ukraine: kyiv for another khreshchennya

Winter this year in Moscow hasn't been very wintery. It still feels like late fall, the ugly part of the season. The weather has been the same in Kyiv, much to my disappointment. Despite this, I decided to return to Kyiv for another year to take park in khreshchennya, the 12^th day of Christmas, when Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan. This takes place each year on 19 January in countries that have Orthodox Christianity.

Since you can no longer fly directly from Moscow to Kyiv (thanks to the ongoing political mess between the two countries,) I went for the next best option: the train. It is easy enough, but it involves waking up twice in the middle of the night for border controls. 

Thankfully, this year I wasn't pulled for a random interview, just a few questions while the officer was looking at my passport.

My train arrived on time in Kyiv, back to one of my all time favourite train stations. It's grand and traditional, and I love it. After arriving I went to a fast food restaurant across the street to charge my phone and use wifi. After hanging out there for an hour I walked to the accomodation I'd booked.

There was no sign on any door of the building where my hostel was located, but I noticed that there was a wifi signal with the same name, so I climbed the stairs, hoping eventually a door would have a label. Thankfully, it worked out well.

After getting myself sorted for another hour, I started walking again. Since I lived in Kyiv for six years I have seen a lot of the city, so I wasn't aiming for anything in particular, I just wanted to relax in a place that still feels comfortable, like home.

The first place I saw was St Volodymyr's Cathedral. It's a giant yellow church across the street from metro Universitet. Last year during our visit we walked past the church, this time I walked inside. Since this was the day before the holiday, there were plenty of people in the church. Even though I was there in the middle of the day, it was quite dark, as there isn't a whole lot of lighting inside.

The inside of the church is covered in frescoes, it's lovely. I watched people and absorbed the atmosphere for a few minutes.

From there I walked down the hill, passing the pedestal on which the statue of Lenin used to stand. The bottom of the pedestal is now painted blue and yellow, (Ukrainian national colours,) and there is currently a contemporary art piece in front of it.

I arrived at one end of Khreshchatyk Street, one of the main streets of the city. It was rebuilt after the war, by the Soviets. Because of this it is a wide boulevard, perfect for tanks and military marching parades.

I stepped into the Roshen chocolate/candy store (owned by the former president Poroshenko,) and found my favourite toffees, yum. It's not amazing, but it's good :)

At the other end of Khreshchatyk is Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square. It has been turned into a sort of living museum, with signs and information in both English and Ukrainian, descibing what happened in the winter of 2013 and 2014. The emotional reaction I had back then always comes back to me, and I always take a few moments to honour those who died for their country.

As I was walking through the area I noticed that the trade building has been fully rebuilt, it looks stronger than I remember it being during my first couple years in Kyiv.

I walked up the alley of the heavenly hundred heroes (I'm not exactly sure on the translation of the Ukrainian name,) with all of it's memorials, ribbons, and flags, thinking again about everything that happened during that time.

I decided to go see a building I hadn't seen since my very first year in Kyiv, the House with Chimeras. I'm not sure why the building was built, or what it was for, but it is eye catching no matter what. It is across the street from the official office of the president, so it was completely blocked off for several years during and after the revolution.

As I got there I saw that a small seasonal ice skating rink had been set up, and people were queued up to take their turn. Very nice, and there was music being played somewhere.

After taking photos of the carvings on the building, I turned around and walked back north. I'm not sure how I got there, but my next stop ended up being a random cafe, this one with a menu of croissant sandwiches. Yum.

From there I kept walking and ended up next to the Rada, or parliament building. The photo I've always wanted to take means standing in the middle of the street, so I've never taken it. (I don't trust Ukrainian drivers, just like I don't trust Russian drivers.) I don't know how often politicians are in the building, or how much power regular Ukrainians have in making changes to their country's laws.

Behind the Rada is a palace that has never been open since I first arrived in Kyiv. It is always mentioned in the guidebook and travel apps as a sight, but that's not accurate. You can see the outside of the building, and it's gardens, but only from a locked gate in front. The gardens seemed more cleaned up than in previous years, so who knows, maybe there is a plan to eventually open the land and building to visitors. I hope so.

That brought me to Mariinsky Park, which follows the river for a bit. The weather was dark and cloudy, I couldn't see the other side of the river, booo. I followed the paths through the park, all the way until the big platz with the Friendship Arch. 

I think it was given by the Russians to the Ukrainians in the days of the USSR, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be given now.

Side note, the arch was painted in a rainbow during the weeks Ukraine co-hosted the Euro cup with Poland, in 2012, in an effort to show how tolerant the country is. I love Ukraine, but tolerant it is not.

