Kyiv
Київ
St. Sophia's in Kyiv
March 29, 2004
After work Friday I went to the train station for an overnight trip to Kyiv. I found
myself on a fairly empty train so claimed a cabin for myself and went to bed only
to be woken up by a Ukrainian on his way to Kyiv. He was friendly and soon we were
sleeping. At the border the Ukrainian border guard didn't even try to get a
bribe, but seemed sincerely intrigued and asked me a lot of questions, unlike my
last trip to Ukraine.
I woke early (8:00 or 8:30) so began reading “Moby Dick,” a book I'm determined
to finish even though I no longer have any interest in it. We arrived just after
noon, which was earlier than expected so I rushed to the bus station (via the subway)
to get a return ticket to Chisinau for $7 as opposed to the train ticket which cost
$23. I then rushed down town to meet Gruber, at which point I realized my clock
was off by an hour since I thought there was a time change, but was wrong.
I walked around independence square, saw Shevchenko’s house, Yaroslav’s Golden Gate,
and St. Sofia’s. Gruber arrived a little later. We headed to the Peace Corps office
to drop stuff off then on to St. Sofia’s. From the outside the grounds and bell
tower were, well nice, but nothing extraordinary and much more modern than I had
anticipated, since the church is 1,000 years old. Then we entered and the disappointment
of the exterior helped lower my expectations and magnify the building's interior.
It was breathtaking, painted in the 900’s, much still in tact and the restored painting
were finished in the 1600’s. With some extra supports and infrastructure work the
building remains much in tact since the 900’s and the interior more than made up
for the exterior's supports to keep the building standing.
Our next stop was down nearby Andrewska Street, where we talked to the vendors,
all of whom know English since this is the main tourist street in the city. We continued
down the hill to St. Andrew’s, which looks almost too perfect, perhaps from restoration.
After dinner we headed to Gruber’s town, about 25 minutes south of Kyiv. His family
was very nice, a mother and son (28 years old) who made breakfast for us the next
day. They were poor and were housed in an old apartment with a living room, bedroom,
kitchen, toilet, and shower, all of them run down and old. They, however were very
kind and generous, willing to give anything and everything they had.
Slava, Gruber’s “brother,” the 28 year old son, Gruber, and I went out that night,
but everything was closed, until we found an open store. We headed back to the place
and Slava turned on his favorite channel, porn. They get a channel with porn, however
the reception is horrible so you can't see anything and all the while Slava's
mom is in the next room, weird.
Andrewska Church in Kyiv
We got up the next morning to eat Varenki, potatoes, and apricot preserves, then
took off to Kyiv. We went straight to the caves monasteries, which was well worth
the trip. The bell tower just beyond the entrance welcomed us, but the grounds,
full of churches made me itch to find the caves. The grounds are littered with churches,
similar to Moscow's Kremlin, however none as impressive. We grazed around somewhat
in awe, but also seeking out the caves until we hit lookout point and just sat;
I wasn't sure if I should take pictures or just let it all soak in. After doing
both we went to the top of the bell tower and were again impressed.
Next, we made it to the south caves, bought candles, lit them, and entered. There
were monks' tombs everywhere, wooden bases and open tops, only a sheet of fiber
glass separating us and them. Their bodies were covered, but if you look closely
there were some exposed hands, necks, and ears. Their bodies were black and many
claim it’s a holy place, while others, mostly scientists say its just the humidity
and climate that prevents the bodies from rotting. Also in the caves were a few
chapels.
Our next stop was at the nearby “Motherland” statue/victory monument. The status
is colossal and the open air military museum beside it was impressive with planes,
helicopters, gunners and my personal favorite a train car with a huge gun on it.
As time was running out, we headed across town to see Babi Yar, a valley, in which
thousands of Jews were murdered and buried during WWII, but to no avail; the area
is modernized and they say there’s a monument but we failed to find anything at
all, well almost nothing. In this area we found a counterfeit street, on which are
booth after booth of counterfeit CD’s and DVD’s.
Since we had some free time after failing to find Babi Yar, we went to Podil, which
has cobblestone streets and a real old-town feel.
We grabbed dinner, then departed ways, me on a bus to Chisinau and Gruber to his
home. The bus ride home was long and my dinner wanted out, but we had no toilet.
I thanked the Moldovan border guard who failed to show up to work, and we flew through
the border crossing without even being stopped on the Moldovan side.
I arrive at the embassy at about 8:30 am just in time to shower, change and start
work.
Bell Tower in Kyiv
Independence Square in Kyiv
April 15, 2004
Kyiv: round two was also great. I got there extremely early and so simply walked
around for a while until things started to wake up. I walked to the top of the hill
over-looking the river and ran into a guy who said good morning in perfect English.
The views from the top were nice, however didn’t compare to the rest of the city
so I stared in awe at the stillness of the water and left to sit down and figure
out where I was going.
I enjoyed the churches opposite St. Sophia’s then walked in the park over to a nice
bench which provided me with a perfect view of the Russian-Ukrainian Arc of Unification;
a hideous reminder of the Soviet's lack of architectural taste.
After this I began to walk to Podil, but I first ran into a couple gentlemen trying
to scam me, although I give them a lot of credit for their creativity. The first
was walking very quickly behind me then passed me, cut in front of me and then dropped
something, at which point he reached down to pick it up. It was a bag of money and
he said since he found it with me we would split it 50/50. Suspecting it was a scam,
I said no and kept walking trying to figure out the gag. No sooner had I walked
five feet away did another man come running after me yelling, “sir you took my money,
sir you took my money!” I continued to walk and heard the first man say "he
didn't take it" and they let me continue.
After my adventure, I made it to Podil to check out the Chernobyl Museum, but really
just spent most of the time enjoying the area with its windy, hilly, cobble-stoned
streets and a great atmosphere that was nearly untouched by the war. The museum
was good and I’d recommend it, but the area much better.
I also checked out the blood-red university building on another side of town. I
finished the day with a walk in the park and then on to the bus station for an overnight
train to the Crimea.
Mother Russia in Kyiv
St. Mykhaylivska Zolotoverkhyi in Kyiv
St. Sophia's Church in Kyiv
Volya - Freedom in Kyiv