ukraine: kyiv: Kitaeva monastery

I've continued to follow a Kyiv specific page on Facebook, constantly finding information about places to visit in Kyiv that were new to me. Since I don't think I'll be in the city for much longer, I've been trying to use non work and non travel time to visit various places around the city, though I don't know if I'll ever feel as if I've seen everything.

As usual, I didn't have classes Friday afternoon, so I set off for one of these visits after finishing paperwork for the week. (In case you're curious, modern teaching involves waaaaaay too much paperwork, it never ends.)

The sight I wanted to see is called Kitaeva Monastery. It was built in 1716 by the monks of the Lavra (another monastery in the city) who wanted a quieter, more retreatlike place in the city. 50 years after it was first built, a 45 meter tall bell tower was added. Empress Catherine the Great (Ekatarina the 2^nd,) loved the place when she visited in the 18^th century.

I found information saying that there are tunnels and caves under the monastery, but they haven't been fully excavated, and are not open to visitors. There are supposed to be ancient Slavic writings in these tunnels and caves, I bet they're amazing to see.

I used the metro first, then hopped on a marshrutka. It was the right marshrutka, but it turned out to be going in the wrong direction, so I got back to the metro and hopped on another. Thankfully, this one was going in the right direction.

From the spot I got off, I had to walk a little bit, through a residential area, past several storage areas. I saw a lady sweeping the street, to get rid of the end of the winter refuse that lines the streets. Sticks and random leaves and whatnot.

I first walked past a cemetery, which was small but pretty. The gates weren't open, so I wasn't able to get into it at all.

I think the monastery is on both sides of the street. I started by looking into a church on one side of the street. It was made of brick, and at first I thought I was going in a side door. When I got inside I realized that was the entry everyone uses.

As soon as I walked in someone indicated that I needed to put on a wraparound skirt, which was fine. It was a small church, and a service was taking place so I didn't stay inside for long. I didn't get to take photos inside that church.

I exited the church and crossed the street to the other side of the monastery. I think this is where people live, as I saw a building that seemed sortof like a dormitory.

I found two churches in this area, unfortunately both of them were closed. Both of them had signs on the doors saying that worship was taking place in another church at the time, I'm assuming it was the first church I visited. I'm not sure if these other two churches are open at other times, I hope they are.

Next to one of the closed churches was a series of grave markers, above ground. The church itself was white, with green on top. It was a stand alone building, I really wish I'd been able to go inside.

The other closed church seemed much smaller, and was attached to another living area. At least that's what it looked like to me.

Since I couldn't go inside any more areas I exited the grounds of the monastery and kept walking along the street. It didn't take me long at all to get to the area labeled as a park on google maps. It seemed like a waterway with a dam of sorts.

I realized it was sunset, and looking one way from the dam was absolutely beautiful. The colors of sunset were reflecting on the water. I loved it.

After enjoying the sunset for a few minutes I walked back to the street and found my way to a marshrutka stop to get back to the metro station. From there I rode the metro and eventually got home.

Yay for getting to know Kyiv as much as I can before I leave.  

ukraine: odessa

I had an open weekend, so I decided to revisit another city in Ukraine. This was my third visit to Odessa, in southern Ukraine.

I had booked myself onto a night train from Kyiv, walking from school to the train station in order to catch the train on time. The train left on time, as most Ukrainian trains do.

Despite leaving on time, the train was just over an hour late in arriving the next morning in Odessa. I didn't mind, since it was supposed to arrive at 0500 but actually arrived around 0615. The late arrival saved me sitting around the train station for an hour, waiting for sunlight.

I took photos of the train station, since this one is pretty grand. It is also quite busy, with plenty of cars and taxis in front, and people walking every which way.

I followed the map and walked straight up the street in front of the station, called Pushkin Street. Odessa was once the third largest city in the Russian Empire, and still has some of the old grace. Sadly, many of the buildings haven't been kept up very well, but you can see what used to be. I really wished I had a ladder and a proper camera and editing software. I took heaps of photos even without all that.

