Tuesday 9th October 2012
Hot, sore, swollen – and that's just my elbow! But it still works.
Today after Dima went to kindergarten (about 2 minutes walk from the
entrance of the apartment building) we hit the city, that Dima refers
to as 'that dirty smelly town'.
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| Our first ride on the Kiev Metro, with Steve |
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| We changed from the Green Line to the Red Line at this station - check out the chandeliers... |
Our journey into the city took us over the
Dnieper River, the only time we saw daylight for about an hour before
leaving the metro. That river is HUGE.
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| Looking upstream, crossing the Dnieper |
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| A wealthy suburb on the downstream new-city bank, Steve says many of his corporate clients live here. |
After changing lines we
headed north in the city to exit on the hill in the old city where
the Kiev
Pechersk Lavra
is. The escalator ride up out of
the metro was looooong and the exit was top of the hill. We then
took a city bus to the Lavra, on the same hill.
The Lavra is to Ukraine Orthodoxy what the
Vatican is to the Catholics. We couldn't photograph the relics but you can see some at this link; (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Pechersk_Lavra
)
The pictures can tell the story, even though many of the galleries
Elena hoped to show us were closed for some reason. We took in part
of a service when we arrived and lit a candle each.
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| Views of the Lavra |
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| Women - heads covered; men, no headwear. Skirts or dresses for women preferred, and compulsory in the caves. |
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| Babushka Rose in disguise as a royal. |
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| Happy when she can check out a garden and smell the roses! |
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| There was a service going on in this room, with souvenir shops at the other end, where we were. |
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| Honey stalls on the walkway out of the monastery |
We also looked at a number of historic information displays, and
later looked through a museum of culture and history.
The obvious tourist attraction (and the draw for the many pilgrims)
are the underground caves, where the remains of many past priests are
kept, and displayed. I think the history range of the relics is 11th century AD to about 1900 AD.
You are not allowed to photograph in there, and it wasn't much fun
navigating the narrow passages holding my lit candle and being
jostled by the crowds on my misbehaving elbow.
Rosemary was obliged
to wear a skirt, and a head scarf. Elena didn't have a skirt so had
to hire a wraparound skirt to tour the catacombs.
We had lunch in a church kitchen cafe off the beaten track after
finding that Elena's restaurant of choice was closed to accommodate a
tour bus full of pilgrims. We had borscht and bread, and I ordered a
fish cake with some cut capsicum. The borscht was predictably good,
but I couldn't manage the fish which Steve finished. I was the same
with the salted and dried calamari the day before which Steve has
developed a liking for as a nibble to accompany beers. I think I
prefer peanuts and chippies!
Our lunch was rounded off with man-sized cups of tea and cake. The
lunch cost UAH130 all up – that's about $NZ20.
No day outing in a new city is complete without a visit to the public
conveniences. Thank goodness for urinals (all I needed), as the
alternative was pretty grubby – I'd never seen the squat option
before and there was no paper to be seen.
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| In the Museum of Culture, before I tried to leave by a locked exit, and Elena was reminded about the 'no photos rule'. |
After looking though the Museum of Ukrainian Culture we went our separate ways. Steve and I headed back to the apartment with a short
detour to the National War Memorial and lookouts over Kiev. Rose and
Elena went to the outdoor war museum, but spent some time looking at
a floral display close by.
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| Garden Galore, up near the National War Museum |
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| Steve and I stopped at the war memorial park overlooking the city. Lavra in the distance. A perpetual flame beside the obelisk and the avenue of memories. |
Steve and I missed the rush hour, and got home in time to have a
quick beer before picking Dima up from kindy. Rose and Elena did some
food shopping and we rounded off the day with an excellent meal of
(you guessed it!) borscht, then Ukrainian sausage, roast potatoes, and
salad, followed by grapes and ice-cream.
That's pretty well it for the day.
Wednesday 10th October 2012.
Early start and a beautiful fine morning, it was Steve and Elena's
2nd wedding anniversary. Dimitri had a day off kindy today, as we
were going back into town and there were some things we thought he
might like to do before he went to chess club, which is in the
central city.
We got away on the Metro after breakfast, at about 10:00 am. Dimitri
was quite excited with a gallery to play to, so Elena wasn't too
happy with his behaviour!
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| 2nd anniversary |
On the Metro going into town Dimitri saw a young chap sitting next to
him playing a computer game on his smartphone, and got down really
close to check it out. Not to be outdone, he then got Steve's cell
phone and found the chess game, and started playing against the
phone. Other people were quite interested in watching this 4 year
old glued to a cell phone playing games.
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| Looking at the river as we crossed, note the cell phone. |
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| Busy playing chess. |
Kiev is no different to anywhere else, if not worse, in that nearly
everyone you see has a cell phone in hand, and most are walking in a
hurry with the things glued to their ear or shoulder, or wearing
headphones and seemingly talking to themselves.
Anyway, after a couple of changes we got into town, to the Metro stop
near the National Stadium, where we visited a Planetarium which
featured a 360deg movie experience. We spent the time before the
show playing or watching a number of interactive computer games (like
Wii, and throwing soft balls at a big screen to hit the characters
projected there. It was quite good in that there were a number of
school groups also there for the movie, and the kids were having a
lot of competitive fun. Clean rest rooms were a bonus!
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| Playing the ball throw game - Steve, Dima and Elena |
The show was spectacular – it was an English-language production
but with a Russian voice-over; to do with the sun, planets and moons
of our solar system, the Milky Way, and the big bang, I think
plotted through a voyage through some world archive or time capsule.
The great minds of history were referenced, as well as relevant art
and mythology, and the plot was inspired by the musical sound track,
a classical work by a post-modern composer. The crick in my neck was
a small price to pay for the superb overhead surround experience. The
narration was secondary to the visual thing for me, so I didn't mind
not being able to understand the words.
After the show we went for a short walk, and went to a local fast
food basement restaurant with an 'airports and departure lounge' type
of theme. We had an excellent combo meal (the meat of choice was
chicken in the burgers and wraps – but it was real chicken and in
any case the only choice!) The fries and chunky potato sides were
good too, and with drinks the meal for 5 came in at UAH171 (about
$NZ5-odd a head)
Steve left us there to come home to prepare for a work appointment,
and Elena, Dimitri, Rose and I took another series of Metro rides to
another part of the city where Dimitri attends a childrens' chess
club. At the same building they also offer childrens' jazzercise,
music lessons, and dance.
We waited for Dimitri to finish (about an hour in a waiting room),
before going outside to collect chestnuts which Dimitri apparently
treasures, and then into the Metro again for the trip home.
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| Looking down a looooong Metro escalator. |
Luckily we were near the start of the line and the train wasn't too
full when we got in. It was approaching rush hour and the train
filled as we went along. Most people are very polite when it comes
to offering seats to women, the elderly, the disabled and children;
all the same I didn't need to give up my seat on the long trip home,
for which I was grateful, as Dimitri was being quite 'active' in the
train and it was easier to confine him with us seated each side!
After arriving at our Metro stop I made an unassisted bureau de
change transaction at the neighbourhood bank, and that went well.
We had a nice meal at home tonight and Rosemary read stories with
Dimitri, before he played flashlight silhouettes, and everyone hit
the sack.
After posting this, I will be following suit! Good night all!
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