Adventure in Kiev - Part 6: Kissing Corpses

I began today by heading down into the intimidating Ukrainian Metro to head off to meet Yakov just south of downtown Kiev. For the record, they do not hand out subway maps like in London, though the system is not as extensive and complicated as London. It is made up of 3 lines that intersect at the center of town and radiate outward. This was the soviet way. Of course, there is no english printed anywhere either. However, thanks to the power of the iPhone, I was able to download a map, and use the homing beacon to place a pin where I was staying, so I felt I was at least heading off into the Ukrainian unknown equipted. Thankfully, I also had Yakov's mobile number in case of emergency.

I made my way to Arsenal'na. I arrived before Yakov, so I sat down on a curb and listened to "American Idiot" by Green Day as though I was feeling good about having sucessfully navigated the Soviet subway system, I was feeling about an out of place as I could be. I must not have looked that out of place however, as people came up to me and began asking me directions in Ukrainian. It must have been the headphones.

We walked through the streets and underground markets stopping briefly at a Video store. There you could buy any movie you might want: released on video or otherwise. Piracy is huge in the Ukraine, and many of the films currently in theaters were available for purchase already on DVD. Complete with commentary. . . (Explain that one to me. . .)

We made our way to a memorial to the famine victims of 1933. At that time, the Ukraine was resisting the pressures of Russia to join the Soviet Union, so Stalin's plan was to starve them into submission. He had their crops burned, and anyone trying to grow food shot. Simply hideous from our "enlightened modern perspective".


From there we made our way to a beautiful church Kiev Pecherska Lavra. It is famous for its beautiful gold onion domes, its monastary, and its devout Christian followers. It also has an extensive underground catacomb system full of martyrs and saints. Yakov and I entered the catacombs and followed along with the many people paying their respects to the saints. Many people would genuflect and kiss the glass caskets.

It felt both incredibly reverential and pagan at the same time. It was a strange custom to see from my American perspective, but it was explained to me that here in these catacombs among the saints, one had a direct communication link to God.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 5- Bull Testicales

The CAVE, restaurant in Kiev. Restaurants have themes in Kiev, and this restaurant runs a caveman theme. It looks like a cave complete with fossils, running water, and a fullsize caveman. It also has women running around looking like something out of 1,000,000 years BC.





When Yakov recommended this restaurant, I knew where we'd have to go for dinner. I had no idea however that this would bring me an Anthony Bourdaine food find. Under the appetizer section of the menu I found that they served "Bull Testicales".



Since we were a party of 3, the question of how many testicales would come on an order came up. I was confident that there would only be two on a plate, so we might have to order 2 plates for us all to try them. We asked our cavewoman (thank God Yakov speaks Ukrainian, because though many restaurants have english versions of their menus, I'm not convinced that the wait staff understands english) about the testicales, and she said that they are not served as distinct items, but are more of a congealed mass so one order would be suffient for the 3 of us. After much debate and speculation, sadly, none of us proved adventureous to order them.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 4: European Street Party

After a busy day of sightseeing, we ended up back at the center of Kiev at Independence Square where a massive steet party was underway. The streets were blocked off, and everywhere, beer was being sold irregardless of age, to people.






A stage was set up on top of the fountain, and everywhere people were dancing the in the water. It was an amazing site to see.

I didn't do the travel through Europe thing that many people do right after high school or college, and in some way, I feel I've seen what that crazy experience must have been like in this one evening. My pictures will never do it justice, and the energy was amazing. Yakov explained that this goes on every weekend during the summer months.

Yakov asked why we don't see more things like this back in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, we would be so concerned about controlling access to alcohol and restricting people's behaviors that it would kill the excitement that events like this create. We would worry about lawsuits and predicting ways that people might hurt themselves. We'd never allow people to dance in the waters of the fountain for fear that they might slip in the water and hurt themselves. This may protect our society, but it also hobbles it. Youthful exhuberance is what keeps a society alive.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 3

Just down the hill from the hotel I was staying in was this interesting piece of Soviet Art. It shows the triumphant workers emerging out of the stone - a common theme. I thought it was an interesting sculpture and very indicative of the period in which it was made.





I was staying right next to the Polytechnic Institute. It was a great location, not too far from downtown, but also quiet. They certainly must not get many foreigners there as noone spoke english. I'm guessing the hotel is mainly used for guest faculty housing for the university right next door. The university was explained as having architecture similar to that found in Oxford. Having just been there, I had to check it out for myself. Though it may not begin to rival Oxford, it did have some charms of its own and had some whimsical spires and turrets.


I met Yakov and Oksana at the sculpture above and we took off on our first day of siteseeing. We walked through the classically European downtown and visited the National Theatre.







