First off, the promised night shots of Kyiv following our adventure in Chernobyl earlier in the day:
Independence SquareThe Music Hall and BridgeArch at nightLooking northward out over the DnieperSouthward, looking over the riverwatchmen’s back. I felt safe walking alone in the dark all night. I was only startled once by a stray dog, and after it came out of its shelter barking at me, I prepared to go in the other direction but it sat down on its haunches and began licking itself. So it was cool.Up at the top of the park, St. Mykhail’s Cathedral.From the riverwatchmen’s point of view. I took this shot over 10 times, experimenting with the focus and shutter exposure time. I was surprised at how much I learned about my camera. Anyway, I was finally satisfied by this one.
After, I headed back to the hostel to get a good night’s sleep before our final day in Kyiv. In the morning we woke early and got onto the metro toward the southern end of the city to see the WWII memorial park and the Motherland Statue. We got off at the same metro station as for the Lavra and began walked down that same street.
Same stretch of street as 2 days ago.Hiding on the left side of the road, this statue surprised us. I learned afterward that it is of the 4 founders of Kyiv: the brothers Kiy, Schchek and Khoriv and their sister Lybed (on right).
On our guide map there is a silhouette of something that looks like the Statue of Liberty and so we were all confused until we saw this:
The statue of the motherland. She is made of chrome nickel steel and weighs 550 tons. Including the base it stands at 102 meters. In the left hand the figure is holding a shield which is decorated with the state symbol of the USSR. In the right hand there is a sword which weighs 12 tons and is 16 meters long.Up the many stairs to the top of the hill.Finally, we reached the top.She was pretty magnificent.Turning to the right, the park held more amazing statues and a tunnel memorializing WWII.Going inside the tunnel.John pulling the trigger.Me standing at the base of a big bowl. There was an impressive view from up there.The southern view. (Right-Click for larger)The northern view: looking up at the Lavra. This made me feel as if I was in the middle ages, these amazing cathedrals on the top of the hill over looking the river and me walking toward them to finish my journey.To top it off, we got a sunny day. Staring at these towers from atop the adjacent hill made me feel great.
Then we walked to another metro station to see the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial. We saw these along the way:
Ukrainian graffiti, does it look the same?Some Kyiv Apartments
We made it to the metro and traveled to the north part to get off at Babi Yar. At our exit point metro station I finally had an experience where the language barrier really made a difference and I felt totally helpless.
The metro exited to an underground market area, like it seems to do here and we decided to walk into the store to load up on some food. I brought up the rear and was a bit behind everyone, enough for there to be a gap to allow other people to cross in between us. I turned a corner around a pillar and noticed a young woman being directed by two older men. I didn’t think of it as anything at first so I lowered my gaze, and both them and I turned to avoid each other. As I lowered my head I saw her cane and realized she was blind and then noticed that each of the men were clasping her arms tightly, one man on each side. Immediately, I looked back up and saw fear in her face. I quickly glanced at the two men’s faces as we finally passed each other and noticed subtle paranoid look in their faces. I thought, “Ask her if she needs help,” and then realized I couldn’t, as I didn’t speak Ukrainian, and I didn’t even know how to say it in Russian.” So I just stood there. And did nothing. Then I followed my friends and asked them about it, but as it was purely my intuition that interpreted the encounter, I had no proof they just let it go. Although, it still bothered me it was at this point too late to do anything. So I spent the rest of my day bothered, and embarrassed of my inaction, trying to justify what happened with “intuition is flawed.” I guess this is how people get away with stuff in front of crowds of people.
But we made it to the Holocaust memorial. I didn’t know about 30,000 Jews were killed here in WWII and buried in mass graves, underneath where this monument stands.
A radio tower just next to the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial.Babi Yar monumentFrom the topside.
Then we made our way over to a cemetery across the street, unrelated to the Holocaust. A pleasant surprise walked toward us on the way.
Hey! A Rhodesian Ridgeback. It’s the third one I’ve seen since coming to Russia.The cemetery. Can you tell what the major religion is over here? It was a bit disappointing, as it wasn’t as interesting as some really old graveyards in England or someplace like that.
After this we headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff, eat a quick dinner, and board our train home.
Politicians, we think, were speaking at Independence Square as there is an election soon. At first I thought it was a communist revolution and got excited. It quickly became dull so we left.Our final dinner at “Pizzahta Hahta”The Kyiv train station.Our train arriving. It whistled at me.
We boarded the train and as usual, I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have preferred. But we made it back and that’s what counts.
Unfortunately, we got a late start (around noon) because we were all out cold for the whole night and morning. But at least we felt well rested for the long day. The weather was a bit eerie with fog steadily dropping as the day progressed.
Sofia’s Cathedrals were first on our list.
