Day 6, May 3 - Sumy rest day

Managed to sleep in until 9.30h and then had breakfast with Alex. At 11.00h, we jumped into a matrushka and headed down to Sumy's fantastic city park. One thing about former communist countries is that they generally have put western countries to shame in the quality of public spaces like parks. Whereas in the west, the land would mostly be auctioned off to obtain high property tax rates, cities like Sumy have acres and acres of green space in the heart of the city. Sumy, in particular, has a gently flowing river throughout the park, which is dotted with little cafes and kiosks selling the locally crafted brews and varieties of salt fish products to much down on.




We, plus Alex's friend Evgeny, spent a comfortable afternoon whiling away the time watching passers-by and chatting in Rusglish and Ukglish. Later on that evening, we all were invited to Evgeny's family's dacha for dinner.Arriving around 6.30, we sat down to a sumptuous feast of Ukrainian potatoes, cabbage salad, BBQ sausages and onions, along with the ubiquitous dark bread. Shortly thereafter, the vodka was brought out and the first of the 16 toasts began. Things get a little bit blurry here, but I remember having to come up with some dandies and may have borrowed a line or two from Celine Dion or Bryan Adams ... at least no one caught on! Someone may have produced a Russian submachine gun too ...