Kyiv's suburbs

Day five: arrival in Kyiv. We pull in at 9:30am and are welcomed at the station by a Ukrainian friend, who takes us to the flat of an American friend, where we will be staying until Wednesday. Kyiv is beautiful, but the outskirts are like any post-Soviet city: miles of slightly crumbling, anonymous apartment blocks. Still, the area is leafy, with easy access to 'Dreamtown', Ukraine's largest shopping mall (what more could you want?). It is also very hot and sunny, although starts to pour with rain at night; the Ukrainians blame us for bringing the weather with us.