| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 11:24 AM UTC
would be happy to suggest couple places if you tell me your preferences and your spending limits :)
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 11:28 AM UTC
We like normal, non-touristy places with normal prices, not necessarily on the main drag.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 11:38 AM UTC
there is a very nice Indian restaurant called Himalaya on Khreshatyk. it's centrally located, authentic food, and prices are reasonable ($20, main course with a starter and a glass of vine). they have a terrace which would great to sit at weather permitting.
there is Il Patio, an italian spot, on Besarabska and Podil. there are several ukrainian eateries like Puzata Khata or Zdorovenky Buly, very low budget, but still good ukrainian home-style food. could be crowded though :(
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 11:39 AM UTC
Hello,
Yes, we are just easy going .. for this meeting a place would be nice where we as tourists/travellers usually wouldn't go.
Anyway we are open to almost all suggestions. It should be a place where conversations are possible, so not too loud music.
Thnaks for your help
HORSCHECK
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:08 PM UTC
Darn, will arrive Budapest June 16... oh well, I am in the wrong part of the world than. But it looks, will stay for a while in Hungary and can travel.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:14 PM UTC
...oh that's really a pity....it would be just great to meet one of the most famous train experts of VT. *winkygrin*
HORSCHECK
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:52 PM UTC
Bookmark
Will also try to contact Dialing.
i'll let you know
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 03:43 PM UTC
Shame that our train expert is not close enough! I have heaps of train tickets at home from my Russian travels etc. I just cannot throw them away.
BTW, we will travel from Kosice to Poprad and High Tatry and back to Kosice and then to Lviv and Kiev by train. Were thinking of buying the tickets as we go. Do you have any idea what carriages the direct day train Kosice - Lviv has and the approx. cost? Dep. is something after 7 am and arrival in Lviv around 7 pm.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 04:09 PM UTC
If this train (Kosice - L'viv) is originating furher west the cariages might be some kind of the "Western" type (they do not add the best ones to the trains towards UA) but if the train is originating in Kosice you may expect normal "kupeiny" which I personally prefer as long as I am able to avoid to use the toilet. They are clearly more convenient otherwise. For people of a length of 180 cm and more it is advisable to ask for the lower berths since they are 15 cm longer than the upper ones - and you can store all your luggage completely safe in the bunk below your berth. But I think all who ever travelled on (post)Soviet trains know that.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 04:17 PM UTC
a one way ticket from Kyiv to Kosice costs 337 UAH (around $67). they couldn't tell me how much it would be from Lviv, so I decided not not to ask the other way aroud ;)
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 04:23 PM UTC
Sorry. I see that the train is doing it under daytime. In this case you may be sitting most of the time and in this case all western carriages are better to sit than the (post) Soviet ones. And it is worth to do this ride sitting because most of it is passing a very picrturesque landscape (the Carpathians) - and you may see many old perfectly preserved Austrian railway stations on the way (these nice buildings hve been preserved in Austria unfortunately only in a very few cases). In general can be stated that the railways in Ukraine are far worse with respect to the quality of the tracks (bumpy!) and the rolling material as compared to Western European standards but SUPERB in terms of the often carefully restored and almost always perfectly clean railway stations completely without all those drunk and annoying people which make every minute on most larger railway stations in "Western" Europe so disgusting.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 04:31 PM UTC
Ticket prices. Check whether your train stops long enough in the Ukrainian frontier station Chop. If it is long enough just buy a ti9cketto Cierna nad Tisou (the Slovak frontier station) and buy the continuing ticket a few minutes further on in Chop in Ukraine.Within Ukraine it is always much cheaper than a cross-border ticket. If it happens that you will asked for a ticket on the few minutes between Cienra nad Tisou and Chop buy it right from the ticket collector or tip him/her with one dollar if he/she starts argueing - or hide somewhere.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:16 PM UTC
> BTW, we will travel from Kosice to Poprad and High Tatry
> and back to Kosice and then to Lviv and Kiev by train.
> Were thinking of buying the tickets as we go. Do you
> have any idea what carriages the direct day train
> Kosice - Lviv has and the approx. cost? Dep. is
> something after 7 am and arrival in Lviv around 7 pm.
The train looks like this:
http://www.vlaky.net/servis/radenie.asp?lang=1&id=510
As far as costs: how many are you together? Could happen, a CITY-STAR Ukraina is jut what you need, buy it in Slovakia (Kosice) all the way to last station you plan to visit. The price is the same and does not depends on the distance. I have to double-check it but it was very inexpensive.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:27 PM UTC
Thanks there is two of us but we only need it one way as we are flying out of Kiev. And from Lviv to Kiev we will travel by night train. I don't need the exact fare. Thanks to Olya we have know an idea which is fine, so we know who much local Slovak cash we need.
