Today was a bit foreshortened because of my ankle. A brief trip down to Maidan and then by Metro over to the main Kiev train station was about all I could handle. After that I hobbled back to the apartment for a bit of rest and stretching exercises, both of which seemed to help quite a bit.

I’ve seen a big train station in person before (London), and this one in Kiev is very much in line with that. Think of New York’s Grand Central Station, only a bit smaller and with more people; that’s Kiev. There was some of that great old classic train architecture in the main building, and then some nice modern stuff in the auxiliary.

Although most of the train station was surrounded by industrial type structures, oddly out of place across from the newer building was a church. It looked newer that most of the other ones I’ve been seeing, at least from the outside; inside it had the same ornate and highly decorated interior as the others.

Despite the short day, it ended on a rather nice note. As most readers probably know, my company has a working relationship with some Ukrainian developers, and it is only natural to get to know some of your work counterparts on the other side of the world. I have been Skyping with one of these guys for a while, and since he lives in Kiev, we made arrangements to get together this evening. I’m always a little hesitant about such things, but Vladimir turned out to be a very nice and very funny guy. It was a great evening. I had a nice Ukrainian beer (my first ever, because I’m just not a big alcohol consumer), we talked for a couple hours, and then he even helped me get a taxi so I wouldn’t have to walk twenty minutes in the rain. I’ve had some very nice evenings during my trips to Ukraine, and this one definitely ranks high on the list.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Kiev, and the plan is to visit the Great Patriotic War Monument and Museum. I’ve taken a couple pictures of the monument already, because it is huge and visible from multiple places in Kiev. Tomorrow I should be able to get an up close look.

I don’t know what it is about the climate in Kiev — or, given my other visits, all of Ukraine — but I am always hot and sucking down fluids. I know that Ukraine is about 5 degrees further north in latitude than Oregon, and it’s much further inland, but I am always surprised by how dehydrated I am when I visit. I’m even more surprised that no one else is. I will occasionally see people walking around with water bottles, but that is definitely the exception. And while I have preferred wearing shorts (not that it helps all that much with staying cooler), adults here almost never wear shorts outside. I’ve only seen a handful of men or women in shorts, and from the looks I observe when walking the streets, people are decidedly puzzled to see me in such a state. Maybe I just seem too dignified for shorts-wearing.

Wearing shorts can be a bit of a hindrance for the visitor in Kiev, particularly if said visitor has come to view the city’s many, many churches. There are rules, and shorts for both sexes is a no-no. I’ve tried to be respectful of that, although I did get chastised yesterday for sitting in the vestibule of one church with my legs crossed. Oops.

I’ve also been a bit hamstrung these past couple days because it appears I have pulled my Achilles tendon. I think that after walking up and down — mostly up, it has felt like — some of Kiev’s wildly picturesque and utterly uneven cobblestone streets, I think I just overextended that darn tendon. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem at home, where I could get around to most places by car; but in Kiev, walking is definitely a principal of getting around. (Have I mentioned that, like Rome, Kiev was built on seven hills? I’m pretty sure I’ve been up all of them now…)

Although getting around has been a bit harder, it hasn’t been impossible, and so yesterday I found myself at one of Kiev’s two botanical gardens. This was the larger of the two, the National Botanical Gardens. I had seen pictures of the smaller one, so I had a certain expectation in mind. As it was, I came away a little disappointed. It was OK, but I couldn’t help but compare it both to the pictures and to the Kew Botanical Gardens in London, and unfortunately Kiev came out the loser. I am sure that both places have their merits, but I just liked Kew a bit better.

The trip to and from the gardens, though, couldn’t have been easier. There is a bus that goes from a nearby Metro station to right there. Sure, it took a bit of time, and buses in Ukraine are almost always full (and not always with people that possess he best grooming habits, if you know what I mean), but at a mere 2 UAH — about 25 cents — you just can’t beat the price.

A bit of respite at the apartment and then it was a walk down to Maidan Square. This is a focal point in downtown kiev, and a principal tourist area. This is also where the “Orange Revolution” demonstrations took place, several years ago. It was pretty full, though not jam packed like it had been on Subday during Kiev Days, and at 9 pm I think I found out why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JupgAV9xETs.

For those willing or able to click that link, Maidan has a series of fountains and at 9, loudspeakers in the Square start playing some music, to which the fountains light up and pulse their streams of water. It’s all pretty interesting and fun to watch, especially on a pleasant evening with a bit of breeze.

