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Published: September 27th 2007
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Patriotic War Museum
Do not go inside the museum unless you speak Russian. The museum is primarily in Russian with Ukrainian Second and thats it. No guide or booklet or anything We actually managed to get up when the alarm went off today, though we did do it with difficulty. I think it's because the room is so cold that neither of us want to get out of bed. We had a fantastically makeshift breakfast eating out of a plastic container that we bought yesterday, bought for the food inside the container.
We caught the metro rather easily to the nearest stop to the caves monastery. After a short walk we arrived at a large monument overlooking the city with an amazing view. We followed the path round to the monastery and walked into the grounds of the monastery, it was only when we thought we'd missed the entrance to the caves, that we went back to pay.
We went into several buildings which were all very similar; small, gold paint and detailed paintings from the bible. They were painted by a local muriel painting school. Women were supposed to wear headscarfs inside the cave monasteries but most women choose to wear them around the general complex. I decided not to, but kept my jacket on because I would have been severely out of place in a strappy top.
In the entrance to the far cave monastery there was a sign of do nots. Do not laugh, do not wear inappropriate clothing, do not blackguard (whatever that is). We both received a candle and headed into a passageway around the cave. Around the passageways there are glass caskets sitting in niches and lit by lanterns. Each casket has a body of one of the monks that lived in the caves. The bodies are preserved due to the temperature and humidity, however locals believed that the bodies didn't decompose because the monks were true holy men. The bodies were mostly covered but there was an occasional pair of blackened hands, or once a side of a face. I really didn't enjoy the caves and wanted to leave quickly, but we were stuck in a queue of religious fanatics who stopped at every casket and kissed each one and crossed themselves. Neither Rob or I were impressed or in awe of the caves. We found them oddly non Christian and more akin to fundamental Muslim practices. We were both rather glad to leave the complex behind us and with it the overly vigorous crossing, kneeling and praying.
The 62m Rodina
Mat (defense of the motherland) monument stands above the museum of the patriotic war. It's a very ugly statue made out of titanium that is visible for miles around. We paid to go inside the museum but it was a mistake. There wasn't a single word of English anywhere. In previous museums you can ask for a booklet that explains the displays in English, but here they just shrugged when we asked. We went back to the main cash desk and asked the lady there for English material, she said no. wE asked for something in any other language, German perhaps and she laughed rather mockingly and said "only Russian". We spent a grand total of fifteen minutes in the museum which was a shame as we were looking forward to learning a little about the countries history.
We were both a little testy after the museum, so after taking the metro home we slept for an hour in our fridge like room. I don't understand how it is so cold in the room when it isn't that cold outside.
We dressed up for the opera which was rather nice because i've been wearing the same three outfits
for the past month now. The opera itself sounds immensely different depending on who's account you hear. I enjoyed the building and the experience. There was a definate lack of decorum amongst the audience and at one point a heated argument broke out whilst the orchestra was playing. The music was a selection of Arias from numerous different operas. The singers varied and only a few did more than one piece. They sang my favourite soprano aria from Aida, but there were quite a few drab pieces which appeared mainly at the end of the second half.
Rob: external to the main room the opera house was very impressive, the main room itself was smaller and less stunning than manchesters opera house. The seats did not lift so to get past you had to squeeze between peoples knees and the seats infront. Once the performance started we were treated to a video of dubious quality which was only partially visable from the seats; this video was then followed by an applause!? After the video the orchestra played a beautiful piece which was barely audible above the fore mentioned argument. From then on, one bit of singing followed another all
sounding very similar. The most notable point being that about 10 mobile phones went off including the lady next to me who actually answered it! Strangely enough the different singers were all introduced with what sounded like "...ukrainy, ukrainy, shevchenko..."
The opera finished slightly later than we had anticipated, so we were left with very few options for eating. We opted for the coffee place we went to previously. We avoided the hot chocolate this time, however I ended up with a tortilla that was rather heavily bathed in vinegar.
We spent the rest of the evening huddling under the covers and watching women's weight lifting. We have managed to see quite a few of these competitions due to the lack of channels in the hotel room. Weirdly enough the more you watch it the more interested you become. It is probably a good thing we only have a few nights left.
Night night. Stob.
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Nina
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Hehe all your blogs come at once so i read about 15 at a time its about 1:15am now so im off to bed we have to catch up with your shinanigans tomrow. love to you both xXx