The Ukraine has been in the news a LOT lately (side note: Jeopardy! says that you do not need "the" in front of the country name but I find it very hard to call it anything else so I'm going to continue calling it "The Ukraine.") And forewarning... this might be my most picture-filled post just because Kiev was SO interesting. And a long weekend did not do it justice. If I could have, I would have spent a week here!
But you know the drill. Super cheap tickets on Ryan Air and boom... let's grab an eccentric, not very well known country where very few people speak English and this guy behind me is the ultimate photo bomber. OK, maybe I shouldn't use the phrase "bomber" while on an airplane.
Dare I say, I spy some Kelvin Helmholtz waves up here at whatever thousand feet?
Alas we landed and didn't have much time for anything but checking in, grabbing some snacks and beer at the local grocery store and going to bed!
But we were up bright and early (ok, that's a lie) to check out the cool city of Kiev! The city name is actually spelled "Kyiv." ACTUALLY, they spell it Київ, but that's not something I can spell easily on my American keyboard. Above you can see a daytime view of Tetris Hall, which is a residential complex across the street from where we were staying. Wait until you see it at night! (Stay tuned!)
Look! It's a pretty manhole cover of Kiev!
We decided to try the metro as we had heard good things about it. Notably, that it was cheap. Imagine our surprise as we were walking to the metro and passed a guy wearing a Patriots jacket! Go Pats!
Quirky countries that are constantly amusing me are the ones I want to visit. And Kiev was definitely THAT. Hey, you should buy this coffee drink with popcorn on top of it. Because... Kiev.
Kiev's metro is DIRT cheap and still uses little plastic tokens (kind of like St. Petersburg.) One way costs you 8 Hryvnia, or 0.33 cents in US Dollars.
PLUS, the metro stations are super pretty, and very clean!
Independence Square was our first stop in the city. On the metro, it's the Maidan stop.
Independence Monument (or column) was built in 2001 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the Ukraine's independence. At 200 feet tall, it is (strangely) the highest monument in the country. (Superlative, check!) Also interestingly, there are about 2.8 million people living in Kiev, which makes it currently the 7th largest city in all of Europe.
Just hanging out in Independence Square-- a mobile barber shop. But of course, Kiev.
Todd and Natalie got "caught" by one of the weird humans dressed up as an animal that roam around Independence Square, asking for money for people to take pictures with them. (And don't mind my teeth, I have Invisilign so they look super weird!)
This is a panorama of the west side of Independence Square.
And this is a panorama of the east side of Independence Square.
A very popular statue in Kiev is the Founders of Kyiv Monument that sits to the left of Independence Monument (if you're facing it.) It features three brothers and their sister who were considered to be the founders of the city back in the 6th century. At this point, we recognized that we had forgotten Grant's EpiPen back at the apartment which was far away from the Maidan. This is when we discovered that Ubers were only about $2-$3 back and forth to where we were staying. Uber for the win! I've never experienced something like that. It was a little terrifying, but super cheap.
We got a fantastic recommendation from the Samborski family to eat at Korchma Taras Bulba. They go to our church- and their daughter Eva is in 7th grade with Natalie (and has been with her since 3rd grade - this is rare in the military world!) They used to live in Kiev, and we LOVE local recommendations!
The restaurant is decorated in traditional Ukrainian style, with the waiters and waitresses wearing traditional dress.
The plates were BEAUTIFUL.
My kids were even having fun together!
Everyone ordered and loved the borscht! It was also on my scratch off food map. Yum.
Next on the scratch off food map was holubtsi, or stuffed cabbage. It was ALSO delicious! (So good, that I forgot to take a picture until we were almost done!)
You're never going to believe this, but ALL THREE of my scratch off food map items were made in this restaurant! I've never had that happen! Our dessert was cherry vareniki - or sour cherry pierogies. I wasn't sure what I would think of these but they were pleasantly surprising! Even the kids liked them! (Well, Natalie did...) They cut the sour cherry with a bit of sweetness... but not too much! It was really good!
This restaurant could make a TON of money just by selling their beer glasses. The lady at the next table and I really wanted to buy them, so we both asked (separately) if we could purchase one. The poor waiter, who really didn't speak ANY English and had to bring over another waiter who barely spoke more said that they were running out of these glasses because people always steal them! Well stop making your beer glasses so darn awesome!
We once again pretended we were very wealthy by using a very inflated currency. The total bill for this three course meal, four beers, a bottle of water and two sodas? About $40 USD.
