Kyiv Day

Kiev Day, or officially the Day of Kyiv, is a holiday in the capital city usually celebrated over the last weekend of May and celebrates the founding of the town.  City residents and suburban tourists (and moi) travel to the city to see performances by actors and musicians where they perform in the streets, and it is usually finished off with a firework show at around 10 in the evening.

We were cautioned about not going down to the City Center this weekend given the large number of people out in the streets, but given that we couldn't go the weekend before due to the protests, Paul, Shiva, and I decided to brave it Saturday afternoon.  Our logic thought was that if this was to be a celebration (kind of like an Independence Day in the States or a Market Day like in Greune), then it would be lots of singing, dancing, beer, and local arts and crafts for sale - harmless.  We walked down and arrived just in time to see an all-girl marching band start off the mini-parade of local sports youth teams.  We walked up the main street which had been closed off for the event and arrived at what is becoming a familiar location - Independence Square.

We stopped for a quick drink and Paul goes to me, "Sam - do you think you could find the road with the tourist shops?"  Ha ha.... he has played right into my hands.  I really wanted to cross off a few more things on my  "to do" list and now I was going to get my opportunity, thanks Paul.  Since I'm the navigator, I slung my purse across my shoulders and told him and Shiva, to "follow me, but I'm not walking slow."  Off we went, up the hill to St. Michael's church - it's actually a working Monastery and the pale blue building is absolutely gorgeous.  We had visited here on our original city tour but you couldn't help but stop to take some more pictures.  I could have led the guys down the next road but I wanted to take the Funicular (the cable car) down the hill and cross it off my list, so off we went.

When we got to the bottom we cut across a side road looking for "the oldest road in Kyiv" which sits behind St. Andrew's church on the hill.  St. Andrew's church overlooks the Podil neighborhood and it is where you find most of the tourist souvenirs.  For this weekend, the "oldest road in Kyiv" turned into the arts and crafts market and we each picked up a few souvenirs.  Of course because we had taken the funicular down, we had to walk back up the hill, but it was a pleasant afternoon - not hot, not cold, but boy was it crowded.  When we came to a fork in the road there was a live band playing so we stopped to listen, Shiva (India) however took a video.  Paul and I are going to be in a lot of Shiva's videos as that is what he prefers to do vs. take pictures.  Since Paul, Shiva, and I are a sub-team we've gotten to know each other well these past two weeks, so Paul and I know that we always need to stop and look over our shoulder to see if Shiva is still with us or if he's stopped to take a video.

From there I led the guys back to St. Sophia's church - are you sensing a theme here in Kyiv - lots and lots of beautiful, historic churches.  On Friday's walk when we passed St. Sophia we noticed crews putting up a stage and when we walked back by it, we were captivated by an orchestra playing and a man singing opera - it was a truly beautiful sound (OK, perhaps I was the only one who was truly captivated but the guys humored me and stopped for a few minutes to listen).  I would have liked to sit down in the chairs provided and listen but after the arm twisting we did to get Shiva and Paul to come to the Ballet next week, I decided I would walk slowly, very slowly, past the church.  I am hoping to go back to St. Sophia next weekend as it has been turned into a historical museum and you can climb the bell tower.

When we finally sat down for dinner it was 7:30 p.m. and we had been walking for three hours, just as long and as far as we had gone on Friday.  I had a lovely dinner of salmon and grilled vegetables, sorry no picture, and thought about the fact that I would be walking up and down hills on our Sunday excursion to the Monastery Caves which is three metro stops away and a little outside of the city center.  I'm feeling pretty good now with all the walking and navigating the city and the metro.  Now, if I can start learning a few more words, I'll be good to go (although the hotel is impressed that I can say my room number - 505 in Ukrainian - pyat null pyat).  I'm really glad and grateful that Paul and Shiva were wanting to go out despite our caution, it was a fun time.  By the way, I've discovered that the beautiful church that we can see from the hotel and the one we walk by on our way to and from work is actually St. Volodymyr's Cathedral and is considered the most ornate church out of the main four in the city.  Here's a picture if you need a reminder.