Chernobyl Museum

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 3^rd 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 25^th 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!