Directly accross from the theater however and occupying what must be an incredibly expensive piece of property, and looking amazingly out of place is an old depressing soviet era building. I can only imagine that the National Theater Managers cringe every time they look out of the front of their theater and see it. The HORROR!

We wandered on to the Golden Gate. This monument goes back to the time 1000 years ago when Kiev was a walled city and this was the main entrance. They've reconstructed the gate from the ruins to show what the main gate of the fortified city would have looked like.

Yaroslav the wise has a great statue next to the gate. It shows him in his classic pose holding the city of Kiev in his hands.















We journeyed on to see two churches that date back to this ancient time of Kiev. The most important church was St. Sophia. This church also dates back around 1000 years old. It is interesting to see the impact of turkish architecture on the architechture in Kiev.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 2: Borsh(t)

For my first night in Kiev, Yakov took me downtown and we walked around Independence Square which is a beautiful downtown area. Ukraine was never very happy as part of the Soviet Union, and had to be beaten into submission - more on that later. This square was built to commemorate their independence from the Soviet Union about 10 years ago. As someone put it, from the size of the monument, you can see how happy they were to be out of it. The area around the square is as high class as anywhere in Europe, and has all kinds of designer stores. It was a warm and sultry evening, just what I always think of and love in Europe.

For dinner Yakov, Oksana, and I went to a very Eastern European restaurant for Borsh. Yakov is a big fan of Borsh though Oksana was convinced I wouldn't like it. Turns out I liked it. It reminded me a lot of Minestrone minus the beans and noodles. It was slightly spicy and very tasty. We also had these little dumplings. I also had my first taste of Ukrainian beer. Like most northern european beers, it was a Lager/Pilsner with a good fullbodied flavor.

Adventure in Kiev - Part 1

My old friend Yakov invited me to come to Kiev, Ukraine for the last weekend of summer bank holiday. I took an additional day off, and booked a flight from London Gatwick to Kiev. It is about a 2.5-3 hour flight. I used Dot2Dot to get from Kings Cross station to Gatwick. In hindsite, though it was a fairly easy way to get to the airport, I would have been better served to have simply taken the Northern Tube line all the way to the airport. It would have been faster and cheaper. Next time. . .



When I arrived in Kiev, I got my first experience dealing with former Soviet protocol. It took almost 2 hours to clear Passport Security. OY!

On the way downtown, we passed a bunch of Soviet apartment buildings that look like giant boxes. They call them "cell" buildings as they were built as modules and assembled together on site. They are rather scary looking, and all I could think of was that they look like hives full of drones. I'm guessing that was the idea.



I was incredibly grateful the entire weekend that I had Yakov and his wife Oksana with me as Kiev, though the largest most metropolitan city in Ukraine, is still not a very tourist non-Ukrainian speaking friendly city. It is an intimidating city that is loaded with history and Soviet built influence.

Many structures are imposing, including the Metro (subway) line. It is full of art and marble. It is built in that Soviet Art Deco style and has a huge bust of Lenin in one of the stations. The metro line is one of the deepest in the world. In fact, I visited one station that is reputed to be the deepest subway station in the world.

Biking Around Kingston

My biking reached its height in adventure the next day. I again consulted the "tfl" website for directions and this time they took me down over the river to Waterloo Station where I folded up my bike and rode the train to Surbiton. Jeff and Damien met me at the station for a bike ride around Kingston.

It was another beautiful day, and we put the bikes in a boat and crossed the Thames to enter the Hampton Court Palace grounds.

Hampton Court was originally Henry VIII's palace, just like in the television show "The Tudors"(of which, Season 2 is hands down the best). We biked right up the front of the castle, dismounted, and walked around a bit more before continuing on our bike ride. It is a beautiful structure, and again a place that would be great to see sometime. Tony loves palaces, and I know he'll love to see this one. It looks very different from the ones we'd visited in France and Germany.

We biked on for quite a while and eventually stopped for lunch/dinner at an outdoor beer garden in Teddington. Jeff explained that the town gets its name as an abbreviation for Tidal Ending Town, as this is as far as the tide gets up the Thames from the North Sea. They were roasting a whole pig on a stick, and how could a foodie like me pass that up.


We walked our bikes across a small suspension bridge and checked out the boat locks, just in time to see them work for some boats heading up river.







From there we made our way to the town of Kingston, where we saw the coronation stone. For 80 years, kings were crowned while sitting on this stone. Now its in a park.

About this time, it was getting to be late afternoon, and it was time for me to fold my bike, climb back on the train and make my way back to London. By the time I made it back to the apartment, I was pooped but it had been a terrific day: sunshine, bikes, palaces, beer, pig on a stick. Only in Europe.