ukraine: kyiv again

I lived in Kyiv for six years. When I first moved there I never would've dreamed I would end up staying for six years. During those six years I had all kinds of experiences and adventures, including a national political revolution. One of those experiences is called Khreshchennya, or Baptism.

Khreshchennya takes place on Epiphany, the 12^th day of Christmas. In the western world, this is the 6^th of January. For those who follow the Orthodox calendar, this is 19 January. When I've been in countries or cities in the western world where this is a celebrated holiday, I've seen festivals and markets and such. In the Orthodox Christian world, there is an aspect that is a party, but it is a much more religious celebration.

Orthodox Christians imitate baptism by going into bodies of water (pond, river, lake, etc...) and go under the water. Typically they go under the water three times, crossing themselves each time.

I did this three or four of the six years I was in Kyiv, and always loved the experience. My first year in Moscow, I found a place to do it, but didn't like it nearly as much. The experience in Moscow didn't feel as real, as raw. I don't know quite how to explain it. I was super excited when I looked at a calendar and realized 19 January would be on a Saturday, which meant I could take the train to Kyiv and participate there.

The girls thought I was crazy, but chose to come with me, and I convinced them to participate too. 

The train ride from Moscow to Kyiv isn't super long, but it feels that way because you're woken up twice, in the middle of the night, for border control with each country.

On the way to Kyiv, I got pulled for a random interview with a border control officer, which was a bit scary. He asked where I'm from, why I was going to Ukraine, why I live in Russia, etc... I was able to answer the questions, but I don't think he liked all my answers. (For instance, when I said that I liked Khreshchennya better in Ukraine than in Russia.) Since the questions were mostly in Russian, and my Russian isn't very good, plus this was a legal situation, I was more than a little nervous. 

Thankfully I passed the interview and was stamped out of the country. It was a lot easier to enter Ukraine than to leave Russia, wierdly enough. That being said, the border officers of both countries were surprised to have three foreigners riding this particular train, in platzcar, or 3^rd class. Usually foreigners spend a bit more money and go for 2^nd class at the very least.

Arriving in Kyiv felt like coming home for me. I was excited to show the girls the train station, because it is what I expect for all train stations in Ukraine and Russia, but haven't had nearly as often in Russia. The main hall is giant, with a beautifully decorated ceiling.

We ate breakfast at a fast food joint across the street, then started walking. Almost immediately I remembered how hilly Kyiv is, especially in comparison to Moscow. Kyiv is built on seven hills, and walking around the city often feels like you're going up or down.

We walked near Shevchenko Park, and I figured the girls ought to at least see the front of the main university building across the street from the park. Taras Shevchenko is a Ukrainian hero, a writer and political figure. He is given general credit for inventing the Ukrainian language.

Kyiv National University is named for him, the main building is painted cherry red. 

I think it's ugly, but the exterior facade isn't what matters when it comes to a university. We were able to take our first team photo in front of that building.

More walking brought us to Khreshchatyk Street, the main street in the city center. It was built after WW2, and was built in a way to accomodate large parades of soldiers and tanks. It's wide, and mostly straight. This street has changed a lot since I moved to Kyiv in 2011. The stores in the buildings on either side change regularly, as do the coffee stalls and such on the pavements.

One store that hasn't changed is Roshen, a chocolate store. Roshen is a candy company owned by Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president. I don't know why I remember this, but the first time I ever had Roshen candy, I was in the middle of nowhere, in Mongolia. Weird. We stopped in the store, buying more than we needed, but it was worth it.

We wound through a couple more streets, before finding the office for the accomodation we'd booked, a flat in the city center. It was a challenge to find cash for the deposit, as we hadn't known we'd need that. 

(The guy said this was normal, but I've stayed all over Ukraine and this was the first time I'd ever needed such a thing.) Anywho, the flat was good and the location was good, so we were happy.

After a little while relaxing, we walked out of the flat and continued exploring the city. There are a couple UNESCO sights in the city, and I wanted the girls to see them both.

We visited St Sophia's Cathedral first, because it was super close. The foundations of the cathedral were laid in the 11^th century, but it took another 20 years to finish. (I always wonder what local citizens thought of the neverending project while it was going on. And on and on and on.) 