At one point a guy a few years younger than me came up to me and asked for money. I said no, several times. He kept asking/telling me to give him money, I kept saying no, and trying to ignore him. He then called me a 'b***h when he finally walked away. I rarely give money to strangers or beggars, but I can pretty well guarantee that yelling at me and intimating physical aggression are not going to get me to give you money. Argh.

Along the way I stepped into a church, which was in the middle of a Saturday morning service. Do services always happen this early on a Saturday morning? Heaps of people were coming in with bags of bread, then they put candles into the bread when it was sittingo n a table. Is this part of the season of Easter?

Further along the street I passed the Philharmonic Theater, which is a pretty impressive building. The inside wasn't open, which wasn't a surprise at that hour. Maybe I can figure out a way to get inside without seeing a performance?

When I got to the end of Pushkin Street I caught a glimpse of the opera building. It's a pretty magnificent building, an iconic spot in Ukraine. Since it was early on a Saturday morning there were very few people around and I was able to take a photo without anyone else in the frame.

Nearby is one of the many museums of the city, not open at that hour.

I kept walking, and found my way to a statue of Catherine the Great (Katarina the 2^nd,) and the other founders of the city, in the middle of a traffic circle.

My walk took me over a bridge (that crossed a street, not water,) and to the building in which my accomodation was located. Just like many other buildings in the country, it is a big building, with many entrances.

I called the phone number listed on my booking to figure out how to get to the right entry, and found my way inside.

I stayed inside for a couple hours, warming up and relaxing. In the hallway I discovered the (fake) crocodiles who were 'guarding' my room. (Why this place had crocodile statues in the hallway I do not know.)

I got ready to walk again, and when I got outside I discovered it had started to rain. Argh. Not heavy rain, but still really annoying. Rain is by far my least favourite weather to deal with while traveling.

I started walking in the direction from which I'd come to get to my first sight of the day. I didn't have to go far, though it took me a few minutes to find the entrance. The guidebook listed it as a 'house of scientists' but I was attracted more by the photos than by the name. Like the building with the same name in Lviv, the rooms promised interior design beauty.

The outer door wasn't open, and I didn't see hours listed anywhere, but I decided to try anywho. When I walked in, I found two ladies sitting in a coat check area. I indicated that I wanted to look around, they didn't look happy. Was I there when I shouldn't have been?

They were sitting in the coat check area, which didn't seem like an obvious place to hang out, so who knows.

Since I didn't know if there were open hours, I just stood and waited. The lady gave me a number and I handed over the money. It was probably more than it should've been, but I didn't feel like fighting. She seemed really surprised that I was there by myself, not with a tour group.

She took me up the stairs and unlocked the door. Then she left me alone, and went back down to her friend.

I immediately got out my camera and started clicking away. The first room you see when you enter has big windows, goldish coloured paint in areas, etc... It's beautiful. I went into another room, this one decorated in red. Yet another room was also red, this one with a beautifully decorated piano.

As I was walking out of this room the lady from downstairs came into the room and seemed shocked that I was taking photos. She said I hadn't said I wanted to take photos, that that cost extra. The price she quoted was crazy high, I wasn't about to pay that much for photos. I walked through the remaining couple of rooms, thankfully they weren't quite as beautiful, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on photos.

The lady stayed with me as I walked through these last couple of rooms, presumably to make sure I didn't take photos. Argh.

I got back out on the street and continued my walk. My next stop was a building called the building with Atlanteans. Two statues, holding up the world, underneath a balcony, are the photo everyone takes. It's a good photo, but that's about it. Sadly, the rest of the building is not in good shape; you can see where the paint is peeling and everything is just old.

My next stop was what I thought was Vorontsov Palace. It turns out I was wrong. What I thought was the palace was actually called the Colonnade.

