We went to Ivano-Frankivsk for the weekend. Saturday was Igor’s 10 year university reunion. It was our first real, long distance road trip in the car. Friday we drove the 600 kilometers in exactly 8 hours. All was fine. Coming back today the same 600 km took 10.5 hours – an extra 40 minutes due to a couple of wrong turns in 2 cities along the way, but a solid extra 2 hours to go the last 70 kilometers into Kyiv – the entire city seemed to be returning along with us on one freakin’ two-lane road. It was a nightmare. My legs hurt so bad from the start-and-stop traffic, and my shoulders are killing me.
At about the 500-km mark we were seriously discussing making the same trip next week for the three-day weekend. As we pulled up to our apartment building I told Igor I had reconsidered and I don’t want to do any driving for the foreseeable future.
We had a great time in Ivano-Frankivsk, though. I really enjoyed meeting Igor’s university classmates. He got more than a little tipsy and very sentimental, which I thought was really cute. I’ll write more about it later, right now I want a stiff drink and a massage.
Anka in Kyiv 