Once inside, we decided to visit the museum before entering the main cathedral. There was also a bakery and a living quarters building.
An amber museum. Apparently they made amber here at this religious site once upon a time.
Then we entered the cathedral.
Looking down from the second floor balcony.Walking around the right side of the balcony to catch a different angle.It was now time to climb the bell tower.From the first level of the tower I looked back into the grounds and got Sofia’s Cathedral.Turning to the right, this yellow building that bordered a side of the square looked quite stately.Now looking down from the 2nd level back into the grounds. For some reason, looking back at this photo on my computer gives me vertigo.A little more to the left we see the amber museum.Now the 3rd level. Vandals destroyed some of the protective caging, or maybe it was so one could take better photos.Down the street we see Mykhail’s Cathedral. This section of the street was the main drag in the 18th century.The group of 5 down in the bottom right is our group minus me. They didn’t want to go up the tower. At least we got to take photos of each other.There was one more set of stairs leading up to the dome level but it was blocked off and I didn’t feel like risking arrest.I didn’t notice I was holding the camera upside down for this shot and it screws up my sense of vertical when I view it. Makes me imagine I’ve just swung over the railing and am going to shoot myself down through the middle—except my feet seem to still be on the ground.All those stairs, 176-180 in all. I lost count because I descended faster than I could count. The lowest level in this photo is actually the first level above the ground.Bells! It couldn’t be a proper bell tower without these. Three men were setting up a Carillon to the right of these bells, like the one in the Berkeley Campanili.
After rejoining the rest of the group they wanted to grab something to eat. Clearly, they did not visit the grocery store the previous night to buy breakfast for each morning. Muesli with yogurt and a double-decker egg & cheese sandwich (3 slices bread 2 eggs) is my daily breakfast of choice while here. Plus the banana for consumption approximately 2.5-3 hours after breakfast, and then the poppyseed bun or blackberry roll (as was the case today) for consumption approximately 2 hours after the banana. We cannot forget the small sips of water…
Anyway, going inside Мистер Снек (phonetically Mister Snack) was rewarding in itself as I saw this:
Avatar! The first advertisement I’ve seen over here. There have been none yet in Russia and it worries me.
I grabbed a small sandwich and postponed my banana consumption for later, namely because the sandwich was called “Smiley” sandwich and the Smiley emoticon is some favorite symbol of Kyiv. It was mentioned a lot and we saw it on the walls of different places.
Afterward we split up and the group I was in went to the Golden Gate, which was very similar to the one in Vladimir, but it lacked a corny diorama. But the interesting history made up for it.
The Golden Gate and plaza in front. Oh, that cat is made out of plastic forks. I have no idea why.
We learned that it was built to be the main ceremonial entrance to Kyiv in 1037, during Grand Prince Yaroslav’s rule. It also served as a fortification tower. In the 18th century, to preserve the gate from further dilapidation, it was completely covered with earth. In the 19th century it was uncovered and strengthened to preserve it as a monument.
The actual gate part.Archer holes. Luckily no invaders were shooting at us from below as we were unarmed and Chris was preoccupied with his camera.
Then we walked down what was supposedly a street that had been preserved in 19th century architecture and left alone by Soviet rule.
I can’t tell if these chimeras are holding the window up or hanging from it.
This was probably the most interesting thing we saw. So we cut the walk short and headed back to the metro.
The national opera house. We were lucky enough to walk past it as we headed to the metro to get to the Lavra.Upon exiting the metro car at Dnipro station, we were greeted by this foggy view over the Dnieper River.I guess we can complain about some Americans not being patriotic. After all, some of us don’t paint our cars, or our subways, red white & blue.We then proceeded to walk down the right side of this street to arrive at the Kyevo-Pechers’ka Lavra so our morbid fascination with seeing dead priests could be satiated.
The Ukrainians are really friendly. While we were double checking our map on the street level of the station a random man walked up to us and asked if we needed any help. He then gave us excellent directions to the Lavra.
Our turn off for the Lavra brought us back a couple centuries in the past.We made it. Inside the lower Lavra area we wondered how large this monastery center was.
In 1051 Reverend Anthony settled in this area and dug himself a cave. Foods and liquids were brought to him and he resided inside the cave for 40 years. As more people visited him he wanted more seclusion and dug himself another set of caves on the adjacent hill. Eventually, these caves grew into tunnels and served as a burial spot for priests and other religious persons for over 700 years, with Anthony being buried there first. We were allowed to go inside and see their tombs.
The entrance to the tombs.
