy are doing! |
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Cutting the cake
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Saturday
To be honest it was a bit of a struggle. I think I woke up some time late afternoon, what a brilliant wedding it had been the day before. I dont recall getting home, apparently I did my usual in the Ukraine and as soon as I got in a taxi fell asleep! Oh well onwards and upwards!
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| The view from our hotel |
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| We meet up the next day and a few stories come out! |
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| Invited back to the Pivotman bar - a Dnipro Ultras Pub! |
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| Ahhh late night kebabs - this was about 3am , I think, after a night out in the Labyrinth nightclub |
Sunday
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Our Hotel
So on the Sunday we were challenged to a game of football v Channel 9, colleagues of Anna. It was a bit of a struggle after all the beer and we soon went 4-0 down, but then we stepped up a gear and ran out 6-5 winners! Woo Hoo!
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| A map of Dnipro |
Monday
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| It was a bit of an early start but we were at Dnipro station for 7am for the 5 1/2 hour train journey to Kiev |
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| 119 kmh confirmed |
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| We went posh - first class as you would expect |
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| A little tiny train, probably the sort Nelson drives |
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| The outskirts of Kiev |
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| Kiev train station |
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| It was a meter long, the sausage you smutty minded people! |
Tuesday
Match Day
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| The very impressive graffiti on the steps into the stadium |
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| This bridge still isn't finished! |
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| Not sure how we missed all this on our last 2 visits |
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Back outside the Lucky Pub near to the ground
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| Impressive home support |
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| It started 0-0, it finished 0-0 and if we were still playing now it would be 0-0 |
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| Passionate English support |
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| We were kept in for about 45 minutes after the final whistle but we had a good old sing song to pass the time |
Wednesday
Today we decided to see the sights that we had missed last time so we headed to first the worlds deepest underground station. Its called Arsenal and its over 105 meters deep. We then moved on to the various World War memorials and peace statues etc.
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| A view back across Kiev |
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| A peace and famine statue |
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| Mother Motherland statue |
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| Our rather posh apartment - next door to the Lucky Pub |
Congrats to your mate, what a lovely story.
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