The layout of the building looks really similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The interior of the cathedral is impressive. One of the parts I like best is the chance to climb stairs and see everything from the second level. It's a view you don't often get in Orthodox churches. It is easy to see where renovations have been done, and where things remain as they were a long long time ago.

As of right now, no particular religious branch has the right to have services in the church. It was an active church until the 1930s, when Soviet authorities wanted to get rid of religion.

They took religious art and treasure out of the church, but didn't destroy the church. It was then made into a history museum.

Near the end of the 1980s authorities told locals they would be giving the church back to religious authorities, but it was never decided exactly who would be in charge. Wikipedia tells me various religious groups have laid claim to it, so there are no active services.

We also climbed the bell tower, because there are great views of the city from up there. It's also super windy, but oh well.

After leaving the grounds of the cathedral, we made our way to Khreshchatyk metro station. We love metro system in Moscow, and I wanted the girls to experience the system in Kyiv. It isn't as extensive, or as nice, but it is still a great system, and relatively cheaper.

Our arrival station was Hidropark, so we could all take park in Khreshchennya. Ever since my first experience with this holiday, I've figured this must be the busiest day in Hidropark all year long. Getting through the turnstiles isn't easy, as there are so many people, going both ways. The ticket office normally has a queue, but this time it was just a mass of people. 

I led the girls over the bridge in the middle of the park, and we stopped to watch everything for a while. I'd tried to explain the whole thing to them ahead of time, but there is nothing like seeing it in real life. There are heaps of people all over the beaches, with a couple rowboats in the water. Random people dash into the water, go under three times, then dash back out. When they get back out they are usually greeted by family or friends, and wrapped in a towel or clothes or a robe.

We crossed the bridge, and I led the girls to a section of beach that is less busy. I wanted each of us to be able to have a photo or video with just us, not a huge mass of people.

Then we did it! I went first, then the girls. I loved it, and while I'm not sure they loved it, they were glad they did it. We finished just at sunset, and the moment the sun went below the horizon we could feel the colder temperatures.

From there we went straight to dinner. One of the gazillion sushi places has a happy hour between 1500 and 1800, buy one get one free. Obviously, we ate too much :)

The next morning Angela and I got up a little earlier, as I wanted to visit a bakery that had cinnamon rolls I loved. Sadly, when we got there, we discovered no cinnamon rolls, and very little else. I'm not sure if it was because we were there just after it opened, or if the cafe has changed quite a bit, but I was totally disappointed.

While on this walk I pointed out a couple huge building murals to Angela, I loved the murals. There is even an app that is supposed to map all the murals in the city. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's still pretty neat.

We packed up and checked out, and were able to leave our packs in the front office.

From there we walked up the hill to St Michael's, another Orthodox church that isn't far from St Sophia. This one is more photogenic, but is also a lot newer. The original St Michael's was quite old, then the Soviets blew it up in the 1930s, in their effort to get rid of religion. It was rebuilt in the early 2000s, if I remember correctly. 

When we went inside the church there was a service taking place, so we didn't wander around as much as I would've liked.

More walking brought us to the top of Andreivsky Descent, a well known street in the city. At the top of the whole thing is St Andrew's, but it was under renovation, and not open. You are allowed to go to the pavement around the church, but doing so now costs 20 griven (about 85 US cents,) even though it was free when I lived there. Argh. We didn't go up the stairs.

I convinced the girls to follow me part way down the street, to another big building mural. When we got there, I was disappointed. 

I remembered it as being brightly coloured, but it didn't feel this way anymore. Argh. Maybe I"m used to see photos on social media, where the colours have increased saturation.

We went the rest of the way down the hill, to an area called kontraktova ploshcha. (Kontrakt square, would be the English translation I think?) There is now a ferris wheel there, which strikes me as somewhat out of place, but seems to be permanent. There are regularly seasonal markets in the area, so there were still Christmas stalls set up.

We found the nearest metro station, and rode to Arsenalna. (Side note, Arsenalna is one of the deepest (if not the deepest) metro stations in the world. Getting up and back out takes a while on the fast escalators.

