With the help of Mr Putin and the arrangement of Government holidays our mid term break after four weeks was 12 days long. Plenty of time to have a holiday. We looked at various options but having been ill I went for something easy - a city break and what a good choice. Kyiv as spelt in Ukraine, Kiev for the rest of us.
Having had a few days at home and been out to Koskovo we packed our bags, caught the mid morning flight and landed an hour and a half later. We had a slight hitch when we couldn't change any money in the terminal at the airport. Change terminals and the catch the airport bus.
The metro is a smaller version of the Moscow metro. Same trains and design ideas. Our hotel was small and modern and very comfortable and not far from the city centre.
We found somewhere for a snack lunch - a bikers bar with reasonable pizza and then set off into the city. I won't give you a blow by blow account of what we did but I have put the photos together in some sort of logical order.
The centre of Kyiv is Maiden Nezalshnosti. In Soviet times it was called Revolution Square and was dominated by a huge statue of Lenin. In 2004 it was the focus for the Orange Revolution. At the weekend and on public holidays it is a vehicle free zone with the road closed so people can walk in comfort.
Having had a few days at home and been out to Koskovo we packed our bags, caught the mid morning flight and landed an hour and a half later. We had a slight hitch when we couldn't change any money in the terminal at the airport. Change terminals and the catch the airport bus.
The metro is a smaller version of the Moscow metro. Same trains and design ideas. Our hotel was small and modern and very comfortable and not far from the city centre.
We found somewhere for a snack lunch - a bikers bar with reasonable pizza and then set off into the city. I won't give you a blow by blow account of what we did but I have put the photos together in some sort of logical order.
The centre of Kyiv is Maiden Nezalshnosti. In Soviet times it was called Revolution Square and was dominated by a huge statue of Lenin. In 2004 it was the focus for the Orange Revolution. At the weekend and on public holidays it is a vehicle free zone with the road closed so people can walk in comfort.
The area is full of interesting buildings. This is the house of Chimeras. The statues and figures are amazing.
It was built back in the 19th century in cement which was a revolutionary material then. When it was built it even had a special room for a cow so they could have fresh milk every day.
Down the hill from the house of Chimeras was this puppet theatre with these lovely statues.
They are stunning statues.
We arrived on the Saturday before Easter. I'm afraid we were too lazy to stay up for the Easter vigil which started around 11.30 in the evening and went on for several hours. The Orthodox Church, and I include Ukraine in this, does really have a tradition of chocolate eggs. They are beginning to creep in, but home decorated eggs are the main celebration. Eggs are boiled in water with red onion skins or wrapped in shrink plastic which is pre decorated and shrinks onto the egg as it boils. There were lots of decorated eggs in Kyiv to buy and we found this wonderful display in one of the parks. They were so creative.
Yes every display is made of either hard boiled or blown eggs. They were amazing.
Towards the end of our first day we were heading back to the hotel when we found this amazing playgound. The first part I saw was this pile of cushions and wondered what it was.
There were several piles like this and then we went round the corner and this is what we found. amazing.
This is just a taste of what else we saw. More to come.
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