As the name indicates, it is a bunch of columns. Despite the rain, I wasn't the only one out exploring, I had to wait my turn. I wasn't necessarily patient about it, but I did wait. A couple girls had an umbrella, which I wished I had, as it would've looked really good in a photo. (Gray skies, white columns, the umbrella was a great pop of colour.)

The building that actually is the palace has Arabic written in a couple places, and didn't look open to the public. Argh. Why do apps and books list sights when they're not open?

More walking took me to what I wanted to see next. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. This set of stairs was closed off at the top, being renovated I think. Argh.

I think the sign said the steps would be open in May, but I'm not really sure.

Potempkin Stairs are well known because they were featured in a movie years and years ago. I haven't seen the movie, but I've been told there is a scene when a baby buggy goes bouncing all the way down the stairs. The stairs are an optical illusion, so they look as if they go straight down the whole way, instead of widening as most stairs look like they do.

Near the top of the stairs is a statue of the Duke de Richeliu, who was a man beloved by Odessans back in the day. I don't know why.

I walked more, ending up at an area called the City Garden. It isn't really much of a garden, argh. There are some green areas, but no special landscaping. There is a gazebo in the middle of everything, but that's about it. My photo looked decent only because of the clouds.

One side of City Garden is bordered by a pedestrian street.

This street took me past bars and restaurants and cafes and shops. One of the restaurants had a statue of a bull in front. I wouldn't have thought of it as anything special, but it was covered in flowers. How often are the flowers changed?

I walked back in the other direction, taking a couple more photos. Both of these were of people from books well known in Ukraine. I don't remember the name of the guy on a bench, but the other photo is from the 12 chairs story.

My next sight was a church. No matter how many of these I see, in countries all over the world, they still fascinate me. This particular church was big, and in the middle of another park. The outside of the church is dark yellow, but isn't very exiting.

I put on my headscarf and walked in. The inside of the church on the other hand is absolutely lovely. Mostly white, with a lovely ceiling, large windows letting in heaps of light, and gold iconostases in the front. I could tell immediately that my neck was going to get a workout from me looking up and around and up and around.

Even though I'm not Orthodox, the atmosphere of this church felt quite welcoming to me. I loved the colours of the church, and I loved the chandeliers. I stayed inside the church longer than I normally do because I liked it so much.

I walked through a place called the Passage, basically a building with a mall of sorts.

The architecture of the interior walkway is totally awesome. Skylights line the entire ceiling, and there are statues leaning off the walls. It's just a mall, but it's really pretty. I stopped into a tiny cafe in one corner and took a break. It's not as if I'd walked a long way, but I was cold and hungry. Tea and macaroons was definitely the way to go.

I started walking again, making my way back to the train station by following another street. I stopped into a couple supermarkets along the way, for more snacks. I took photos of more old but pretty buildings, and admired others. I walked past another church, the old synagogue, and the Arabic center/mosque.

I noticed that security folks were standing outside the synagogue and the Arabic center. Are people behaving inaapropriately at religious sights a thing in Odessa?

Near the train station is a church everyone sees when they leave the train station. St Panteleimon has gold domes, and is not a separate building.

To get into the church, you climb a couple flights of stairs. I put on my headscarf again, and walked in. Immediately I noticed that the center of the sanctuary was being renovated. There was scaffolding around the middle, basically blocking it off. Amazingly, a service of some kind was still taking place along the side aisles of the church. I stayed at the back, staying out of the way.

From there I walked all the way back to my room to drop off a couple bottles of water. They were heavy, my shoulder was starting to hurt.

After that I walked to an Indian restaurant for dinner. At least, that's where I thought I was going. When I got there, I found a sign on the door saying it was closed, argh.

I think the sign gave a reason for the closing, but I don't understand enough Russian to know what it said. It didn't give any dates, so I don't know when it closed, or when it would opem again. I was hugely disappointed, as I'd really liked this restaurant the last time I was in Odessa.

Since I was in the mood for Indian food, I found another Indian restaurant listed on an app, and made my way there. It wasn't nearly as good, but oh well. After dinner I went back to my room and fell asleep rather quickly.

