A Shopaholic in Ukraine

What do you do when you've seen all the sights (or at least you think you have?) in the city of Ukrainian love? You go shopping.

It's easier said than done, though, when it turns out you're in a city that doesn't seem to recognize any of your credit cards (thank you MC and VISA) and spits out your bank card from the ATMs like a bad piece of meat. To top it off, most restaurants and shops only take cash - Ukrainian hryvnias and not US dollars either. It was definitely a challenge to get my shopping groove on.

We hit the artist's market for a second day, hoping to see something new or perhaps overlooked and finally get some souvenirs. The most interesting sight there was the row of embroidery with the ladies (and one or two men) sitting in front of their wares with needle and thread in hand working on new pieces. Some beautiful men's and women's shirts as well as cute little girl's costumes could be purchased at really reasonable prices. The more complicated patterns could be seen on the rushnyky (like table runners) and full table cloths. Everything from border patterns to full overall patterns in every colour with patterns from every region of the country were on display. It was really beautiful.

After the market we made our way towards the main park near the Opera House for some people watching. They have about a dozen small electric cars here that parents rent out for about 10 minutes for their children. Half of them allow for the children to drive themselves and the other half are remote controlled with the parents actually driving the car. It was really adorable watching the little girls in the remote control cars, completely oblivious to the wheel or direction they were going in, more intent on their dresses, hands, birds, really anything but the experience. I think the parents were having the most fun.

Near the park there was quite a commotion with police, ambulance, and secret service agents surrounding an outdoor cafe. When we stumbled upon it - being really oblivious to the whole scene until it was too late - we realized that the President of Ukraine was having lunch with a large group of people right on the patio and was engaged in some grand conversation. Lots of hand gesturing and glass raising was going on. You never know if this was a political luncheon or if he just wanted to get out and have a nice patio lunch. I would have taken a photo if I wasn't worried about being pounced upon by a dozen secret service agents.

We're sitting in the "luxurious internet lounge" at the Lviv train station (3 hryvnia/hour to sit + 7 hryvnia/hour to use the internet) waiting for our train to show up. Another night of back breaking travel back to Kyiv - I love the fact that I can close my eyes in one city and open them in another, but those "beds" are murder on the spine, and we're traveling in luxe. I'd hate to see how they travel in the regular cars.

One more day in Ukraine tomorrow and then it's a short hop to Frankfurt and back home. It will be nice to be home - the adventure has been grand!

August 31st - Official Potato Pancake Day

Our first full day in Kyiv and we hit the streets hard. A great way to break in my new trail shoes. After a hearty breakfast of potato pancakes with sour cream and kompot, we headed out to explore the city. We had no real itinerary in mind - just walk around and see what happens. We have 3 days here so we knew we could hit the sights on another day.

We decided to try and head to Andryisky Uzviv - a curving cobblestone street covered in stalls selling everything from embroidered blouses to kitchy Soviet memorabilia. On the way there we hit at least 3 churches.

The first was St. Sophia, which has a tall bell tower entrance. This was the most expensive of the three - with a 2 hryvnia entrance to the grounds and 5 hryvnia fee to climb the tower. We didn't go into the church itself - 20 hryvnia and no photos. I'm so picky now - no photos and a fee deters me. The church was stunning, with 7 gold domes. The view of it from the tower - yep, I climbed - was perfect for photos. We made it all the way to the top and I have to say there was a little vertigo happening.

We next hit St. Michael's which is quite breathtaking as well - robin's egg blue with another 7(?) gold domes. The entrance through the walled exterior is covered in Byzantine style religious frescoes. Some fantastic photography here. Next to this church stands a smaller, traditional Ukrainian church with the dark wooden shingle roof and tower. Quite the contrast to the more baroque looking colourful one next door.

Then we climbed, and climbed, and climbed. As we hit the art street (kitsch street?) we hit St. Sophia of Kiev church which was even more extravagant - more Roccocco style this time. No photos inside again but the exterior was forest green with gold accents.

Our adventuring took us all over side streets that had what we thought were abandoned buildings, covered in graffiti, which we have now termed "buildings with character" as it seems that here nothing is really abandoned, no matter how decayed or decrepit. When walking along the Dnipro River, we came upon some industrial buildings that had some great colour and look to them, only to be encouraged away by a very unhappy dog and his owner.

Dogs - they're everywhere. They run in packs and they seem to stake a claim to a square or parkette and if you invade what they feel is their territory, the barking starts and they follow you until you get to the nearest crosswalk. We watched so many people get "escorted" to the crosswalks today only to be escorted ourselves in the afternoon by our angry barky guide. WE steered clear of any dog gangs the rest of the day.

An amazing, interesting, eye-opening first day. Getting picked up at 7:30am for Chernobyl tomorrow. Need to rest up.