Liz and Peter in Kiev

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Geo: 50.4536, 30.5038

So I had done little reconnaissance trips Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, cracked paying for and working out the way around the metro, so when Liz arrived on Thursday afternoon we were all ready to get out to see the sights. And we have walked our feet to stumps over the last 48 hours. Thursday it was St Michaels monastery of the Golden domes, St Sophia Cathedral and St Andrews church together with viewpoints over the river, walk through a park, awful art on display and dinner in Mafia restaurant in the middle of town with a very nice bottle of dry white Georgian wine. Friday morning off early =metro and walk - to Kyevo Pecherska Lavra, historic site where chritianity first came to Russia and the heart of the Russian Orthodox church, now both museum and working churches, consists of several churches, several museums, two lots of subterranean caves which were the original monastery and where the mummified remains of monks are still preserved in glass coffins. The biggest church on the site was originally built in the 11th of century but what was there in the 1940s was blown up, by Nazis or Soviet partisans, history isn't clear, and the current church is all of 12 years old! But much of the other stuff on site is over 800 years old and the museum of national treasures has beautiful things dating back to the 8th century bc.
On from there to the museum telling the story of what happened in the Ukraine in the 1941 to 1945 war. Then a walk by the river back to a metro station, a ride across the river the wrong way for a quick look at Hydropark, the riverside resort area jammed with restaurants, fairground, beaches etc. And dinner in a Jewish restaurant.
Today another early start, metro and matrushka (minibus) to the folk architecture museum, an open air place where we found some kind of festival just getting going with food and craft stalls and folk singing and dancing entertainment. So that together with the old buildings they have gathered together, especially the churches and windmills, kept us entertained for ages. Back into town, more walking, an iceg-cream and now a little recuperation before a concert at the philharmonic.
The whole town is going football mad, a whole street has been turned into an outdoor pub,but only Carlsberg on offer. Giant screen, two huge outdoor stages on one of which we saw theearly rehearsals for the opera highlights.
Tomorrow our last day in Kiev and we leave for overnight train to Crimea late afternoon.

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