Week Vacation Part 2: Kiev

I realized today that I never got around to blogging about part two of our vacation...Kiev! I didn't get a lot of pictures there but we sure got a lot of experiences!

It started with a bit of misery as we were leaving Tallinn. Our flight was delayed about five hours so we were pretty trapped in a little portion of the airport. We got a little stir crazy but we did make it to Kiev finally around 8 at night. Then we went to our hostel...let's just say that we were pretty much always singing that song from School of Rock, "No you're not hardcore unless you live hardcore" (and we added "in a hostel in Kiev"). It turned out to be cool though and not too traumatizing for the most part. I'll spare you the nitty gritty details right now. On our first day there a head teacher for ILP showed us around the city and helped us buy ballet tickets. We got a good feel for our bearings that day and what we would do in the days to come. We hit up the souvenir market one day and I got some sweet stuff that I can not disclose in this public location. And bartering is quite the experience. You know you just got ripped off when they throw in a free magnet. Anyway, the next day we hit up a monastery with some catacombs that would be a claustrophobic's worst nightmare as well as the coolest WWII memorial/museum I have ever been to. Overall it was a fantastic trip and I loved almost every minute of it!

In front of the Riga Airport (aka proof I have been to Latvia).

A really big monument down the street from our hostel. Unfortunately, I have no clue what it signifies.

I'm going to be honest here. There are two really amazing and famous cathedrals in Kiev that are right by each other and I'm always getting them mixed up. But I'm pretty sure this is St. Michael's.

And I'm nearly certain now that this is St. Sophia's. But I could definitely be wrong.

The tile park! There was this great area that was completely clear of buildings behind some apartments and the government wanted to come in and build something there. So the people in the apartments were not going to have that ruining their view of the city and they decided to work together and build this amazing tile park so the government couldn't build anything there.

My second favorite part of Kiev was surprisingly going to the ballet. It was Romeo and Juliet so that made it easier. This is the view from our seats that cost $2.50!

Still looking good at the ballet, even after five days of traveling!

We had a clear view of the orchestra which was actually really cool

After an hour bus ride and a half hour walk along a freeway in the dusty wind we made it to the recently dedicated Kiev Temple. It was well worth the trek.

I was rather cold but happy all the same! What you can't see is the slightly noisy freeway right to the left of this picture. Surprising, right?

A bird lady at the Monastery. I had to change it to black and white for dramatic effect of course.

A beautiful view from a lower portion of the monastery.

Me with my all time favorite person in Ukraine. Big MAMA!!!

My favorite Ukrainian woman looking over two of my other favorite people (who are actually not made of stone)

I started reading All Quiet on the Western Front on this vacation so I found this especially relevant. However the book is about WWI and this memorial is WWII. A bit of a let down but oh well. Same thoughts I suppose.

Can you see why I love her so much?

We strolled along the river as we walked back to the metro. It was a lovely day and an even lovelier stroll.

Just walking under the over pass. No big deal.

I had a fantastic time in Kiev. We went through a lot of Russian ramen, maps of the city, patience, and pictures. And it was worth every single minute.