Zhenia was able to get us our own sleeping compartment. He stayed next door. The compartment is very small. Four beds - 2 bottom, 2 top - and very little room to move around. Also extremely hot. We have learned that Ukrainians do not like to be cold!
The top bunks hold two sets of a mattress, sheets, wool blanket and pillow rolled up together. So in this very small space with four people in it, you must make 4 beds. It is remarkably well arranged. We were able to get all of our luggage (which is considerable with 4 of us) stowed out of the way (the bottom 2 bunks lift up for storage). So once the beds were made, we locked the door and tried to sleep.
The girls have never been on a train before. Cliff and I took trains from DC to Philadelphia and NYC before but not overnight. I did do an overnight train from Rome to Brussels when I was in college. So no one slept very well. Just so different! And hot! And exciting!
We arrived in our city about 6:30am, got breakfast at McDonalds (because it was open) and arrived at the hotel. Fortunately for us, the hotel is near the orphanage. Our room is quite small - about 1/3 the size of the flat - and being a hotel, we have no kitchen facility. Zhenia also says he is having trouble finding a flat for rent, so we may be "stuck" in the hotel for a while. Not great, but there is a cafe down the street with "not so bad" borscht (Zhenia says he makes better), and the grocery is an easy walk. What we don't have is internet, so our updates will be less frequent.
We rest from our trip and prepare for tomorrow. We must be ready to leave at 8am to meet the Inspector.
Oh, and there is more snow here than in Kiev. Snowing lightly all day. The girls are in heaven!
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