The next morning I woke up early and wasted the morning doing a whole lot of nothing. This is my typical weekend travel behaviour, even though I hate that I waste so much time behaving this way. Argh.

I packed up my stuff and checked out, which seemed to surprise the lady who ran the place. I hadn't checked, but I assumed check out time was around noon, so I needed to get going. The lady let me leave my bag behind the front desk, which was nice.

It wasn't raining that day, thank goodness. I made my way back toward the area with the statue of Catherine the Great, and found a falafel restaurant there. It wasn't big, more like a fast food falafel/shwarma kind of place. They made juice straight from the fruit, it was good.

My first stop of the day was the Museum of Western and Oriental Art. I'd noticed it the day before, while walking up Pushkin Street.

The entrance was pretty, and I was happy as soon as I walked in. The ticket price wasn't big, and I checked my coat. The ticket lady asked me if I planned to take photos, I answered in the affirmative. She told me I could only use my iphone, which didn't make any sense to me, but oh well.

The museum itself is on the second floor, so I walked upstairs. The first room is grand, with a great ceiling. The ceiling was awesome, with guilded gold everywhere. There was some art on display in the room as well, but I didn't pay any attention to it because I liked the decor of the room so much.

The next two rooms were lovely as well, with more art on display. There were also several items of old furniture on display.

From there I went through the remaining five or six rooms of the museum which were very bland in comparison. The focus was entirely on the art displayed on the walls of each room. The walls were painted simply, a different colour in each room. I'm not a huge fan of art museums, but I really liked this one.

Like other museums, this one had an attendant in every other room or so. I assume when traffic is low they turn off the lights.

Back out on the street I continued my walk. The next place took a lot longer to get to, I walked all the way to the beach. Well, one of the beaches in the area. Odessa is more of a summer town, as there are beaches all along the coast, with clubs in nearby areas.

The first beach was close to a set of cable car like chairs, which were tempting just because I like those sorts of things. I didn't see them moving though, and since it was only mid March, I'm not sure whether they were working yet.

I really ought to go back to a beach town when it is a lot warmer.

As I got to the beach I walked to the water just to put my feet in, and say I'd been in the Black Sea. I found a pier and took a couple photos, then got back on a path that was parallel to the beaches, going through park areas. The path was pretty well developed, with lines indicating direction and even separations for pedestrians versus bikers.

At one point I was walking in the pedestrian lane and got honked at by a biker, which annoyed me. Apparently it annoyed the couple in front of me as well, as they yelled at the biker for not staying in his lane. (I don't speak or understand nearly what I should, but sometimes I can figure it out and it's funny.)

I passed by another cute small beach, this one with a couple bigger rocks. With the sky being various shades of gray, I set up a mini photo shoot for myself. Time delayed camera settings are awesome.

More walking eventually brought me to the area of beach and clubs that most people in Ukraine know, Arcadia. I realized really fast that it had been redeveloped since I'd been there 5 years ago. I admit I didn't like the redevelopement, it didn't feel much like Ukraine.

At that point I was pretty chilly and tired, so I found a cafe and ordered a giant hot chocolate. It wasn't nearly warm enough, even though I'd asked for extra hot. I know that baristas don't like it when things are ordered extra hot because they say the milk will get burned, but if I can drink it like cold milk, then it isn't hot enough. Hot chocolate is supposed to be hot!

I found the tram stop, and hopped on the next one that brought me back to the train station area in Odessa. I could've walked it, but I wasn't in the mood. From the train station I walked back to my hotel (which was walking enough,) and grabbed my pack.
From there I walked through City Garden again, the gazebo was lit up at night; kinda pretty to see. I also walked back to the big church, it was lit up at night as well. Since the exterior of the church wasn't all that extraordinary and noteworthy, I was more interested in the groups of locals that had gathered in one area and were playing games like chess. Very cool to watch that for a little while. 