Our walk first brought us to the biggest WW2 memorial. Near this memorial is a viewpoint showing two memorable structures: the Holodomor memorial and the Lavra. There is also an amazing view over the river, and left bank of the city.

The Holodomor is a man made famine that took place in the winter of 1932-1933. Exact numbers have never been stated, but millions of people died. The Soviet government said it was due to the weather of the year, but there were other factors, including forced communilization. The borders were closed, so people weren't able to leave to get help, or to tell the outside world what was happening.

The memorial is a small museum, the girls and I went in to look around. There are books listing many of those who died, as well as photos and items from that time.

Next up was the other UNESCO sight in the city: the Pechersk Lavra. When we entered the grounds of the Lavra we were joined by Josh, who is someone I worked with in Kyiv. It was fun to take a team photo, since we teach at four different branches of our school.

We wandered through two of the main churches in the Lavra. One of them didn't used to be open except for service times, I guess this has changed. (Probably due to tourist interest?) The other church has one of my favourite ceilings. One side of the property has a beautiful view over the rest of the property and the river.

At that point the girls were tired and cold. Josh left us, so the three of us went back to the city center by metro. We went back to Roshen to buy more chocolate, then back to the same restaurant for more sushi. This time we took the second portions to go, but we ate the second desssert portions.

The train going back to Moscow was a lot easier, though we still had the two middle of the night wake ups for border controls. It seems easier to get into Russia than to leave!

ukraine: is 9 a round number? back to Lviv, so I could also see Univ

During my previous trip to Lviv I figured out how to get to even more towns in the area, so I knew I'd be back, probably more than once. People wonder why I visit these small towns, but I like them. It's a chance to see 'normal' life. 

I took the cheap night train again, arriving in Lviv at 0400 or so. Before leaving the train station, I took photos of the electric train schedules, to use for research before my next Lviv trip. Hopefully I remember to use those photos, and don't just delete them.

I walked to my accommodation, along rainy, slush muddy streets. Quiet streets. The entrance to the hostel was on the back side of the building, through a construction zone.  There were signs pointing the way, but since it was still dark, it took me a while to see them. 

I wasn't able to check in yet, (it was only 0500 or so,) but I was able to sit in the kitchen for a while. I warmed up, dried off, charged my phone, and checked online accounts. 0500 my time is around bedtime for quite a few people in the states, so a lot gets posted at that time.

Around 0630 I left my bag in the hostel, and walked out. I caught a tram from the old town square and rode it to the end of the line. Then I walked about 100 meters down the road and found a marshrutka stop. 

Waiting at the stop was my friend Oresta. We'd planned to meet up here, though we took different trains to get to Lviv. 

A few minutes later we were able to board a marshrutka headed to a town called Univ. As departure was at 0730, much of the ride was in the dark. The ride went through a larger town, we were afraid that was as far as it would go. 

Thankfully the last stop of the marshrutka was actually just 200 meters down the road from where we wanted to go. 

The lavra in Univ is old. Centuries old. One of my guidebooks tells me the first written mention is found at the end of the 13th century! At one point it was a well known pilgrimage place. Times have changed though, as I don't know anyone else who has ever been there, and most of my Ukrainian friends have never heard of it. 

On the road I took a selfie with the sign indicating where we were, just because I could. 

First we walked to a wooden church outside the lavra area; unfortunately it wasn't open for us to enter. 

We entered the lavra area through the main gate. There seemed to be a small room for security or someone else to sit in right at the gates, but it was empty. 

The first thing my friend saw was a sign pointing us toward a miracle stream. There was water coming out of spouts under a pretty mosaic, with cups there if you wanted to drink. 

Neither one of us used the cups because we were sick and didn't want to pass anything on. We did put our hands in the water, which wasn't nearly as cold as we expected. 

After drying our hands on our clothes, we crossed a little bridge and went through a gate into the inner area of the lavra. It is an active monastery, so the buildings on these walls seemed to be mostly dormitories and such. Most doors were not open, so I don't really know. 

The door to the church in the middle of this area was open, so we stepped inside. The front of the church was covered in scaffolding, so it didn't look that great. 