By that point the sun had gone down, so I was able to see some of the city lights, those that weren't covered by clouds. It's always a nice spot.

From there I slowly made my way back to my hostel, stopping at a supermarket along the way to pick up dinner: ramen noodles. 

Despite the noisy roommates in the dorm room, I still got a lot of sleep, it felt good.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, then met Oresta on the platform of one of the nearby metro stations. Oresta was a colleague when I worked in Kyiv, we've kept in touch ever since I left the city.

We rode the metro a few stops, getting off at Obolon station. There we met one of her friends, Genia. (In this case the nickname is the short version of Evgeniy.) He drove us out the north side of the city to an area I've wanted to visit for a long time: the Kyiv Sea.

The weather was the same as the day before, meaning everything was gray. Gray water, gray clouds, etc... Even though there was no colour to be found, I could see why Oresta likes the area so much.

Some locals had chosen to go in the water for their 'baptism' in this area, there was a platform specifically set up for this. We arrived around 1115, so it wasn't yet too busy. By the time we got back to the car it was a lot busier, many more people hanging out near the platform.

We followed the path along the water for a while, it was nice. Quiet, and nice. Eventually we got to a man made beach area, with cute little huts that are probably great picnic spots in summer. Needless to say, it wasn't so lovely on this particular day, oh well.

We walked a little further so Oresta could show me something she'd found a few years previously: an abandoned bobsleigh track!! AWESOME!! There is a gate in front of the track, but there are huge holes in the gate, and a footpath has been worn around one side of the gate. 

Clearly it is regularly visited.

I decided to climb up onto part of the track, using the metal support under the track itself. I wanted to walk further along the track, but that would've meant trusting the wood that still remained, and I wasn't that confident. Plus, I was a bit worried about some of the nails sticking out in random places. Anywho, so fun!

We walked back to the car, and Genia drove us back to one of the metro stations in the city. When I lived in Kyiv it was called Petrovka. Sometime in the last three years it has been renamed, to Pochaina. Apparently the name Petrovka was too Russian. Sigh.

We took the metro to Hidropark, where I've always taken part in Khreshchatyk. As I knew it would be, the metro station was packed. It is probably busier that day than any other day in the year, even when people come to the park in summer. Ukrainians make the religious event into a giant party.

Since there was no snow or ice this year I decided to go in the water on the busier side of the river. Even without the snow and ice, it was still plenty cold, but I'm still glad I did it. Does taking part mean I'm fresh and clean for the coming year?

After drying off and getting dressed again, we went back to the metro station. Oresta went home and I went back to the city center. It was great to spend a few hours with her, catching up on anything and everything. I treasure my friendships.

Instead of trying to see more places in the city I decided to check out a new cafe, the Blue Coffee Cup. I discovered it had a good menu, good prices, good portion sizes, nice decoration and atmosphere, and good service. I might have overeaten, but I regret nothing :) I ended up staying in the cafe for several hours, just because I could.

After dark I finally got moving again, and started walking back toward the train station. I've done that walk so many times that I don't need to use my phone to figure out where to go. Getting back to Moscow was just as easy and smooth (though no one loves the two border control wakeups in the middle of the night) and coming west. 

I'll always be happy to go back to Kyiv. (And hopefully more of Ukraine at some point.)

ukraine: kyiv with a visitor

I love playing tour guide, I wish I could do it more often. (Maybe I ought to look into this as future employment? Anyone reading this know anyone in tourism or that sort of field?) Unfortunately, Ukraine isn't on most peoples' list of places to go, and is in fact a destination a number of my military friends are not allowed to visit for the time being. My friend amanda came to visit for a few days, yahoo. We met in Seoul, through rugby, she now lives in Istanbul.
Amanda was supposed to arrive at 0815 Saturday morning, but when she got to the airport in Istanbul she was told her flight was full so she was  put on another flight a couple hours later. Does it make me sound awful if I say I was glad for the delay? I was able to sleep an extra hour and clean my flat a little more.

I met amanda at the airport, we used public transport to get back to my flat. (shuttle bus then metro then bus). It's an easy trip, but not terribly fast, argh.
After relaxing for a few hours we went back into the city using the metro and bus. After exiting Arsenalna station, we walked along the street going toward Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. It's one of two UNESCO sights in the city. Along the way, we stopped at a place that shows a nice view of the left bank of the city. It's lovely.
This viewpoint is right next to the Holodomor memorial, which always gets me. It's hard to believe someone (or a government) would do that deliberately. Too many people starved, and it didn't need to be as bad as it was.