Since I have a tendency to stick with what I know and like, I went back to the Indian restaurant from the night before for another go round. The food was again decent, and I was a happy camper as I walked back to the train station in time to catch my night train.

The train left on time, and I arrived in Kyiv the next morning safe and sound.

If I can find time to take several days to spend on a beach I'm definitely going back to Odessa. I'd also be happy to go back in order to see the catacombs that are somewhere near the city.

ukraine: lviv/sokal

International Womens Day is a holiday in much of Europe. Though the date is the same in different countries, the day is celebrated for different reasons. Regardless of the reason for the holiday, I was just happy to have a day off. This year it was on a Wednesday, right in the middle of the week. I chose to do what was essentially a day trip, with a lot of time spent on trains.

I started my trip with a night train to Lviv, arriving at a ridiculous hour of the morning when it was still dark outside. I found a plug in the train station to charge my phone for a couple hours, then walked into the city.

Each time I arrive in Lviv I have two basic choices as to how I'll walk to the city center, I try to alternate. This particular morning my walk took me past the circus building. It has always looked a bit sad to me, though I don't know why. I'm not sure how often performances happen there. This time it was nice to see the sunrise coming up behind the circus.

My walk took me to the opera building, which is one of the most noticeable buildings in the city. For the first time I realized the back side of the buiding is just as gorgeous as the front. It doesn't get nearly as much attention because it is set right on the street, so there is no place to walk and look and enjoy.

In front of the opera building is a fountain, which was dry at the time. Fountains in Ukraine don't seem to be turned on all the time. Since it was early Wednesday morning, there was no one else around, but I couldn't find a place to set up my camera to take a time delayed photo. Argh.

I continued walking, making my way to one of the many churches of the city, known as the Latin Cathedral. The door wasn't open, darnit. (I found out later if I had pulled a little harder it would've opened. I should stop being so scared of doing something wrong.)

Since that church wasn't open, I found another to enter. This particular church was in the middle of a service, so I kept to the back. Like so many of the other churches in Lviv, this one was covered in frescoes everywhere and was gorgeous.

I went back to the Latin Cathedral and found other people going in. They pulled hard on the door and it opened. A minute or two after we walked in the lights were turned out, which made it seem rather dark inside. (Keep in mind it was still very early in the day, the sun wasn't very strong.) It's so pretty in there.

I walked back to the train station, bought my ticket, and made my way to the train I needed. It was an electric train, not exactly made for comfort or speed. I found a seat and waited to go.

Not long after the train took off the conductor came through to check tickets. Given how cheap my ticket was (approximately 66 cents USD,) I was concerned it was the wrong ticket, but she validated the ticket and all was good.

Three hours later I arrived in the small town of Sokal. The train station in Sokal was small, and almost empty. I checked what time the afternoon train would leave, then started walking into town.

From the train station I could see the domes of a church, so I figured out how to get there and walked in that direction.

It turned out there were two churches on the property. One was much smaller, wood, and much older. The older was bright yellow, big, and new. Neither was open, but I loved the contrast between the two from the outside.

I kept walking, and tried to get to my next destination, an abandoned dominican monastery. I tried to get there by walking at it from opposite directions, but I never found an entrance. Argh. I know there was be a way to get in, even if it is closed, but I didn't find it.

I ended up walking along a street that had at least three houses with chickens. One of them let the chickens run free, they were even in the street.

I crossed a bridge that took me toward the city center. One side of the bridge had a fence painted yellow and blue, but the other side was just old and unpainted. Just after the bridge were the signs marking the official entrance to the city. One of them told me Sokal had been an official city since 1337.

While walking through Sokal I saw a heap of abandoned buildings and homes. They were photogenic, but sad at the same time. I took photos of a lot of them. People walking past probably wondered what I was doing.

I walked past a church, but the outer gate wasn't open. Darnit.

I continued walking and got to the city center pretty quickly. It is rather photogenic, especially considering how abandoned the rest of the city looked to me. There is a fortress tower in the middle of a small platz, it seems to be all that remains of a fortress that once guarded the area.