Today I saw a live theater production of “My Fair Lady.” I understood about six words in the entire thing, but that’s what happens when you go to musical theater in other languages, in this case Ukrainian. Nevertheless, I had a pretty good time. I don’t know if the stage version is always different from the movie version (with Rex Harrison and Aubrey Hepburn), but it did seem like the operetta company took a few liberties. Nothing truly awful, but when you don’t understand what is being said, you tend to notice the other stuff. I would be really interested to know what the translations were for the song lyrics; things lined up pretty well, syllable-wise, but it would be interesting to know how all the words laid out. (Of course that’s the benefit of an inflected language – word order matters a bit less.)

I will say that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed a different show nearly as much. Although it was performed in Ukrainian, since I knew the plot and the songs, I could easily follow along. So if you find yourself heading out to the opera in a country where you have consult a book to tell people what your name is, you should definitely go for a show you already know.

Other than the theatre this evening, there wasn’t much else on today’s docket. I only saw two churches today, including the fist Catholic Church I think I’ve seen on all my trips. (I know they’re around, especially in light of Ukraine’s Polish dominated past, but I don’t think I’ve ever stumbled across one before.) I hate to say it, but I think all these churches (except the Catholic one, where there were a lot fewer Russian ikons) are starting to look very much the same. They are all quite beautiful and awe inspiring, but how many times can your breath really be taken away?

Two interesting things to note, though. First, LOTS (and I mean nearly all) of the churches in Kiev have been rebuilt at one point or another. I see plaque after plaque indicating that this church or that was rebuilt after this event or that occupation. A couple of places seem to have been totally destroyed, as there is sometimes a display showing the last standing bit of wall or an excavated cornerstone. So even though I may be getting jaded on the churches themselves, I can still appreciate all the restoration work that’s been done over a relatively short amount of time.

The other thing – and this is what made the trip to St. Michael’s church much more interesting – is the ongoing national narrative about the Great Famine. To be honest, if I had learned about this in school (and I don’t think I did), it only came back into my knowledge about Ukraine recently, i.e. within the past year. The early days of Soviet collectivism had a devastating effect on Ukraine — and it was probably very intentional on the part of the Communist Party. Between 1932 and 1933, around a third of the country’s population died of starvation; in some areas the percentage was even higher. Of course it was all covered up until around the collapse of the Soviet Union, so it has only been recently that the world has become widely aware of yet another of Ukraine’s tragedies. On the outer wall of St. Michael’s was a good timeline (in both English and Ukrainian) outlining the events of the two years.

I hate to end this post on such a down note, but I’m too tired to come up with anything pithy to change the tone. I’ll try to be a little more chipper tomorrow.

I’ll explain that title in just a minute, since virtually no one outside of my immediate family will understand it. (And they might not remember either…)

So, if you’re ever in Kiev and have the opportunity to visit their Hydropark (or as they pronounce it, HEE-dropark), don’t. Imagine an outdoor amusement park that is waaaaay past its prime; that’s the Hydropark. It’s kind of sad, really. It’s easy to see how it probably once was, but now things look tired and worn out, if not outright broken or overgrown.

Still, going to the Hydropark is a good way to get to the beach. The Dneiper (Dneipro, for our Ukrainian readers; pronounced “knee-pro”) River runs through the middle of Kiev – in fact, it runs through the middle of Ukraine, splitting the country into rather well-defined east and west sections. Based on my three trips to various parts of this country, it seems that Ukrainians are very fond of laying out on their beaches, right in the sun and everything. That’s not exactly my thing — my pasty white skin doesn’t just happen naturally you know… oh wait, I guess it does — but I actually had a good time hanging out at the Dneiper today. It was a tad hot, but a little wading cooled things off. And then a strong south wind kicked up, which I thought felt great.

Weather-wise it has been a little hit and miss. When there’s a little breeze, being out and about n the city is just fine. But the wind has been something of a precursor to storms, and while I love the rain, being in the rain without an umbrella is not fun at all. That’s how my trip to the Lavra ended, with something of a mad dash to a Metro station.

But anyway, back to today, where it did not rain on me. Today I learned two things about my Russian language skills: one, I have a lot more to learn before I will ever be fluent, or even passably awkward, and two, I still have picked up quite a bit and it has been helping tremendously. Even so there are times when #2 is less than ideal. Today, my brain really failed me by not remembering sooner that “zoloti” means “gold” (the color, if not also the metal). And so it wasn’t until I exited the Zoloti Vorota subway station that I realized that I had ended up at one of the places I had wanted to see: Kiev’s Golden Gate. This is the last remaining bit of an old kiev fortress wall, really just a portcullis and some of the surrounding structure. Sadly I arrived too late in the day to get inside – this attraction closes at around 5 – so I just had to settle for some external pictures.