There were windows in the church, but there wasn't a whole lot of light inside the church. There definitely wasn't any electric lighting, at least none was turned on while we were in there. I'm sure the natural lighting would've been better if the sky hadn't been so overcast. 

The entire church was covered in frescoes. Walls and ceiling. Because the church is old, and there wasn't a lot of lighting, the frescoes appeared a bit faded, and didn't jump out as much as I've seen in other churches. 

After looking around for a few minutes, we turned around to leave. Oresta noticed a small doorway to a set of stairs, which she knew would allow access to an upper level of the church. 

I couldn't resist, and climbed up. The view wasn't super different, but I always enjoy getting higher and seeing a different perspective. 

The church itself was in the middle of a courtyard/cloister type area, so we walked along the inside of the walls. We found an entrance to a museum, which wasn't open yet. We couldn't find a sign listing open hours, so who knows. 

After circling the church, we exited the area through a different gate. I wonder if one of the gates is used more than the other. 

In the gate we used to exit was an entrance to a small chapel, something about the chapel of the Turin shroud. This chapel didn't feel nearly as warm or welcoming as the church. I think part of it was made of marble, which has never felt 'warm' to me. 

Behind the lavra are woods. Oresta noticed a trail, so we decided to walk. It was muddy in parts, which wasn't fun at all. Sure, I finally have waterproof winter boots, but that doesn't mean I like getting them covered in mud. There was one long set of wooden steps, both of us were a bit out of breath when we finally got to the top. 

Near the top of the stairs was a small cemetery. There was a low fence the whole way around, which was not open. Nearly all the graves were the same, in the shape of a cross. I'm guessing they are all people connected to the lavra. 

We traipsed back down, still trying to avoid the mud. We walked around to the other side of the lavra, hoping to find something to eat or drink at the guesthouse. We entered the guesthouse, and its dining room, only to be disappointed. The sign on the door said it was only for people staying at the guesthouse. Darn it.

We did find another sign in the hallway of the guesthouse, listing the transport schedule to get back to Lviv. We realized we had at least two more hours to kill before going back. 

We left the grounds of the lavra and walked into the village. Univ is small. Really small. There is very little in the way of shops or public spaces. 

We saw plenty of dilapidated houses, I have no idea if they are old or not. Some were clearly abandoned, others I'm not so sure. We saw quite a few chickens, and even saw a few really big turkeys. I don't think I'd ever seen live turkeys before, except on tv. 

We still wanted something warm to drink, so we found a cafe. Or so we thought. It turned out to be closed. The owner (who lived in the house next door,) said we could try the state shop down the road. That ended up being closed. At that point we were pretty well convinced that nothing is ever open in this village. Except the lavra.

As we were walking, I stopped regularly to take photos of old cars and old houses. At one point I looked over and saw an old truck sitting in a field. It has clearly been there for a while and wasn't going anywhere, because there was a tree growing through the front grill. 

We found a Greek Catholic Church, and wanted to enter. Then we realized it was still under construction. Argh. 

We looked at our watches and realized it was finally time to go back to catch the marshrutka for the ride back. It was kinda raining, and generally unpleasant, we were more than ready to go.

The marshrutka came on time, yay! The driver didn't give me back the right change, so Oresta reminded him how math works, and I got the correct amount back. 

90 minutes later the marshrutka dropped us off in Lviv. We caught the tram heading toward the city center, and hopped off when it got to the stop close to where we wanted to eat lunch. (A late lunch is better than no lunch.)

We chose the restaurant Kumpel, which is a microbrewery with a good menu. It is times like these that I really wish I could have a beer. The options sounded so good. 90 minutes later we left, I was feeling fat and happy. 

We walked to the hostel, and finally checked in. We rested for a few minutes, then changed into slightly nicer clothes for our evening plans. 

At one point during my last trip I'd realized I had heaps of photos of the opera house in Lviv, but had never attended a performance there. I suggested the idea to Oresta, she was happy to come along. The opera house in Lviv is an old European classic theater, very pretty. It's not too big, it's not too small. 

It took us a while to figure out where to check out coats, as apparently each coat check is only for designated areas of the theater. There were no signs saying this, we only learned as each coat check lady told us we were in the wrong place. 

