Waking Up
This was the last full day I’d be in Kiev, so I got up early
to make the most of it. The Ukrainian was the first one in the bathroom and
reported back that we had no water. I took a look and she was right, the
faucets were on and nothing was coming out. She called the front desk and was
told about ‘an incident’ that caused a water outage. She didn't seem to phased by the situation. I asked if this happened before. "This is the Ukraine", she said. She went on to tell me that growing up, there were years where she did not have running water. She repeated 'years' to ensure I understood she did not mean days or even months. Not to worry, the staff
had a solution. Within a few minutes there was a knock on the door. It was the
hotel staff with a pitcher of water. They assured us the water was even safe to
drink!
Water left for me to bath!
So we had one pitcher of water for bathing. Being the gentleman I am, I
let the Ukrainian bath first. She finished, but used about 80 percent of the
water. I was perplexed. There were a number of things I had to do: take my
allergy pill, bath, use the bathroom (or make toilet if you’re a local), and
brush my teeth. Before I could finish prioritizing my to-dos that required
water, the Ukrainian called the front desk and confirmed we could get more
water. Sweet! I could bath, brush my teeth, and take my allergy pill! Making
toilet though was out of the question.
Even with a just a quart of water to bath with, I still clean up nicely
Oh, that's an iPhone in my hand...
Breakfast
We grabbed some food at a quick stop place and head for the
metro. On the way to the metro I noticed a merchant selling fake legos! Never
before had I seen fake legos that would work with real legos. The knock-offs I’ve
seen in the past were always different sized blocks and not compatible with real
legos. This find was a first.
Breakfast = Cake
Fake Legos!
Chernobyl Museum
After a quick bit to eat the Chernobyl Museum was our first
stop. We had tried to visit the day before. We didn’t get in though because the
museum stopped admitting people 1 hour prior to close. Photography was allowed, although you had to
pay extra. The photography fee was nominal though.
The Chernobyl group I toured with is involved and very
active with the museum. They are responsible for many of the photographs
scattered throughout. This museum is the closest most people will ever get to
Chernobyl or Pripyat and it does an excellent job telling the story of
Chernobyl, the disaster, the cleanup, and what remains. Most of the exhibits are in Ukrainian or Russian
language only, but a very well done audio guide is available in English. I was
very impressed with the voice actor on the audio guide. He did a fantastic job with
the rhythm and tone throughout the tour.
Immediately after the disaster
Initial containment shelter built months after disaster
Entrance into museum
Cleanup
Dog born after disaster
Tiles that were used at Chernobyl to contain fuel rods
The beginning of the tour explains that Chernobyl was the
first nuclear power plant in the Ukraine. The plan was expand it to be the
largest throughout Europe. The tour goes on to explain how the accident
happened. Safety tests were being
performed the night of the accident that exploited a design flaw in the
reactor. Nighttime was chosen for the test because electricity loads are lowest
at that time. Exhibits detail how water
normally flows and how it flowed that day. The exhibits were extremely
informative and well detailed. An
emphasis is put on design error. No fault is placed on the workers at the
plant.
A lot of the latter exhibits told the story of the various
people who knowingly gave their lives to contain the disaster. Many people were
recruited throughout the surrounding area to assist in the months that
followed. Letters and memorabilia are preserved within various exhibits. The letters were not in English and no
translation was offered. The Ukrainian tried to translate, but emotions got the
best of her so I moved on with the tour.
One of the more disturbing displays involves a mutated dog.
Mutations occurred in the grounds surrounding Chernobyl prior to the disaster,
the incidence of mutations went up almost four times though following the
accident.
A small area has been adding following the Fukashima disaster in Japan.
Although the Chernobyl disaster was much more devastating, the Ukraine’s have
made it a point to show respect to the Japanese disaster. No comparison in
terms of quantity of damage is made between the two.
I met an older English speaking man who was touring Europe
in an RV. He was a history nut and was making his way all throughout the
Ukraine. We bumped into each other later and talked a bit more. He was actually
planning to visit Sevastopol, so I had him chat with the Ukrainian about what
to see.
Opposite of entrance, also the exit.
Notice signs are now black with a red slash
Kiev Pecherska Lavra
The Kiev Pecherska Lavra was founded as a cave monastery almost
a thousand years ago. Lavra means senior monastery, pecherska means ‘of the
cave’. Greek St Antoniy founded the lavra in 1051, making it nearly a thousand
years old. The grounds of the Kiev Pecherska Lavra are enormous; it felt more
like a campus than anything else. Numerous buildings make up the complex,
including numerous museums. Most of the museums were open and displayed various
religious artifacts. The museum of miniatures, home of the world’s smallest
book, was closed though. The complex was on top of a huge hill. The entrance to
the lavra was at the bottom of the hill. Did I mention the hill was extremely
steep? Most of the museums barred photography or charged a large amount extra
to take photos, so aside from the exterior I didn’t get many photographs. With all the various museums within the
complex one could easily spend a day touring the Kiev Pecherska Lavra. We only
had 2-3 hours. That said, we pretty much saw everything we wanted.
Segment of original brick dating back over 1,000 years ago
Original brick was used towards the bottom middle
View of Kiev
Tombs
We inquired about exploring the lower lavra. The lower lavra
contains . Unfortunately for me, the only tours available were in Russian. There was one remaining tour for the day and
we could join it. Score! We waited around about 20 minutes for the tour to
start and were on our way to the lower lavra, or the caves. Within the lower lavra are tombs of various
saints. There are over 100, but the section open to the tour only contains a
few dozen. It was hot outside, probably in the 80s with strong sunlight, but
the caves were cool and in the 60-70s. The caves were extremely narrow at various
points. The mummies were mostly hidden from view, but occasionally you would
see a very well preserved bare human hand. The bodies are not given preservatives nor embalmed. The fact that the bodies are so well preserved leads many to believe the deceased are indeed holy.