The Soviet Union never accepted responsibility for it, they always said it was poor farming, and a year of bad weather. Russia says the same thing now. Most of the rest of the world says it was done on purpose, while Stalin was trying to get everyone into collective farms. Nearly all the grain that was grown was exported, or put into locked silos to which the people did not have access. As people starved, the borders were closed, people were not able to escape. Millions died, though the official number of dead is debated. What always gets me at this memorial is the statue of the little girl who is sad and starving. (She looks particularly pathetic during winter, when she is covered in snow, as someone almost always puts a flower in her arms then as well.)

Further down the road we came to one of the entrances to the Lavra. It's the holiest complex in Ukraine, and one of the top 5 in the orthodox world. The entrance used by most people has frescoes on the walls. They're beautiful, but fading. We arrived pretty close to closing time, so we didn't have to pay the entry fee, yippee!!
I think this was the first time I've visited when trees were blooming. So pretty. I took one photo with a cherry blossom tree (it could be anything else, I don't know tree names; the blooms were pink) which I love.
As we approached the main church, I saw an open door. I know from past experience that this door leads to stairs which go to an upper level, and this door is not always open. We went up the stairs only to find that the second level was being renovated. Sheets hanging everywhere, both plastic and cloth. Boooo.

We could hear the music of the service, but could only see glimpses of the intense beauty of this church.
Back down the stairs and through a different door into a small chapel. This chapel has a side door/entrance into the main church. It's only open during worship services, I was happy amanda was able to look in. This church is brightly colored, with gold and new paint everywhere.
I also showed amanda a view over the lower part of this complex. Amanda was more fascinated by what she could see of the statue Rodina Mat, as part of the WW2 memorial. The statue is 62m tall, it's hard to miss.
We followed a path back out to the big street, and walked back to the metro station.

That was all the sightseeing we did that day, but it was still nice. We took the metro back to Khreshchatyk, and ate dinner at a steak place (a branch of an American chain, I always laugh at seeing the name written in the Cyrillic alphabet.) it was good but not wonderful; the dessert was big. Yum.
As we got back to my flat, we went through the supermarket nearby. Amanda loves walking through those as much as I do!
Since Amanda hadn't slept well the night before, then traveled and been out during the day, she was exhausted. It didn't take long for either of us to fall asleep.

The next day we got up slowly, she with coffee and me with chai. I love weekend mornings when I stay in Kyiv, I love starting my day this way.
I had a farewell party to go to, so Amanda and I figured out where to meet in the afternoon. We met up, then walked up a street starting from Maidan. This particular street hasn't really been open to traffic since the protests of last year, I don't know when it will be, if ever. It has been a memorial street, with flowers, pictures, candles, etc. I want every visitor to the city to walk this street, to get a little bit of feeling of what happened here last year.
We made it to the National Art Museum of Ukraine, this was my first visit despite living here almost four years! It's not big, which is perfect for me, as I'm not hugely into art.

This museum is two floors, with four-ish rooms with displays in each floor. The first floor hosts temporary exhibits, if I understand correctly. One of the current temporary exhibits is about heroes. The exhibit recognizes that there is no specific definition of a hero. It can be a regular worker, a soldier, a miracle maker, etc... As part of this exhibit we saw a bunch of paintings of Lenin, which really surprised me. Ukrainians haven't ever been fans of his, and with the recent passage of a law forbidding communist and nazi propaganda, it's expected that pictures and statues of the guy will be removed in most or all places around the country.

There was also a large painting depicting a dinner of some sort, I think Stalin is leading a toast. In the painting are also heaps of others who at various points held political power in the Russian empire. It's neat.
In three different places on the second floor there were young painters making copies of displayed paintings.
Then it was time for tea at a cafe.
We walked from Maidan up a street in the direction of St Sophia. At the top of the street we turned right, and walked to the entrance of St Michael. I've been told this isn't the original church, it was actually only built in 1994; it's a copy of the St Michaels that was destroyed by the soviets back in the day. (In 1938 think.)  even so, I find it beautiful.

As we entered the church, we realized there was a service happening. I've stepped into quite a few orthodox services in the past years of living here, but this service wasn't the normal. There were a number of priests standing on the middle, all of them in fancy dress. (Not just their normal black robes, they had extra gold/red garments on top, and the lead priest was wearing what to me looked like a crown of sorts. I need to ask someone what was happening.)
From St Michaels we walked to Andreiivsky uzviz, (another language calls it Andreiivsky spusk) or Andreiivsky descent. It starts next to St Andrews, and goes down a hill. Amanda and I entered the church, which is different from the other churches we'd seen during the day. From the railings around the church you can see over quite a bit of the city.