We had chosen tickets for the center of the front row of the second balcony. I'm sure plenty of people would say we were too far away, but I thought we were in a perfect spot. 

It drives me nuts to be off to one side, and I don't like to be close enough to see the makeup. Plus, our tickets were cheap, less than $10!

The performance was fantastic. The choreography, acting, costumes, set, etc... All of them were great. I started coughing in the middle of the first act and had to leave for a few minutes, but came back and was able to see the rest of the show. I'd love to see another performance. 

We stopped by a small market on the way back to the hotel, hoping to find food for the next morning, then went to bed soon afterward. 

The next morning Oresta went to find coffee and flowers while I didn't do much. When she came back we walked out together. 

Since Oresta grew up in Lviv, she knows the town quite well. She also has relatives buried in different cemeteries around the city. She wanted to honour a couple of those relatives by visiting one of the ceremonies, so I went with her. 

We took a city bus (built/manufactured in Lviv, yay) to an area toward the edge of town. Definitely NOT a touristy area. We followed the paved street for a moment, then walked on a gravel/dirt path for a bit. The cemetery itself was on top of a hill, with smaller homes still next door and across the street. 

Even though she hadn't been there in a while, Oresta was able to find the graves she was looking for. She cleaned off both of them, and laid some of the flowers she'd bought earlier in the morning. It was nice for me to learn about someone's personal connection to the area. 

A minute or two after leaving the cemetery Oresta reached into her pocket for her phone and realized it wasn't there. She checked her purse and it wasn't there either. We walked back to the cemetery, it wasn't there either. Uh oh. 

She gave me her number and I called it, hoping we would hear the ring or feel the buzz. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. 

We walked back down the hill and to the bus stop across the street from where we'd arrived. On the way, Oresta used my phone to call her mom and tell her what she thought had happened. (Phone falling out of her pocket on the bus, or pickpocketed while we were on the bus.) Her mom called the phone as well, and got no answer either. 

We went back to our hotel room to check, but the phone was not there. Since Oresta hoped it had simply been left on the bus, we went back to the us stop and got the phone numbers of the driver of our bus and central bus administration. She called them both, but no one knew anything. Boooo.

After all the calls, we needed food. I suggested my current favourite place in Lviv, the cafe that specializes in waffles. Yummy, as usual. I will be back. 

While we were eating, Oresta's mom called my phone. She said she had contacted a family friend, who would be going out to the cemetery to look for the phone, just in case it ended up there and we had somehow missed it. She expected Oresta to go as well.

We went back to the hotel to check out officially and store our bags for the rest of the day.

Oresta then went back to the cemetery, and I started walking through Lviv. I followed the route the tram I'd ridden takes to the edge of town. I can't say that I saw anything stunning during this walk, but it was nice. I felt as though I got to see parts of Lviv that are more 'normal' if that makes sense. 

Since it is a Ukrainian city, of course I saw churches. Several of them. I wonder if anyone has ever visited all the churches in this city. Certainly not in one visit. 

I climbed up to the second level of one of those churches. Watched a few people kiss icons in another church. 

I found a set of stars painted in various colors. They were filthy, with dirty sludge, argh. I'd like to see them again when the weather is better. 

Eventually I turned around and came back into the city center. The sun was sinking in the sky (I think, though with the dark clouds it had been dark-ish all weekend.) 

By that point I felt as if I'd seen enough for this visit to Lviv. So I went back to the waffle place, and had another. I also ordered a salad, in an attempt at being healthy. 

Then I went back to the hostel and hung out for a while and charged batteries. Around 2100 I walked to another cafe, in the direction of the train station. This was the cafe I'd discovered during my last visit, the one with really good cherry strudel. I had a giant piece, just because I wanted to. 

Eventually it was time to go back to the train station, where I caught my night train back to Kyiv.

This won't be my last trip to Lviv! 

ukraine: kyiv: mom came to town

Yay, my mom came to visit!

I picked her up at the airport, and even though my voice still sounded awful and it wasn't easy to talk, we chatted all the way back to the city center. Since I live in a very small flat on the edge of the city, mom got a hotel in the city instead of staying at my place. 