National Museum of
the History of the Great Patriot War (WWII)
We had wanted discussing running by the hotel before going
to the Oprah House, so I suggested we jet for the hotel. We only had about an
hour and a half before we had to be at the Oprah House, so I figured we’d jet
to the. The Ukrainian wanted me to the War Memorial though. The museum is just
down a long hill, about a quarter mile past the Kiev Pecherska Lavra. She had
been there before and knew it was close. From the map, it looked much further
than what it was. We had gotten to the museum right as it was closing, so we
couldn’t get in. But the grounds were pretty spectacular. The exterior area by
the airplanes would remain open an additional hour, so I got a chance to crawl
around the planes and jets. It’s not too often I get to see Russian fighter
jets, so this was way cool. I was really glad she insisted on seeing this exhibit. We had about
20 minutes to get to the Oprah house and were cutting it close.
Me in a jet
Full view of jet
Kiev National Opera
House
We made our way to the Opera House about 5 minutes before
show time. We got there right in the nick of time. Given what we paid ($25 each), our seats
weren’t bad. We were on the 3rd level, but there were a couple of
levels above us. By the time we got to our seats the introduction had already
begun. Everything was in Russian, but I could make out something about a 25th
year anniversary.
On our level there wasn’t an usher, so it was an every man
for himself sort of deal. The audience was nearly full and our seats were
occupied. There were empty seats next to ours and I was ready just to take
those. The Ukrainian insisted we take our assigned seats though. A few people
around us were annoyed, probably telling us in Ukrainian or Russian to take any
seat, but the Ukrainian insisted we take our seats. The people who had our seats were somewhat nasty;
at first they insisted they were their seats. Once they pulled their ticket out
they quickly moved. I was ready to say something to her, but didn’t. About 30
minutes into the production it occurred to me the seats I would have opted to
take were obstructed. I’m glad I didn’t say anything.
The performance was actually pretty good. For the most part,
the dancers did tricks and what not. I figured I’d be bored but it was pretty
entertaining. About an hour into the
show a few people started taking pictures with flash. You could see the strobe.
This happened a few times throughout the performance, no one seemed to care.
After the ballet I realized I hadn’t picked up post cards,
so we started looking around for them. Nowhere sells postcards in the Ukraine.
The closest I could find was greeting cards. Eventually we did find a book
store that sold them, although the sales clerk insisted they did not have them.
Dinner
I wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner. We did go to a
decent restaurant our first night in Kiev, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it
nice. I figured a nice steakhouse would do. Looking up restaurants in Trip
Advisor I browsed past a Brazilian steakhouse! It wasn’t expensive and had
decent reviews. We called and confirmed
they were serving food for another 45 minutes.
We tried to fetch a cab, but the driver wanted 100 UAH
(about $12) to drive us the 1 mile distance. She was offended and walked away.
He chased her down saying he could make it work, signaling to negotiate. She
was disgusted though and told him where to go.
The next cab we approached offered to do it for less than half of what
the first driver wanted. The catch was we had to wait for another couple to
board the cap – we’d get dropped off first though en route. During the ride the
Ukrainian engaged in conversation that clearly upset the taxi driver. He wasn’t
screaming at her, but he was clearly angry. Her behavior surprised me the
though. She was passionate about what she was saying, but she didn’t raise her
voice or even display anger. She just kept talking faster and faster. Boy could
she spit words out fast. I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I was
impressed with how fast she was talking though. She would tell me later she
told the cab driver the first cabbie wanted 100 UAH which she felt was a rip
off. Our present driver felt it was an acceptable rate. From there, the
conversation turned into a discussion about communism. Something she very much
feels ‘is stupid’.
We arrived at the Brazilian steakhouse about 15 minutes later, allowing us about 30 minutes to eat. When we arrived though they had said they were already closed. I thought about asking to talk to a manager, but held off on bringing it up until we left. I asked the Ukrainian if talking to a manager would have made a difference, but she was doubtful. "This is the Ukraine" I would hear again. Given that she lived in this country her whole life, I was surprised by how frustrated she was with the situation. I found another steakhouse, this place was actually where I wanted to go originally but was distracted by the Brazilian option. After a quick phone call to get a cab we were on our way.
The Steakhouse was called The Goodman, and there were many reviews left by westerns on TripAdvisor saying it was fantastic. The restaurant was located in a different part of Kiev that was more of an office district. Several tall buildings, about 20 stories or so, surrounded the area. The main levels of all buildings were retail spaces. Microsoft had offices in one of the newer towers, as did other Western companies. I assumed this is where many of the staff and visitors ate and entertained.
The steakhouse was nice, kinda a cross between Gibson's and Wildfire. The steaks were good, but not on par with either. They were though extremely expensive, easily on par with Gibson's pricing. The restaurant stated all meat was flown in from Australia or US and aged. All in all it was a fantastic meal. The Ukrainian's face dropped when she was the prices. I had run out of Ukrainian funny money the day before, so she was picking up a lot of the museum tickets. They weren't expensive by any means, but it was nice not having to worry about finding an ATM. I got the rib eye, she got lamb. Both were pretty good.
Returning
We returned late, well after midnight. The staff let the
Ukrainian know we left the water on, causing the room to flood. They said they
cleaned it up for us though. When we got the room there was no evidence of a
flood. Nothing was wet. The Ukrainian’s flight was at 10am tomorrow, mine was
much later, around 3:30pm. The airport offered luggage storage and there was an
aviation museum. After the Ukrainian’s flight departed I planned to kill some
time at the museum. It would be an early morning!