Thanks Yuri, Olya and Lothar
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:34 PM UTC
Looking at the train it seems we need to buy 2nd class sleeper (kupe) as the sitting carriages only go to Chop and besides it's better for the view if there is a side corridor.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:37 PM UTC
I see from the train website that only the blue-yellow Ukrainian carriagea contiue into Ukraine. So be aware to be in one of these carriages latest in Cierna!
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:44 PM UTC
Since there are no "Western" carriages doing the Ukrainian part it may be an economic idea to buy in Chop a ticket in the "Platzkart" category (half the price of the kupeiny) and to enjoy this way the view through teh (dirty) windows on both sides.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 05:49 PM UTC
Hold on, I am still browsing for the CT-S info, I have the international ticket prices ex-Slovakia but want to get more exact data. CT-S is always a roundtrip, so if it happens that it's cheaper one-way than anything else you have the "Rückfahrt" for free do you want it or not. But it's open at this moment ist it worth or not to buy all tickets in Slovakia.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:26 PM UTC
I think I got the CT-S prices. It seem to be 75 Euro for the first person and half of it for the next one(s), thus the base ticket total is between 57 and 60 Euro/Person from any station in Slovakia to any station in Ukraina. This is a r/t price.
The price of internationally issued tickets can be traced on www.jizdenka.cz. It gives prices as they are being seen in Czech Republic, not Slovakia but the Ukrainian (as well as Russian if it does matter for anyone) is exact on Cent. The best is to look from Cierna nad Tisou; I got Cierna nad Tisou-->Kiev 24.60 one-way in the second class (this excludes the sleeper reservation, which is about 15 Euro).
Obviously it is not worth to buy CT-S just to get from Cierna to Kiev but for travel beyond Kiev and from Bratislava it's good. The Ukrainian domestic in plackart is for sure much cheaper - but once you get the 3-bed or 4-bed sleeper it could become interesting.
Remark:
I have suspect that the CT-S price is not correct because Slovakia-Ukraina-Russia is 100 Euro. So maybe the base price is about 50 (I recall someone bought it for roughly that amount) - but Drehscheibe-Online is now Offline, so assume it's 75.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:26 PM UTC
Frankly, I don't really want to leave the train if I don't have to. After all we still have to do the border formalities somewhere. If there is boogy changing that would be an experience for Horscheck as I don't think he has ever experienced it so far. And I think I'm happy to pay kupe if I have cleaner windows or even one that open to take pictures. I travelled lots of Platzkartni in Russia and you can't really see anything or take decent pictures out of the windows as there will be people sitting where normally the aisle is.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:27 PM UTC
And what kind of currency is there in Chop? I won't have UAH Grivnas until Lviv and I also won't have Hungarian money.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:29 PM UTC
There is no Kupejnyj on Dukla from Slovakia, only RIC, that means you will be proably together in a regular-looking RIC sleeper. These trains aren't booked full, so most likelely no one will be there as third person. T4 sleepers are from Tschop only.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:30 PM UTC
Thanks very much! I call you Yuri as I don't know your name :)) and Yuri is part of your nick name.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:32 PM UTC
UAH only, of course. If you buy your sleeper from Kosice or from Poprad you won't need to worry about money, otherwise you will need to change it as you arrive in Chop. If you arrive at inconvenient time (like the train from Bp arrives) or weekend: all changesrs are either closed or charge very high comission because they know, you have no choice.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:32 PM UTC
Ah yes, once I travelled in such a 3 people compartment from Kiev to Berlin via Poland, a most interesting journey with all the cigarette smuggling that was going on.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:34 PM UTC
Thanks, Yuri was the Russian version but it's not correct either. Only Inga can pronounce it, it's tongue-twisting really.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:35 PM UTC
Ha, we heared about these. They often put the cigarettes behind the train walls, so customs sometimes removes the walls.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:39 PM UTC
Customs took our compartment apart but there was nothing but everywhere else. I wouldn't have let them put any cigs in my compartment anyway I would have been too scared.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:45 PM UTC
I got finally the exact price for CT-S, the base price is 73.4 € for the first person and for two it's 110.1 €, this you pay 55 Euro from any station in Slovakia to any station in Ukraina and back pro person.
It means of course if you buy it in Bratislava you ravel till or Poprad for free. Just calculate what is worth for you. BTW: according the reports there is almost nothing going on the trains to/from Hungary, Serbia on Tisza and Slovakia on Dukla (regarding cigarettes), the smugglers use other ways of transport, this one is too inconvenient for them. So you will be most likely OK.
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| Kiev |
Re: International meeting on 7th June Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 06:47 PM UTC
Sorry for typo, I mean "travel till Kosice or Poprad for free"
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