After resting up for a while we walked down the street to TGI Fridays. The sign written in Cyrillic still makes me laugh after four years. I had steak, and it was everything I wanted it to be :)

The next morning I had to teach, though it was a struggle. The kids were good, and I just danced during our normal music time instead of singing and dancing.

I met mom after class, she came with me to the doctors office for my last treatment on my vocal chords. It went quickly and smoothly; mom took a photo of my name (written in Ukrainian,) on the screen outside the room while I was in there. 

We went to dinner at Revolution Grill, my favorite place in Kyiv. All I need to say about that is YUM. 

The next morning, we walked along Khreshchatyk, which is pedestrian on weekends. Definitely the place to see and be seen. It was even more crowded because it was the start of a long holiday weekend. This was the first holiday weekend I've even stayed in kyiv in four years! 

We had a late breakfast/early lunch at a place I've always called Violettas cafe. That's not the real name, but my friend Violetta introduced me to the place, and I can never remember the real name of the place. It's a budget, cafeteria style place. Why spend a lot of money on food when you don't have to?

After Khreshchatyk we walked through Maidan, up the hill to St Sophia's platz. I showed mom the statue of Boghdan Khmelnytsky, an independence fighter in Ukraine several hundred years ago. 

We didn't go in St Sophia's, I don't really know why. We walked about two blocks down the street, to St Michaels. We did go in that church, it was beautiful as always. 

As we were walking out of the complex we decided to go in the bell tower. I'd always known it is a museum, but I hadn't known previously that you can go up the bell tower as part of the museum. It turned out to be awesome!

Very cool to look down on st michaels, and be able to look up the street toward st Sophia's.  In the museum we got to see a bit of the history of the church, including pictures of what it looked like when Lenin's buddies blew it up in the 1930s.

From there we walked to andreiivsky uzviz, a street full of stalls selling kitschy tourist stuff. We walked a little of the street, (it's a little steep, and made of cobblestones.) We also took a look inside St Andrew's. It's a museum now, not an active church, but still hosts an occasional baptism or wedding. I paid the fee to take photos, which I've never done before, though I have taken quite a few photos of this church over the years. The fee is less than $.50, not exactly breaking the bank.

We finished in this area, and I led mom over to Mosaic Park. My favorite park in the city, even though it's always full of  people.

Next up was a stop at Coffee House, which is normally my favorite coffee chain in kyiv. This visit was a disappointment, as they didn't have 3 of the 5 things mom and I tried to order. Argh. 

From there we decided to walk back to the hotel and have dinner at a restaurant closeby. Another not so great experience, unfortunately. Moms salad came out really fast; although it was quite good, she was finished eating long before my sushi came out. I'm normally fine with meals coming out at different times, but more than 30 minutes in between is ridiculous.

Sunday mom finally came out to see my flat. I wasn't surprised when she started cleaning, she's always done that for me. I didn't let us stay long enough for her to clean the entire flat. We had lunch, cooked by yours truly, then went back to the hotel in the city center. After relaxing for a little while we found a cafe on Khreshchatyk, neither one of us felt the need for a big dinner.

Afterward, I took mom to a nearby French bakery for evening snacks, because it's yummy :) We walked through the area, to a small park with a statue of a guy mom recognized, I guess he was a character used in cartoons all over the former east bloc? Or a soldier character known all over the former East Bloc? Something like that. 

The next morning we took the metro to Arsenalna station. It is only one stop from Khreshchatyk, but it's a long stop. 

Mom and I walked down the street to the memorials, for WW2 and victims of the Holodomor. Both of them evoke an emotional response in me no matter how many times I see them.

Continuing down the street we came to the Lavra. When people come to kyiv, I show them St Sophia and the Lavra, as they are both UNESCO sights. 