I found a supermarket and stepped inside to find snacks and drinks.

Further down the street I found City Hall. It's a cute building, and I noticed that two flags were flying in front. Blue and yellow, and red and black.

I saw a basketball hoop in the play area of a school, which made me think of where I grew up. Indiana is known as a basketball state, you'll see hoops everywhere when you drive through the state. If I'd seen a basketball I might've taken a couple shots.

I continued walking, making my way to the edge of a park. On that edge was a small church, quite lovely.

I continued walking and circled around the long way. I was walking fast at this point because I didn't know how long it would take me to get back to the train station and I knew I had a ways to go. Every so often I stopped to take a photo of some random abandoned looking home.

Near the train station I found an abandoned warehouse, which I loved. Lovely!

I took the same three hour electric train ride back to Lviv, which arrived after dark. Since it wasn't warm, and it was dark I walked quickly to the place I wanted to eat dinner. It was the same waffle place I've visited previously, yum. It was also a nice place to hang out for a couple hours before I walked back to the train station.

The night train back to Kyiv left on time and arrived on time the next morning. I love the trains of Ukraine!!

ukraine: poltava

A number of my weekend trips this year have been returns to places I've already visited, this was another of these trips. I booked these tickets only a few days ahead of time, but there were still plenty of tickets available.

Poltava is known in Ukraine, and probably a few Swedes know of the town, but that's about it. Back in the day, a few hundred years ago, Sweden was a growing empire that wanted more land. Poltava is the sight of a battle that stopped that growth in this area.

My train departed Kyiv at 0622, and to make tthat train I walked to my metro station (no buses running at 0510,) and caught the second metro of the morning to the train station. Since this was Saturday I didn't give myself enough time for breakfast, ooops.

I arrived in Poltava on time, and realized immediately that this was the other train station from the one I'd used the last time I visited. These two stations are on opposite sides of town.

This actually worked in my favor, as my hotel was supposed to be only a 35 minute walk or so. Wheneva google maps tells me a time I take it with a grain of salt, knowing that I'll stop to take photos along the way to whereva I'm going, and this stopping could as much as double or triple the time. I love taking the photos though, I think it's worth it.

I stopped in a supermarket along the way, since I wanted food and drinks; I also stopped in two different bakeries. I probably didn't need the tart, but it was tasty anywho.

I walked on one of the main streets of town, which is separated by Chestnut Alley. The car lanes are on each side of the road, and I'm sure the trees are lovely when in bloom during late spring, summer and fall. Right now, toward the end of winter, they don't look like much.

Eventually the lanes came together, and I continued to follow the road to a park in the middle of the city.

This park is a circle, and traffic runs all the way around. In the middle of the park is a column, dedicated to the glory of Ukraine. There was a banner wrapped near the top of the column, saying 'glory to ukraine, glory to the heroes.' I have to admit it didn't look very good to me. Sitting on top of the column is an eagle covered in gold. There are two flags as well: the blue and yellow of the traditional Ukrainian flag, and the red and black flag of various Independence organizations. At the bottom of the column are reliefs dedicated to specific battles.

I found an abandoned building that wasn't blocked off. I looked into several rooms, and thought about going inside but saw someone climbing in through another window, which made me aware that people were living in the building. I wasn't keep about exploring an abandoned building with people around. Still, it felt spooky, and I took my photos. In a nearby yard I found sevearl art sculptures, which struck me as rather quirky.

I arrived at my hotel, and was able to check in immediately, which was nice. I ended up staying in the room for several hours, just resting, which I didn't really need to do. Once I started walking again, the weather had gotten better; at least, the sky was blue instead of cloudy.

I walked along, following a street near my hotel. It was an easy walk, all I had to do was go straight. About 20 minutes later, I got to my first sight. It was a memorial to those who fought in the Great War, as it is called in Ukraine. As with nearly every Soviet memorial I have ever seen, it was big. I think the architectural style is called Soviet realism, or something along those lines. (I could be totally wrong.) The man in the memorial had a sword, and was labeled Poltava, so it was definitely just for this town.

