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.

Down, down, down...

About a 400 ft escalator ride down to the subway. Not for the faint of heart!

but we are from the Ministry of Taking the Pictures!

Surreal in the City

It's been a strange 24 (36?) hours since we left Toronto. I'm in Kyiv now and we headed straight into the city to try and keep awake long enough to get our sleep patterns to mesh with the new time change.

After a good solid dinner at a cafeteria-style diner that served all Ukrainian dishes (the goulash was nice and soft), Mat and I headed out for some walking and photo snapping with no real intentions of where to go. We just knew where the subway was and how to get back to the apartment.

Detours - they can be a lot of fun. You take a cobblestone path up a hill and you spot a pink decaying building behind a fence. We knew it was a hospital of some kind and that picqued our interest. Of course this is Eastern Europe - never assume something is not in use just because it looks worn out - that's just character. The main gate had an open doorway in it with a sign that roughly said "Clinic this way", so we went.

The buildings on the grounds were amazing. Mostly in shades of fading pink and moss green, with definite signs of decay and rot, evident from half missing cement balconies. I kept waiting for someone to ask us why we were there, who we were. It never happened - everyone was polite and just left us to do our thing. I finally read the sign on the way out - Ministry of Health.

On the way back to the Metro, we came upon a big crowd watching a group of breakdancers on the sidewalk near Indepence Square. Pretty talented bunch. What a great ending to a wonderful adventure and surprise-filled day.

Keeping it real...

Didn't take long to find break dancers in Eastern Europe.

Kiev!

Just driving through the city now. Looking forward to wandering around here with my camera (after I sleep)

All hail the Alliance

We're off on the road to Ukraine... to Ukraine... to Ukraine. Now
which one of us is supposed to be Bob Hope? (Roadie movie reference
for those under 35)

I must say that I feel spoiled this time around - I've never set foot
in an Alliance Elite Lounge before. I didn't know this aviation utopia
existed. Free snacks, drinks, wifi, magazines, newspapers (English and
French of course), big cushy leather chairs... And quiet blissful
solitude.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to travel with the masses again.
Best enjoy it while I can. Dusseldorf here we come -can't wait to see
what you have to offer two weary jetlagged travelers at 6 in the
morning.

(Sent from my iTouch)