The difference in this visit was that I discovered you can climb up the bell tower here as well. It's an extra fee, another 30 griven for each person, on top of the 50 griven entrance fee to the whole complex. My legs were jello by the time we got to the viewing platforms but it was sooo worth it. Awesome views. And we had beautiful skies, which made it even better.
We visited the two main churches in the complex, I know I've described both of them in previous posts. I was finally able to get good pictures of the inside of the church I like the best. Apparently it's a great idea to visit in the middle of a weekday:)

I took mom down into the 'caves' area, she enjoyed it even though the area is a bit claustrophobic. You can only walk in one direction, and there isn't a lot of air flow. 

Next we continued down the street to Rodina Mat, the statue and WW2 memorial area.
I've only visited Rodina Mat once before, the first year I lived here; that time I arrived through a different entrance to the area. During this visit it was a lot more crowded, for two reasons: it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and it was the middle of a Monday afternoon, at the end of a long holiday weekend. 

Rodina Mat is a 62m tall statue. I think you can take an elevator inside her to a viewpoint on her head, but I've never done it. 4 years ago the price was 200 griven, I have no idea what the price is now. Due to the political situation this year, the government and president of Ukraine had decided to use the posey to represent 8 May, the date recognized as the end of the war in Western Europe, there was a crown of posies on the head of Rodina Mat. Previously, Ukraine has celebrated the holiday on 9 May, as that was the day Stalin spread the news in the former USSR. I think Ukraine is now celebrating both holidays?

Nowadays Russia uses St George's cross as a symbol for the day. All over Kyiv you could see both symbols, different ways of marking the same moment. Poroshenko (the president of Ukraine, made a speech on 9 May, on a stage in front of Rodina Mat, I'm glad mom and I didn't get there until the 11th. 

I had to go back to school on the 12th, but I only had to teach in the morning. Mom and I had lunch at Puzata Hata again, then walked Khreshchatyk again. When mom travels there are certain souvenirs she looks for, and a football (soccer) jersey is one of those items. It took us a while, but eventually she found what she wanted.

I had thought there was an Adidas store nearby, I turned out to be very wrong. The store probably moved during all the madness of Maidan last year. 

We also traipsed through Bessarabsky Market. It's listed as a place to see in all the guidebooks, and it is pretty, but I don't see a reason to buy anything there. All the prices are much higher than they should be, they're all geared toward foreign tourists with money. 

Since it was mom's last night in town, we went back to revolution grill for dinner. Another yummy experience. I might have ordered too much in the drinks department: a caramel milkshake, citrus lemonade, pear lemonade, and something called birch sap. It was all worth it :)

The next morning I put mom in a taxi to the airport, and I went back to my normal schedule at work. 

ukraine: ternopil, kremenets, pochayiv

camille enjoyed traveling to lviv enough that she was willing to travel with me again over a holiday weekend the next month...we had a three day weekend, and stupidly decided to wait until the last minute to buy train tickets...note to self, this is not a good idea, as there are few tickets left for any destination...i ended up picking some random city listed in the guidebook just because we wanted to go somewhere, and not be stuck in kyiv for a long, holiday weekend...
our night train took us to ternopil...as soon as we exited the train station in the morning, we took a taxi to the bus station...maybe we could've walked, but we had no map, and it was just barely daylight, and much colder than we'd expected...

we got to the bus station, and the ladies selling tickets were telling everyone they couldn't sell any tickets for the time being, as no buses were going anywhere due to the bad weather...since we didn't understand the reason, all we knew was that we were at a bus station in a small town, unable to go anywhere, which just annoyed us...
when we did figure out it was because of bad weather both of us wondered about that...this is ukraine, which gets more than its fair share of cold, crappy winter weather...eventually the storm hit us, and we understood...bits of hail, sleet, and general yuckiness...

eventually buses did start to leave, and we were able to get seats to a town called kremenets...its a small town in western ukraine...according to lonely planet, this town was never captured by the mongols when they came through this area in 1240-1241...
there is a fortress on top of a hill just outside town, and my original goal was for camille and i to hike up to the fortress...there isn't much left to the fortress, it's more a few ruins, a ring of walls, and a gate tower...howeva, as we got off the bus, we realized the hike was not going to happen...the wind was blowing, the snow was falling, and neither one of us was mentally prepared to deal with the messy weather while hiking...plus, we didn't know where to find the trail head...