Not too far from this memorial, in the same small park was a small church, St Panteleimon.

There was nothing exciting about the church, but I took the photo anywho. I went into the church, but there was a service taking place and it was really small; I felt as though I was intruding.

Further along the street I came to another supermarket, where I bought snacks I didn't need. Not too far behind the supermarket was another church I'd been looking for. One can never call Ukrainian churches boring, and this one was no different. It was painted sea green on the outside, with typical domes on top. I loved the interior, and remembered to look up as soon as I went inside. The cupola was painted inside, and it was lovely.

I walked back into the city center, and found the pedestrian street I remembered from my previous visit. It isn't an exciting street, but since this was a Saturday and the weather was decent, there were plenty of people out for a walk. I had already seen the sights on the street, but walked it anywho, just bcause I could.

Along the way I passed restaurants and cafes, shops, a theatre, a church, and more. The end of the street brought me to another church. I entered the bottom of the bell tower, there is a small iconostasis in a small room.

I lit a couple candles and said a couple prayers for loved ones in my life. I was the only one in there, which was nice.

I entered the main part of the church as well, and remembered why I don't love this church so much. The large iconostasis is still being built, and is made of wood. There is no color right now. The interior of the church is still relatively new, the floors are made of slippery stone, and no painting has been done. Since the church is still new (or at least the interior is new,) it didn't feel very welcoming to me. I don't love churches that are super busy in terms of decor, but I want something other than just plain white.

I walked back up the street, as darkness fell. As I got to the end I found a branch of a sushi restaurant, and had dinner there. On the way home I ordered what I thought was a large hot chocolate at a bakery, but it wasn't big and it wasn't nearly as hot as I wanted.

Since it was still mid to late February, the sun goes down early enough that nights can still be quite long. In other words it was dark but I wasn't ready to sleep yet. I wasn't terribly productive though, I played around online for several hours.

My bed wasn't very big, but it was comfortable, and I fell asleep quickly.

The next morning I woke up early as I always do even when I don't want to. I wasted more time, as I always do, but it wasn't as bad as my usual time wasting. Breakfast wasn't included in my room rate, but I'd seen a menu I liked the night before, so I opted to have breakfast at the hotel. Fried eggs on bacon, oatmeal, and tea. All that for less than $4, yum.

I packed up and checked out a little after 10am. That's a good two hours earlier than normal for me. Yay for progress in terms of not wasting travel time! I left my backpack at the front desk, which was handy.

I walked along the street of the hotel, ducking into a few open backyards at times. I have taken a lot of pictures of old postboxes while in Ukraine. Poltava has a lot of storage units in backyards, as well as outhouses. A lot of houses I saw were old, and not in great condition.

I came to an intersection, where I saw another memorial. This one is supposed to be to the resting place of Peter I.

As I arrived, a little boy was climbing all over the monument, being watched by his parents. I stood there for a few minutes, they left eventually. I took my photos of the monument and turned onto a different street. This street took me to a viewpoint, looking over the northern part of the city. I was able to look over to a monastery, a place I wanted to visit during this trip. Along the fence were heaps of padlocks, I supposed this was the local equivalent of a love bridge.

Back on the first street I walked, I went into a church. I lit a few more candles, and said a couple more prayers.

I kept walking, heading toward the church I'd stepped into the night before. I didn't want to go into the church, but I did want to go behind it, where another unique monument is located. I have no idea why, but there is a monument to halushky here. Halushky are the local version of dumplings/mandu/vareniky. It looks like a giant bowl of them, with a giant spoon next to the bowl. I waited for a family to take their photos, then took my own.

I walked back up the street, to my next destination. This was a museum I'd only seen from the outside previously. The Poltava Museum of Local Lore has a really nifty looking building, but I was expecting the interior to be the same as many other regional museums I've seen in Ukraine. I figured I'd be in there for 30 minutes or less.