St Andrews is close to my favourite park in the city, called Mosaic park. We strolled through, watching people.
At one point we sat down to use an app on Amanda's iPad to figure out where to go for dinner.
We chose a vegetarian place, which was good but expensive considering the portion sizes. The smoothies were healthy and good.
Again, it was easy to fall asleep.
Monday I had to work all day, there is nothing to say.
Tuesday we met up early afternoon, after I finished my morning class. The weather was amazing, almost too hot! (Or maybe it just felt that way because everyone is still used to the idea of winter weather.)

I showed amanda my school, and the hedgehog statue not too far away. Then we made our way over to a bakery that has my favorite cinnamon rolls...there is just a slight glaze on them, they're perfect. Most cinnamon rolls in this country are too dry.
That was just a snack. (Snacks are wonderful, and definitely a weakness for me.)
We took the metro next, then walked to one of my favorite (if not very favourite) restaurants. Both of us wanted a meal, not just a series of snacks.
Revolution Grill is awesome. The menu is somewhat eclectic, it's not at all Ukrainian. Some Asian food, a few middle eastern items too. I had pho, plus a caramel flavored milkshake (they make their own caramel flavoring!) and pumpkin creme brûlée. It was too much, but sooo worth it.

The head chef/owner came over to talk to us, even bringing us a free dessert at one point! The restaurant has been open less than a year, so the menu is still expanding, and the chef is always curious about the opinions of his customers. The food is healthy, and the ingredients are seasonal as much as possible. I try to eat here at least once a month, just because.
The evening was very relaxed, just the way I like it :)
I had to work all day Wednesday, booo. Even worse, I had to wait a fter school to be available in case parents wanted to talk to me about student evaluations we recently completed. No parents showed up, I spent the extra hour and a half really annoyed.
Amanda and I met up for dinner, we went to a place geared toward tourists not far from Khreshchatyk st. I don't always like to do this (go to touristy restaurants) when I'm traveling, but this place has a menu full of traditional Ukrainian food. I figure every visitor has to try salo, even though we don't usually finish all that is served, hee hee.
After dinner we went to the chocolate store not too far away, and picked up some dessert. YUM!
Thursday morning amanda took a taxi to the airport and flew back to Istanbul. Thursday night I flew to Helsinki, a new city for me to explore.

maidan madness

anyone who is connected to world news heard about what happened in kyiv, ukraine during a week in mid february..the protest camp that had been set up since the end of november was growing, political demands were becoming more and more clear as days went by...i don't know why everything happened on these dates, but the short way of saying it is that maidan went mad...government forces started to make moves, opposition protestors fought back, fires were set, snipers shot at people, etc...specific details still aren't known, and likely never will be...by the end of everything, the (ex) president had fled the country, 70-100 people were dead, and the middle of the city was burned...tragedy...
one of the churches near maidan became a makeshift hospital, the bells rang a lot during the violence...the entire complex of the church became a staging point...you can see materials for molotov cocktails...there was a press center, there were canteens set up, fire areas to keep warm...
one of the biggest points to make in everything that happened was that the people of ukraine supported each other...they came with supplies...when they didn't have supplies, they donated money...when they didn't have those, they came themselves to do whateva they could...
the main post office on maidan was taken over as a makeshift hospital, so were several other buildings in the area...(i still don't know how to get mail out of the country, as that particular mailbox has not returned to its previous location...but mail is getting to me from europe and the states)since maidan is close to where i work, and the entire city metro was shut down during the three plus days this all happened, i did not work...i was safe in my flat on the outskirts of town, bored out of my mind...yet at the same time, i was super stressed...i barely moved all day, i was glued to my computer and phone...not speaking the language was tough...i watched live streaming of a lot of what was happening, despite the face that i couldn't understand a word being said by the commentators...

rumors were flying, the worst one being the threat of military control being asserted over the country...i was terrified phone and internet would be cut off, thankfully that never happened...the week after, i walked through maidan...it had become a large memorial...flowers EVERYWHERE...pictures of the fallen, EVERYWHERE...the burned out hulks of busses and other vehicles...bricks taken up from the streets still ready to go in case violence erupted again...even two weeks later, you can still smell smoke/fire, and the buildings are still black...who knows when any of them will be fixed or torn down...there is an unreal sense of sadness and disbelief that everything happened...
these photos were taken after the violence of 19-22 feb, in the first couple weeks afterward...