Korchma Taras Bulba even has cute little bathroom signs!
Korchma Taras Bulba also has this and I think this is pretty darn awesome. Pretty sure this is a painting of a drunk Sacha Baron Cohen. (Jean Girard, is that you?)
Wanna ride a pretty horse made out of wooden sticks? Only in Kiev!
Is Rudy Giuliani here? Because he certainly doesn't know how to work an iPhone. This was an ongoing joke when we were here in Kiev.
After lunch we headed to the Golden Gate. On the way, we saw this incredible building. Sirotkin's apartment building is a real architectural gem. It was built in 1902, but fell into disrepair over the years and was renovated after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Kiev's Golden Gate was next up. It has a really weird history, totally on par with anything the Soviets/Russians do. This is supposedly modeled after a gate to the city that existed before 1100 AD. But it was torn apart by the Mongols in the mid 1200s and then just kind of fell apart after that. By the 1700s, there wasn't much left and no paintings or drawings of it existed. So when the Soviets decided to recreate it in the 1980s on top of the original ruins, who knows what they were modeling it after! All they had were the archaeological excavations, which didn't provide much.
Me and Natalie hanging out at Kiev's Golden Gate in a super weird panorama.
Busy streets of Kiev (they were doing roadwork ahead.)
Then there was this random Fish Market restaurant that had all of these geese in a coup right outside of the building. Super weird. I like you Kiev, you quirky little city.
The geese were in this coup, and if you're short like me, you wouldn't have know they were there... only they were very loud!
Finally we reached Sofiyivska Square, which sits in front of (of course) St. Sophia's Cathedral.
The bell tower of St. Sophia's is in the Ukrainian Cossack baroque style and was built between 1699-1706. The bell tower doesn't really look like the cathedral behind it (other than the gold domes.)
But boy do I love this bell tower! And boy do I love this boy!
Let's climb to the top, shall we? My iPhone 6S takes AMAZING pictures, she said sarcastically.
From the bell tower, you can see the actual St. Sophia's Cathedral. Interestingly, it was named one of the seven wonders of Ukraine!
Climbing to the top of St. Sophia's bell tower, we took a funny family selfie.
Hey, there are actual bells up here in the tower!
St. Sophia's Cathedral, an UNESCO World Heritage site was built in the 11th century.
A somewhat foggy view of Sofiyivska Square and St. Michael's gold mushroom domes in the distance.
Interestingly, the cathedral was not named after Saint Sophia. Instead, it was named after Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople, present day Istanbul.
The bell tower at night even looks amazing. Like a piece of Delft pottery. Or some Wedgwood.
I really liked the lighting on St. Sophia's Cathedral at night. In the late 19-teens and 1920s, the Soviets wanted to destroy the cathedral and erect a "Heroes of the Red Army" monument in it's place. But scientists and historians saved it from destruction. High fives all around for that.
The walk back to Maidan took us through Independence Square and the Lyadsky gate (also known as the Lach Gate, which features St. Michael the Archangel at the top... be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil! Seriously, this guy loves this prayer!) This, along with the Golden Gate was one of three gates that were around during the Medieval days.
Before we went back to the apartment, since it was dark and only like, 6 pm, I really wanted to go to the Arsenalna metro stop. Why? At 346 feet deep, it's the DEEPEST METRO STATION IN THE WORLD!!!!!
Plus it has really amazing tiles on the walls. It feels like my ceramic fireplace, but prettier.
Arsenalna, in Russian Cyrillic.
We thought this was the longest escalator in the world, but they really split it into two really long ones. But this is REALLY long!
I was just so excited to see the world's deepest metro station! Afterwards, we got more dinner and drinks at the local grocery store. I particularly appreciate the $1.75 two liter of beer. Because in the Ukraine, they sell two liters of beer. It's like a 40, but better.
I didn't get beer though, because you know that's not my jam. I bought a small bottle of Jim Beam in which the CRAZY Billa grocery store forgot to take off the security tab on the top. But it's not like that even stopped me.
I warned you to stay tuned for this! The Tetris Hall buildings at night - they were right across the street from our apartment in Kiev. Why are they called this? Because they certainly look like a bunch of Tetris pieces - and at night they light up. The best part is that the internet calls this the "prestigious area" of Kiev! I won't even tell you that I didn't pay a whole lot to stay here.
Hey... this is one of the best cities ever, so stay tuned because I've got another blog post coming up detailing the second day of our day in Kiev!
Until next time, Kiev! Oh wait......