I was pleasantly proved wrong. The inside of the building was just as unique as the outside. Most of the columns were tiled, with flowers and/or green. The stairs to the second floor were split in the middle. Basically, the whole building was one giant photo op.

Not only was the building itself photogenic, the displays were really good. There were areas dedicated to the geology of the area, to the flora and fauna of the area, older history, more recent history, traditional life, etc... If I could read Ukrainian I would've been in there sevearl hours, learning a lot about the region. I really enjoyed the temporary ceramic displays, and one room that made me think of a banquet hall or theater. Stunning, to say the least.

After the museum I walked back toward my hotel. I walked on the pedestrian street again, and remembered along the way that this weekend was the weekend the whole country celebrated the traditional holiday of Maslenitsa/Maslyana. It's an old holiday, basically saying goodbye winter and hello spring. There are traditional clothes, traditional dances, and the most common food is a blini. (In English we'd say crepe.) The blinis represent the sun, and are eating with toppings like jam or nutella. Yum. I didn't buy food from any of the stalls, but I made a mental note for later in the day. I watched the dance performance in front of the theater for a few minutes too.

I didn't go into my hotel, but walked on the same street as I'd first walked after checking in the night before, only in the opposite direction. I went down the hill, taking a few photos of old houses along the way. The one that stuck in my mind was blue. The paint was peeling off, but still had the same intense colour I'm guessing it had when first painted.

At the bottom of the hill the road starts to switchback, but I didn't have to follow the road, as there were stairs going straight across the area, going up the hill. The stairs took me under a railway stop (for a commuter train, I'm sure,) and to a final set of stairs. These took me to a side entrance of the Holy Cross convent. This was what I'd been able to see from the viewpoint earlier in the day.

The property of the convent is surrounded by this wall, but the gate at the top of the stairs was open, and I went in.

There were two churches to see. I went in one, after putting on a head scarf. As soon as I got inside, someone indicated to me that I needed to put on a wraparound skirt as well.

There was a box of them, so that was easy enough. None of them went all the way around me, so I had a slit of sorts. Since I was wearing pants it's not as if anything was showing that shouldn't have been showing. I stood in there for a few minutes, loving the iconostasis at the front of the church. The church wasn't big, but the iconostasis made it feel grand. The iconostasis was gold, or painted gold. Along the entire roof were pieces of wood in a pattern, which I also really liked.

I went into the other church, which was much bigger. Much much bigger. There were also other visitors, unlike the first church I walked into. I wore another wraparound skirt in this church, this one wrapped all the way around me. The iconostasis at the front had more levels, but was made of wood, and not painted in gold. All the decorations around the church were made of unpainted wood, so it was a different sort of grand.

Of course the icons were colourful, they always are. There were a couple coffins, I'm not sure if there were mummies or just representations of saints inside. When I looked through the glass lids I could see a 'crown' as well as the 'gown' worn by a man of the church, which is why I don't know. There was a steady stream of visitors while I was in there.

I went outside and looked at the bell tower. From what I saw, there was no way for visitors to climb up, darnit. I left the property the same way I'd entered, through the side door. Back down the stairs, then back up the hill toward the city center. When I got back to the pedestriant street I bought grilled chicken. Yum.

From there I walked back to the circle shaped park. I walked through the park and out another street. I walked to a mosque, taking note of it just because you don't see a lot of mosques in the country.

I looked at my phone to check the time, and realized it was going to work out fairly well.

I walked back to my hotel and picked up my backpack. From there I basically walked back to the train station, stopping at one of the bakeries I'd visited the morning before. This time around, the train station was a lot more crowded, apparently heaps of people needed to go back to Kyiv. I only had to wait around 20 minutes before the train arrived, yay. The train arrived, we all piled on, and off we went. I had to kick someone out of my seat, but everything was good.

3 hours later, we arrived in Kyiv, on time. This will probably be my last trip to Poltava, but I've learned never to say never.