Well hello guys I am in Kishinev! I've been saying it wrong for so many weeks
now and it's embarrassing and who knows maybe I'm still stating it wrong, maybe
that's just how they pronounce it here because you know different languages
pronounce things differently. But anyways I just wanted to take you guys on a
little tour, it'll kind of be my own first impressions as well since I just
did a little bit of a walk around yesterday and I'll also be going to a -
or office because I want to see if I can book something to take me on a little
excursion of the wineries here which I heard are absolutely phenomenal even
though I've technically known this for years it has really become clear to me
on this trip how amazing certain countries are that you just never hear
anything about especially being in you know North America in Canada basically
all our media ever talks about is like well ourselves obviously in the States
and you know the big powers of Europe maybe Australia and you just don't
really hear anything about these little countries that kind of keep to
themselves that don't have as much global power and a lot of people never
even think of coming here so I'm really glad that I decided to you know come see
some of these places really not knowing that much about them and being so
pleasantly surprised and now even better I get to share it with you guys and just
before we get going I also wanted to give you guys a little tour of this
amazing apartment that I am staying in here and just like Bucharest
I booked it on Airbnb which I really can't say enough good things about I
will actually put a link down below if you don't already have an account which
I'm sure most of you probably do but in case you don't if you use this link you
can get some money off of your first trip I will get some money off my next
trip so it's a win-win sort of situation alright so when you first enter the
apartment we have the little clothing and shoe
rack area and so cute I decided to make my own makeup and hair rack so I always
have a mirror that I can work with and just behind us here is the washroom
which is really nice like I think this place must have been newly renovated
because everything is just brand spanking new and in really good
condition so coming into the living area we've got a lovely couch
a TV which I have not watched the local networks yet we have a dining area as
well as the most beautiful little kitchen I think this is so well designed
I love that there's a washing machine right here we've got a fridge and I love
the design of this kitchen and it has everything I need as well as even my own
vineyard so fresh grates whatever I want and then over here we have a super
spacious bedroom which is so light and so Airy yeah I am just super super
impressed because here's what I didn't tell you guys is that I am paying twenty
three Canadian dollars for this whole apartment and the other really great
thing about this apartment is that it's actually right near the city center I
literally walk two minutes onto the main sort of street in Kishinev and
everything is accessible to me like where we'll be going today is literally
all within a half-hour radius of this apartment so it's perfectly located and
has everything I need there's a grocery store literally across the street so I
am a happy camper so I also just wanted to give you guys
an idea of how much groceries cost here because it is pretty
amazing and keep in mind that a lot of these things here are technically luxury
items such as things from the deli which will always cost more because they're
pre-made or like chocolate or alcohol and stuff so to give you guys an idea
this detergent right here was a dollar I'm probably not gonna use it all since
I'm obviously only here for about a week but for a dollar that's not a problem
over here we have one of my favorite salads Olivia and this was a hundred
grams for 12 Moldovian lace so that's a dollar we have some good eh chica some
buckwheat and this was 300 grams for five lay so basically 50 Cent's we have
300 grams of vinegar yet for a dollar we have my favorite cakes metonic for a
dollar we have some local beer which I thought it would be fun to try also a
dollar I believe these bananas were like 30 cents we have some chocolates which
I'm sure we're each under a dollar this was literally like 30 cents just some
cookies to go with tea some silky which is kind of like a sweet breakfast thing
that they have once again probably like 50 cents each we have some yen thawed
which is like this cheese spread that you put on bread probably a dollar the
bread itself was 50 cents I got some so hideki which is pretty much the Eastern
European version of chips and both of these also under a dollar and here we go
the grand finale the most expensive thing that I bought in my whole haul was
this instant oatmeal and I think it's got like seven packets which will last
me for a good long time and it was three dollars
so here we are by one of the oldest statues in the city which is of Pushkin
who's a very famous Russian author and he actually lived in Moldova for about 3
years when he was in exile from Russia
so here we are in the second part guys the two parts are basically kind of side
by side on opposite sides of the street the one that we were just in is of stuff
on the grate and this one is the Cathedral Park because as you guessed it
there is a large Cathedral in the park
so you guys I just finished up at the tourism office
it's called visit Moldova for anybody who's interested and they do have a
really good reputation and the lady that I talked to was super nice and I
understand why things are the way they are but for me to go on a tour tomorrow
of the winery and she said they always combine it with this one other
attraction because I'm going by myself it was a hundred and ninety five euros
that's like three hundred and fifty dollars like that is so steep for a
country that you know the trolley bus cost twenty cents and I get a whole load
of groceries for fifteen dollars so I don't know if it's a crazy upsell or it
is just that expensive because I'm by myself but either way I'm obviously not
going to do it but the thing is I did read online that if you want to do it as
the locals do it and you don't have a car there is some kind of local bus that
goes to the city pretty Cova which is I think a half-hour ride out of kishinev
and then from there it's about a fifteen minute walk to the wineries so I don't
know maybe I'll attempt to do that but then once again my worry is that if I
get out there and I'm stranded without internet and
what if I can find the bus home and how do I get a taxi or any of that kind of
stuff so I'll have to see how the day goes and maybe I can just ask some
locals how they would recommend to do that sort of thing so here we have the
National Opera Theatre which looks really cool and if I had more time I
would definitely take in the show and over here I read online that they have
an artisan bazaar of some local souvenirs lots of handicraft so I'm
gonna check it out
alright guys so I just had a nice lunch and the area where we are now is
actually called piata central which is the Central Market so I kind of came
down here yesterday and it's really cool because it's a much more traditional and
local sort of market so let's check it out
all right guys I am home and it has been a really good day I really enjoyed
myself and I'm quite tired actually to be honest I feel like I walked a lot
today but I did want to let you guys know that I think I am going to attempt
to get to the winery that's outside of town tomorrow and I kind of figured out
how I would do that walking around the bus station today but I'm still not a
hundred percent sure so I'm probably gonna go there with plenty of time to
spare and ask people for help so hopefully that will go smoothie so
hopefully that will go smoothly and I'll actually probably vlog a little bit of
it so you guys can check it out but the other thing that I just wanted to show
you is that I went to the store today and I bought a couple of wines the first
of which is from one of the most well known brands here is called molesty me
see and my grandma and I was talking to her on skype about a week ago told me
that this is like the wine that she used to drink in her youth from here so I
thought I would pick up a bottle for her so we can have it when I get to Kiev and
this bottle was one of their like nicer bottles and it was about a hundred lace
so maybe eight dollars something like that so I got that for my grandma and
then I got a cheap bottle for myself for the next couple of days it's from the
winery that I'll be going to tomorrow which is called Creek OVA and it's a cap
table I believe and this was about 40 lei so three dollars very nice it's not
really a wasted if I only drink half of this because I really am trying to like
not drink so much even though I'm on vacation but it's just so hard when
you're in Europe and alcohol costs as much as bottled water and here in
moldova and romania they have really good wine and really good beer so it's
like why not have a try with lunch why not have a drink with
supper and before you know it you're drinking every day and that's just
that's just not good so I think once I kind of leave Moldova here I won't be
drinking quite as much for the sake of my own health but anyways I hope you
guys enjoyed today and I will see you tomorrow
those things
maybe shaken but not stirred just listen
and so it goes tables
I