Kiev

After a week in Vilnius, we headed south to Moldova. Without visas to enter Belarus or Russia, there was no direct way except 2 days on a train. So, we decided to fly to Kiev then take the train into Moldova's capital city, Chisinau (pronounced Kishinow). Whereas Vilnius reminded us of Zafarelli's Romeo and Juliet, the airport in Kiev conjured up Russian mafia a la Eastern Promises. Broad-shouldered men in long black leather jackets, slicked back hair, shades, strict customs officials, women in 3 inch patent leather stilettos, aggressive "taxi drivers" at the airport. Maybe it's because we woke up at 5am in Vilnius to catch the flight, but our arrival in the Ukraine was a bit startling. Then, when we got to the Kiev train station, it turned out that our train did not leave until the next morning. So, we ended up spending a day in Kiev--which proved to be an extraordinary metropolis and reminded us of the beauty of making up this trip as we go along. Kiev was memorable.

After leaving all but the bare necessities at the train station, we headed into Kiev to find a hotel and explore. It was here we had our first encounter with the Cyrillic alphabet. It's fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it---a B is a V, a P is an R, and a lower-cased b with a little tail on it is pronounced "tvyor-dizank", and so on.

Soon we were strolling up majestic boulevards in the heart of Kiev. We were immediately astounded by the scale.









The Hotel St. Petersberg, as the sign clearly reads.









Do not judge a book by its cover.


















Our first Ukranian meal. These cafeterias are a popular, cheap way to get hot, good food. This place was filled with businessmen and women taking their lunch break. We probably over ordered, but since we were only in Kiev for a day....Lesley had to try the chicken kiev because she is sentimental (this version was made with a potato pancake-like breading), mushrooms and bulgar (also traditional), and a Greek salad (which are all over Europe). Joe had a bowl of 'cilantra' soup (a beef broth with tomato, cabbage, and smoked sausage, a Russian soup that we found throughout the former Soviet Europe), a seaweed and fake crabmeat salad (left untouched, he didn't know what it was when he pointed at it), a plate of stewed cabbage and pork (didn't know there was pork in it), and a chicken cutlet covered with an egg batter and served with potatoes and gravy. While all of these dishes were traditional, an order this large was not. While we ate, we observed others' trays to try and learn the customs. Everyone enjoyed fairly balanced meals--always soup, then maybe a piece of meat or fish, a grain, veg, dessert, perhaps a pivo (beer).












In this part of the city, the buildings are old and massive. We want to read more about Kiev, we had no idea.












Kiev's famous independence square, Maidan Nezalezhnosti, where over 500,000 people gathered just hours after the November 21, 2004 fraudulent election.









November 22, 2004









At 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon, the square was full of people of all ages, walking through and hanging out. Many were drinking beer like you see people drink water bottles or cokes in the states, men walking home from work with a beer, two girls sipping a brew and chatting on a bench. The glass domes in the photo below are skylights for a large underground shopping mall. This efficient use of underground space was also seen in the pedestrian underpasses (underground crosswalks) of the large boulevards, with small shops selling flowers, coffees, underwear, you name it.









Video of Kiev's metro, taken at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon. It was built in 1960 and has that era look and feel. It costs 10 cents to ride (our very large lunch cost $15 for the two of us). The escalators to the subway tunnels are really deep beneath the streets, reached by long escalator rides. We later found out that one of the stations we visited, Arsenalna, is the deepest metro station in the world at 102 meters.


We had read in the guidebook about a massive metal statue of a Soviet woman looming over the city. To get there, we walked along the Dnieper River east of the main square, then climbed through a forested park. The statue was surrounded by a giant memorial site and Museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). We continue to be overwhelmed by the massive scale of seemingly everything in Kiev.









Video: These large bronze scenes line both walls of the concrete entrance corridor shown in the above photo.


Video: In the large piazza in front of the museum.

Serious.












The memorial grounds. the large satellite-looking dish in the distance is a torch! Imagine.









The entire area was so thought out and well organized, and the scale and quality of the sculpture so impressive. It felt simultaneously like a memorial, patriotism, and propaganda. The overall effect was quite powerful.









In the piazza in front of the museum.









Back in the city, in the piazza in front of St Sophia Cathedral.









The cathedral, dating back to the 10th century.









The bell tower.












Entrance to the funicular station (our second of the trip, yay).









Outside the funicular station.









Back in the main square.


















Enjoyed a second large cafeteria meal for dinner then off to bed. One day is too little to spend in Kiev, all the same it was one terrific day and we are eager to learn more.

Catching an 8am train to Moldova...