india part 5

mumbai is probably more in the news these days than any other indian city...first because of bollywood, and 2nd because of 26 november...we arrived in mumbai the morning of 22 jan...there are no rickshaws in central mumbai, which means we had to take a taxi from the train station...the first offer we got was for 270 rupees...we got it down to 80...(though the other taxi drivers weren't too pleased with our driver)...mumbai has some of the most expensive accomodation in india...we paid more there than anywhere else!!!
the daily average income in mumbai is three times the national average...yet more than half the city lives in slums...some of you have probably heard of slumdog millionaire, the movie that has won several awards...much of it was filmed in mumbai, a couple of the child actors in the movie still live in the slums...our first day there, layna and i walked through a very small area of slums...surprisingly, it was one of the friendliest places we've been...the streets are small, and everything is crowded, but the people were really friendly, and eager to talk...the movie opened in india quite a bit later than in the states...(it had already won several golden globes before opening in india)...we went to see it opening night...though it has it's share of complainers, we enjoyed the movie...i wonder if we enjoyed it more because we are currently in the middle of everything it shows?
at the end of the day, ben arrived in mumbai...he's another american, 31yrs old...i know some of you think i've done a lot of traveling...but compared to ben, i've never left my couch...his travelogue gets 5000 hits a month!!! anywho, this is his first time in india, so we introduced him a bit...he just had surgery on his acl a couple months ago, and has only been mobile for 2-3 weeks...he wanted to strengthen the muscles, and reverse some of the atrophy...so we walked...a lot...he said that in the past he's always been the one to want to walk more, but that we put him to shame...hee hee...most of our days in mumbai we walked at least 15K, sometimes as much as 20K...mumbai was our first warm city, so we went from being cold much of the time to sweating much of the time...
asia's busiest train station is in mumbai...it used to be called victoria terminus, and now has a long indian name...people still call it victoria terminus, or vt for short...it's shown several times in slumdog millionaire...we saw the oldest english building in mumbai as well, a church...there are a lot of memorials in the church, and it was interesting to see the differences...some described entire careers, some said how the person died, and some seemed to place more emphasis on who built the memorial...there are lots of colonial style buildings all over mumbai...it's easy to imagine the british there...very very easy...
one of the british influences in mumbai are three different maidans...(think big empty field)...the oval maidan is probably the most well known...the only organized activity allowed on the maidan is cricket...there were LOTS of different games going on...with bowlers coming from every which direction, and balls flying everywhere, it was amazing people weren't being knocked down left and right...the last time we walked through this maidan was republic day, one of only three national holidays...(yup, the entire country only celebrates three holidays together...each state has plenty of it's own holidays and festivals though, and they're awesome)...republic day was very very very security conscious over the whole country...because of additional terrorist threats and a foiled terrorist plot in delhi just the day before, delhi was practically on lockdown, and there was a lot more security in general...during the republic day parade in delhi, the airport wasn't allowing flights in or out...because of what happened in mumbai in november, there was also a lot of additional security...
one activity that ben has become involved in during all of his travels is hashing...it's a running club, much of the time with a drinking problem...it's international, with different kennels in every city and country imaginable...anywho, ben found a hash for us to run, or so we thought...after arriving at the proper place, we realized we were 2.5 yrs late...the owner of the house had even passed away!! note to the mumbai hash club: update your website!!!!!!!! instead of going back to our hotel, we went to the biggest laundry area i've ever seen in my life...HUGE...they do laundry in india by beating the dirt out of your clothes...they slam it against stone again and again and again, in between soakings...it's rather impressive...nearly all the laundry done in the city is done in this one area...i wonder how it doesnt get all confused and returned to the wrong people...
that afternoon we took the ferry out to elephanta island...the guidebook talked about caves with buddhist carvings, and i thought they sounded interesting...as this was only ben's second day in india, and he's got the world's most sensitive stomach (after all his traveling you'd think it wouldn't be that way anymore...when he was in turkey he lost 25lbs in one month!!) he had to run back to the hotel, so he ended up on a different ferry...hee hee...the caves didn't end up being all that great...we liked the ferry ride better than the caves!!
our last day in mumbai we walked to chowpatty beach...it's a reasonable beach, but the water is NOT CLEAN...toxic maybe?...so people just stand around a bit, but don't go in the water much...after the beach we continued walking, all the way to malabar hill, which is supposed to be the ritzy area of town...it's definitely nicer than other areas, but maybe we missed the best spots, because it didn't seem that fabulous...layna and i have developed a love for curd, and when we saw buffalo curd advertised, we couldn't resist...we devoured a half kilo of the stuff, in record time...i don't think ben was very impressed...he loved his lassi though...
in keeping with habits layna and i have developed, we stuck to local places to eat...we rarely eat in places mentioned in the guidebook...we've found that places crowded with locals offer better (and cheaper) food...YUM!!!