We descended with candles in hand, the only light inside the tunnels. The bodies were horizontal and in glass cases with clothes on and their heads covered with a cloth. Some hands were exposed and they were totally black with what could have been skin still on the skeleton. The tourist part was rather short so I suggested we venture back and walk through the “for prayers” only section. It was indeed much longer and after a while I realized it was all basically the same deal. Except in this section, people would cross themselves and bend over to kiss the cases, yuck. Apparently, some priest guided Natalie back to the main entrance saying she wasn’t allowed in the prayer section, but then Chris met up with her and together they walked back through to the exit. No one bugged me though. We sort of split up in the small maze of tunnels. I let my imagination roam free and for a few moments I had some fun walking down an empty black corridor with my candle flickering, threatening to die. But there were too many people for any real fun to be had; I wasn’t able to lose my sense of direction and engender a claustrophobic or lost feeling—not that I would want to be shoved into a pitch black box and sent on a train across Sibera or anything like that.
We then decided to walk to the upper parts of the Lavra and see how large this place was.
I got me a lamp shot. Not enough fog though. Anyway, this is what I call the midsection of the Lavra.These amazing buttresses separated the outer and inner walls of the upper Lavra.We turned a corner and BAM! This magnificent cathedral was all we could see, its domes challenging the fog’s descent.It even had a bell tower that seemed to diminish the one at Sofia’s earlier. But that could have been an effect of the fog. I was convinced this place wouldn’t look half as amazing without this fog; but I really like fog.The other side of the cathedral. Actually, it consisted of many different, entirely separate rooms. We couldn’t figure out how to get inside the main worship room (it was probably the center door but no one else was entering so we didn’t press our luck. I ducked into the leftmost room to follow other people, who were dressed nicely, doing the same.A wedding! The bride dressed in white is standing in the center. I pretended like I was part of the party and snapped this photo after seeing the hired photographers doing the same. I don’t think I blended in that well though; I think they probably just didn’t care.Another shot of the bell tower. I loved the fog. It made this whole place look really awesome. Plus there was a slight mist which only increased the awesomeness.This bell is as tall as I am, and more than twice as wide.On the side of the huge cathedral stood another churchlike building. I love the windows. If I build a palace, it’s going to have windows like these.
Anyway, the rest of the doors on the main cathedral led to one room exhibitions. We decided to enter one. It seemed to be a memorial of the priests and displayed their pictures and garments.
Nice hat. I guess it pays well to be a priest in the Ukraine.Or maybe not. It looks like they take the hats after death for museum purposes.
Tired, and all museumed out for the day, we headed back towards the main part of town.
After walking all the way back to Kreshatik we decided to walk along its sidewalk for a bit before heading to an inexpensive cafe. While this is the sidewalk it doubles as a parking lot for cars. Yes, I was almost hit by this suv, but it was going pretty slow.
The dinner was good and cheap. It was about half the price as the equivalent cafeteria style restaurant in Moscow. The name of the restaurant here in Kyiv is pronounced “Puhzzahta Hahta.” In Moscow, the equivalent is called Mu-Mu.
Feeling very full we walked back to the hostel to get a good night’s sleep for our exciting journey arranged for the morning.
About three weeks ago we decided to go to Kyiv, one week later. But then Chris accidently bought the tickets for the following week and so we had to wait. But on the night of Wednesday 18th of November 2009, we boarded a Russian train and tried to sleep our way to Kyiv.
The Moscow Kievskaya train station. Moscow has individual train stations for each major city to which it sends trains.The inside of the Kievskaya station (Kievskaya is adjective form of Kiev). Yes, that is a hammer & sickle on the center of the back wall.
It was difficult to sleep as we passed through 2 border controls which took about 30 minutes each and occurred around 2 am and 5 am. So I didn’t get much sleep.
I’m awake in the middle of the night on a train in the middle of nowhere. But at least there’s snow!Kyiv! We made it! By the way, the word starting with a “Y” on the right of that billboard spells “Ukraine.” The ї = и (Russian) = i (Roman)
My built-up excitement fueled my adrenaline which powered me through the day.
Let me just say before any further that Kyiv is most definitely, most certainly, without a doubt, 100%, hands down, my favorite of favorite places that we have visited here. It is beautiful. But more than that, it’s comfortable to walk around and explore. Moscow is too big to do this, and so while I am oriented in Moscow by the metro system, I have no idea how to get from one place to another by walking. In Kyiv, one can walk all over the central part of the city and walk down Kreshatik (great street) and not feel overwhelmed like in Moscow. The streets are a more manageable size and so seem more comfortable to walk alongside (you can see what’s on the other side).
