Kyiv – Chris Glass

Kyiv (aka Kiev) would be our last stop in Ukraine.

The capital city helped eliminate some fumes from our travel weary minds.
Mind you, it was still an exaustingly jam packed day.
Everyone was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed after two nights on trains.
But the city is nice, well organized, lots of things to see, and generally had a good vibe about it.

Oh, I found out I can be claustrophobic! This was a new sensation for me, and quite curious.

We were touring underground catacombs to see dead preserved monks and the passages
were quite narrow (especially for tall folk), slow moving, and completely dark.
You had to hold a candle to see the shoulders of the person in front of you and the faint outline
of the tunnel. So there I am, stopped in a cramp space, holding a candle that’s eating up my oxygen
and someone is invading my personal space from behind. (Not a euphemism.)

I had two thoughts: Pass out or scream. I decided to ask our tour guide, is there an exit?
Lucky for me, there was.

The day started with coffee. This is a good thing.

St. Vladimir Cathedral – 19th Century

Red Building, main building of Taras Shevchenko National University

Panteleymon Cat
The story roughly: This cat was well loved by patrons of a restaurant.
The restaurant was destroyed in a fire, as was the cat.
Everyone was very saddened, this sculpture was made.

Yaroslav The Wise – son of Vladimir the Great, plus tourist

Mobile coffee stand (these were all over)

Golden Gate – entry into the old city of Kiev

The whole area around Andriyivskyy Descent was under construction, but we were afforded a nice view of Saint Andrews church.

The Pontiac Aztek has competition for worst sport utility design, ever. Plus also? Annyong!

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sofievskaya Square in the distance

With the Euro 2012 Football tournament occuring in Ukraine, the whole country was under quick construction
to beautify and help tourists. Wayfinding signs like this were erected all over Kyiv. But this photo isn’t about the sign.
It’s about these police/military dudes to the left. They thought our group curious and were taking photos of us.
Fair enough!