at that point, our goal changed to finding food...we had been on the train all night, then on a bus, so we were hungry...we walked through more than half of kremenets before finding a place for food...it's a small town, there are not a lot of restaurants...my guess is that they don't get a lot of tourists, especially not foreigners...the place we ate was a bar of sorts...
we took a look at the jesuit collegium, which was built by the poles when they took control of kremenets (1731-1743)...we didn't go inside, but the outside of the buildings are pretty...plus they are slightly up a hill, so we could see over the town a bit...not stunning, but definitely nice...what breaks up the aesthetic beauty of the collegium is the war monument in front, built by the soviets to memorialize their triumph in WWII...the memorial looks decent, but couldn't they have put it in a different place?

famous violinist isaac stern was born in kremenets in 1920...there were jewish communities here for centuries, until the nazis massacred 15000 people they'd hearded into a ghetto in 1942...(these communities, like so many others around ukraine, have essentially disappeared now)...
after walking through a park, looking in a couple churches, and eating, we walked back to the bus "station" (and by station i mean parking lot) and boarded a marshrutka bound for pochayiv...
pochayiv is another small town, mentioned in the guidebook for only just one reason...pochayiv monastery is "a beacon of ukrainian orthodoxy - moscow patriarchate - on the edge of a largely ukrainian catholic region" according to lonely planet...you can see the monastery as soon as you get off the bus...

the monastery is the second largest orthodox complex in the country, after the lavra in kyiv, and was founded by monks fleeing the mongols in 1240...as it is so big, there are a lot of visitors, but they are almost all pilgrims, not tourists...somehow, you can sense the difference in atmosphere from what i've felt in kyiv...
to get into the monastery complex, visitors (women) who aren't already wearing a skirt and headscarf must go in a small room and borrow (with a deposit) these articles of clothing...at first we didn't know the money was just a deposit, we thought it was a rental fee, and were disappointed by the price...

wandering around the monastery was awesome...except for when an old lady in one of the churches started yelling at us, and we weren't able to figure out why...at first we thought she was indicating something about us not being allowed to take photos, except that we werent taking photos!! (there were very clear signs upon church entry that said no photos)...then she started pulling at our pants, maybe she was saying we shouldn't be wearing those? except that we had on the borrowed skirts over our pants, and we certainly weren't the only people with this particular fashion statement...maybe she was just crazy? camille and i never did figure this out...

after exploring the monastery and wandering the town (the town walk took about 10 minutes) we found a place to catch a bus back to ternopil...this ride was a true adventure on roads not in particularly good shape...winter weather in ukraine must make it VERY DIFFICULT for road engineers to keep anything in good shape...lots of potholes and bumps...
we got to the hotel easily enough in ternopil, they had our reservation...one of the reasons i'd chosen this hotel was their listing of having a sauna...it turned out to be part of a complex called aqua world...or something along those lines...after me arguing a bit, we were able to pay for just the turkish hamam (we weren't going to spend any time in the pool, and had no desire to pay for that)...an hour of steam room time alternating with dips in the cold pool and the dry sauna, and we both felt amazing...i'd go back to ternopil just to go to that sauna:)
our hotel had room service, we both ordered pizzas for dinner...nothing outstanding, but we didn't care...

the next morning we had breakfast in our room, packed up and checked out...we didn't have much of a map, so wandering around was a challenge...we found a big street market that covered both sides of a road...normal stuff available: fruits and veggies, tires, mops, bread, etc...
we found a park along a river, that was lovely and peaceful...there was snow on the ground, and it wasn't completely dry so we had to watch where we went...
in town i was taking a picture of a statue with flowers laid at the bottom when a congregation came to the statue and sang hymns...i was not able to figure out what was happening...but when i thought about it, it was a holiday weekend, so that probably meant something...
we found a park along a lake...there was an island in the middle of the lake, with a very picturesque bridge leading to an area looking out to the island...the lake was frozen at the time, which made everything that much more picturesque...awesome...i was not very patient in waiting for people to get out of my photos...(usually i can wait for a long time, but i was very impatient that day)
the train station ended up being quite close, we timed our arrival so we didn't have to wait long for our train...the train ride back to kyiv was nice, mostly during daylight:)