On a side note, (that had nothing to do with how much I liked the city whatsoever–maybe a little), the women are gorgeous. We were all stunned. The entire time. Everywhere we looked. I’m not saying Russian women aren’t pretty, just that, wow. And guess what, one can buy one and bring her home, as was advertised all over our tourist guide map. This is actually quite sad and while I read that the government in Belarus is trying to shut this industry down, I haven’t researched yet if Ukraine is doing the same. It’s possible they have, because all of the internet sites attached to the ads didn’t work (it was a little outdated), which is a good thing (of course we tried the websites, we were laughing about how absurd the whole thing was and didn’t believe that the ads were actually real).
On a more serious note, there’s one major difference between the women in Moscow and those in Kyiv: use of high heels. In Moscow, every girl, woman, female toddler (not really), wears high heels all the time. It has gotten to the point where it seems absurd. And most of the population look quite fake, ungenuine, and uncomfortable. In Kyiv, it did not seem as mandatory of a cultural rule. And so their women seemed more natural and comfortable, because they dressed more by choice.
Alright, moving on…some of our travel buddies were hungry so after dropping our stuff off at the hostel, some of us dropped into a Coffee House to fuel-up. I came prepared with breakfast on the train: yogurt, cereal, poppyseed bun. But I got a sandwich and a strawberry shake so I wouldn’t be hungry later.
My sister would be ashamed of me leaving this unfinished strawberry smoothie and whipped cream. But the milk here is weird. They put odd preservatives in it that make it taste funny (terrible) to me.
Then we went to see the city.
The National Music Hall, for performances.A treble clef on the patio out front.
And turning around…
Independence square. Our hostel was about 400 ft down the road in the top right of this photo.Now I’m standing on top of the bridge area looking back at the Music Hall. Cool Clock eh?Roof of the main mall in Kyiv. All of their malls are underground. Usually, they are underneath main intersections and continue underneath the adjoining streets.Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)Ukraine Hotel. It was on the left of the panorama.
Then we headed out the other side of the square and up the hill. Esther in Moscow told us that we miss half the city by not going into the courtyards of apartment complexes alongside the road so we decided to start venturing into them and chose our first.
Inside of a courtyard, apartment area.
It wasn’t that exciting, but in a simple way it was pleasing.
The top of the street opened up to Mykhailivs’ka square. It’s kinda fun imitating statues.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the other side of the square.
And those who oppose the current government:
Communists! We dared not get any closer as we didn’t want to get hurt.
We then headed towards the river to look out over the hill.
This is a cable train that we could take to get down and up the hill. We didn’t take it but it looked fun.I think here it was sealed that this was my favorite city thus far.Overlooking the Dnieper RiverAnd the panorama of the entire view.We turned around and walked back toward Mykhail’s Cathedral. It looked very pretty amidst the trees.We then walked through the park back toward our hostel and found this giant arch which lights up in rainbow colors at night.The entrance to our hostel.The hostel is 4 windows up. The room where I slept is the window with the satellite next to it. I slept on the top bunk just to the right of the window.After visiting the hostel and picking up the rest of our group who had decided to nap we went out again to see the city. This is the southern side of the park from earlier with another bridge over the Dnieper.Kyiv has beaches!A cool entrance to what above reads “Antiquary.”The most racist thing we’ve seen. A Jewish restaurant with a Jewish statue counting his money. And something about a bear.After getting sort of lost in the part of Kyiv that was visible in the panorama overlooking the Dnieper (the part close to the river), we headed toward the hill-range and found this church on the way.This is Andreevsky Street. It has been preserved in an 18th century time period and was wonderful to walk up. It totally transported us back in time.It had this cool statue too that made for fun photos. It reads the dudes name below.Farther up the road an incredible old bus sat.Someone over here has good taste in brands.Almost to the top. Along the sides of this road paintings and other souvenirs were for sale.
Finally, at the top:
Andreevsky Spusk. Unfortunately, the government had let it dilapidate too much before they decided to restore it so we were unable to go inside as it is being renovated.
Plus, blue skies. This day was the first time many of us had seen the sun in about a month. To tell the truth I hadn’t really noticed until this day. I guess I just forgot about it and so it didn’t bother me. Then we headed over to this big cathedral that stuck out over the top of the city. Actually, it was a bell tower for the cathedral.
Days are short now. This is about 4:30 pm and is a preview of Sophie’s Cathedral. We visit it tomorrow.I realized I hadn’t taken any photos of police yet in Moscow. Some drive cars like this with a little different color scheme. The car is a Lada, Russian made.
Finally, we decided to head home. But on the way:
The other side of St. Mykhail’s at night.This globe stood in Independence Square and while we missed it during daytime, we couldn’t miss it at night once illuminated. Some teenagers were hanging out to the left of it. Most of the young folk seemed to loiter around the squares and sidewalks of Kreshatik Street. It made for a very friendly atmosphere.
After getting rather filling pizzas for $3 a piece we walked 20 more ft to the turn in for our hostel for an early night as all of us were wiped.