I don’t know if I’ll get back there, but it wouldn’t be hard to make a day of it. The city has been built all around this artifact, so I could easily stroll on over, do a little shopping, have a bite to eat, and then visit a centuries old remnant of Kiev’s past. Granted it can be similarly bad at some American sites as well, but here it is sometimes to the point where if you we’re riding in a taxi and blinked at the wrong time (or, if it was rush hour, had a sneezing fit, which as everyone knows reflexively causes your eyes to close), you could breeze right by something historic.

So about that title… Furr’s Cafeteria was, as you probably guessed, a cafeteria. It was one of the last cafeterias (outside of school) that existed when I was growing up, and it closed up some time after I finished high school. However, it seems that it simply changed names, learned to speak Ukrainian and moved half way around the world. It is now called Puzata Hata (http://www.puzatahata.com.ua/eng/), and it’s a quick and easy way to sample assorted Ukrainian cuisine. Fine cuisine, no, but reasonably authentic. The only real downside is that because these places are pretty popular, it sometimes takes a little while to get checked out and so your food cools off quite a bit. Just like a real cafeteria. Still it was an interesting thing to try. Unlike a normal restaurant, I didn’t have ask for an English menu; I could just go through the line and point at things.

Today I visited Westminster Abbey.

OK, OK, I need a new joke. Kiev is definitely a city of churches, and today was a quick trip to another significant place. The Cathedral of St. Sophia dates to around the recognized founding of the city (1052, I think, although there have been settlements here back to the Stone Age), and while not as extensive as the Lavra, still comprises a few historical buildings. (Both the Lavra and St. Sophia are UNESCO recognized world heritage sites.)

While these places are historical and beautiful and all that, I really don’t care for the touristy nature of them. I’m mean, I’m all in favor of people visiting, but each important building requires separate admission. I can appreciate the cafeteria style of ticketing — why pay 53 UAH general admission, when if you only wanted to see the grounds and the Metropolitan’s Residence, you would only pay 13? Still it kinda sucks.

Prior to hitting st. Sophia’s, I walked across the street (literally) and visited the Church of St. Andrews. No admission required, but it would probably be worth paying if there was. It’s a small church from the Baroque period, but unlike European Baroque styles, this was much more subdued and approachable. Still plenty showy, just not overly so.

The day has been cut a little short, as the aforementioned 90% chance of precipitation became a 100% certainty. But that’s OK. After walking half of Kiev yesterday (I was checking out a map and yikes!), I and my feet don’t mind a more leisurely afternoon.

Just FYI, I am taking plenty of pictures, but I don’t have any way to offload and upload them. That will have to wait until I’m back home, sorry.

Today I went to Westminster Abbey. It’s true. Granted, Ukrainians being who they are, they call their Westminster Abbey something different and keep it in kiev instead of London. But honestly, Holy Assumption Kyivstar-Pechersk Lavra, is pretty much the same thing. If Ukraine had royal weddings they would probably be there.

The Lavra is an old, old church and monastery that has been built up over the years, and has served assorted purposes. In fact, in addition to the main cathedral (Uspensky Cathedral – there must have been a promotion over the years), I counted at least four other churches or chapels. There is also an old hospital, school and library, as well as a couple museums and park-like areas. The school and library are still used, the former for an arts academy (I walked through a garden with assorted sculpture and saw some students working on a dance routine) and the latter is the Ukrainian National Museum of Books. There is a walking tour of their catacombs, which date back to 1051, but that closes at 4 pm. (Eh, maybe tomorrow…)

In the Lavra is also what appears to be a permanent exhibition of micro-miniatures. That was actually pretty impressive. This guy (Siadristy – I had to look that up) back in the late 50s and early 60s was doing painting and sculpture on a very, very small scale. Think chess set on the head of a pin, or a rose sculpted inside a hollowed out human hair — that scale. 10 UAH (a buck and a quarter) well spent. I also ran into a couple Americans there; a couple guys from California and Hawaii doing the tourist thing. So the West Coast is well represented in Kiev this week.

In addition to the Lavra, I also dropped by a couple monuments in one of the city parks. There was also some time spent in Maidan Square, watching some of the Kiev Day events. And there were a couple ride on both their Metro (subway) system and the Kiev funicular. (Here’s where you can read all about this little cable car with the funny name.) The ointmental fly for today was the intense rainstorm that blew through late in the afternoon… and of course I didn’t have my umbrella with me. I will definitely have it tomorrow; the forecast shows a 90% chance of precipitation.

But to end on a high note, the rain ended early so Kiev was still able to shoot off their fireworks. I didn’t have a great view hanging out the apartment window, but the piece I saw was still very nice.

Well, that didn’t work… Apparently getting up before the roosters doesn’t really facilitate airplane sleep, at least not for me. The flight from Portland was fine, except that I was seated next to an elderly gentleman who was just a tad too gassy for any enclosed space. Other than that it went as smoothly as any 10-hour flight should be. But I just couldn’t get any real sleep. I dozen off a couple times but then just ended up doing those “jerk awake” moves, like when you’re falling asleep at school, or in church, or giving that speech to the UN.

So with no good REM sleep to the tally, I was more or less lurching around Schipol airport (in Amsterdam, doncha know) during my layover. Bad thing about Schipol is that there’s really no places to just lie around. I’m glad I only needed to be there for four hours. But on the plus side, I got to have some paprika Pringles again. Some of the flavors other countries have are just awesome. Have you ever had curry Pringles? You should; they are great. These paprika ones weren’t too bad either.

Did I say four hours in Amsterdam? Actually it was a bit longer than that. My flight to Kiev was delayed almost an hour. However because they had to do some seat rearranging after I got my boarding pass (in Portland, no less), I was bumped up to business class. An aisle seat, but even so, comfier seats and better leg room. I don’t know if it was the better seats or fatigue just catching up with me, but I slept nearly the entire flight. The real test as to whether my body knows what time zone it is in comes tomorrow morning, but I’m pretty hopeful at the moment.

Sleeping on the plane wasn’t the only thing that went awry. Nope, not the delay in Amsterdam either. Apparently the last weekend in May is “Kiev Days,” so lots of the downtown area was blocked off — including the street of the apartment I’m renting. The driver tried circling a couple of times, but it was no good. We ended up walking several blocks, against a huge sea of people going the opposite direction, to get to the apartment. The real capper would have been if the elevator was out and we had to walk up six stories, but fortunately we dodged that bullet.

I could tell you a little more about my first few hours in Kiev, but I’m pretty beat right now (yay!) so I’ll add that report next time. I will say that I’m sold on that Portland to Amsterdam flight; in my opinion, it’s the best way to get to Europe.

You know how for some flights you have to get to the airport at some ridiculous hour, which means you have to wake up at an absolutely ludicrous hour to get there in time? Well, that wasn’t me, at least not the first part. My plane wasn’t leaving until the early afternoon, so I have no explanation as to why I was awake at 4:30 this morning…

Still, this abnormal wake up time may work in my favor. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to sleep on a plane, so maybe the yawning I’m doing now will turn into restful snoozing once we’re on our way.

I was hoping for a near empty flight, but as this is Memorial Day weekend, maybe that was too much to expect. ( Best flight I ever had was one from Chicago; I think it was before deregulation, and I would be surprised if there were more than a dozen of us on the plane. Absolutely awesome.)

No question about it… I am going a looong way…

(Of course, this isn’t my first rodeo, so this really isn’t a surprise.)

(Click the pic)

Oy, time goes by fast…

Obviously it has been a gazillion years since I have posted, but there have certainly been plenty of things going on during that time.  The big pieces of this trip have been set for a while — what can I say? I like to get my plans in place early — and it’s just been lots of little things that have been eating up my time.  When I’m not watching television, of course.

I posted previously about my flights, which I think work out really well.  Since I won’t have a stop and layover every few hours like my last trips, I am hoping that I’ll end up sleeping most of the time on the flights and be able to better adjust my body clock to the time zone I’m heading to.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

While in Kiev, I’ll be staying in what looks to be a pretty nice apartment.  (For those keeping score, this is the second time I’ve gone the apartment route; only one for hotels/motels.)  I found it online at kievapts.com — here’s a link to it.  It looks and sounds great online, and is located near (but not right in) a key area of the city.

Let you think I’m crazy for picking an apartment online and sight unseen, I will refer you to the apartment I rented in Odessa during my first trip.  That turned out to be an awesome place, and the online pictures and description did not lie.  True, this is a different company, so it remains something of a gamble.  Still, since a lot of the economy in Kiev (and Ukraine in general) thrives on tourism, these rental companies know that a few bad reviews can put them out of business.  People may not always say it when things are good, but you can be sure they’ll speak out when things are bad.