Things Start Moving

Kyiv, Saturday, April 21st

This morning, the rain has stopped. We have breakfast and go to forage for food. Who knows, perhaps I can break a branch off a tree and skewer a squirrel or a pigeon! Okay, today, let's turn left instead of right, try to figure out the map - easier when it's not pouring. We go left around the corner and..............stores, pubs, restaurants, groceterias, even an Irish Pub! I should say we were on our way to the Monastery complex (Lavra) I will fill in details when I get back. But on the way to the Metro (whose escalators I'm sure do 70km/h - actually the ones in Praha were so slow we were lulled into a false sense of security!) we went thru the main square - with all the high end stores and yes the ubiquitous McDonalds! The high end fashions and electronics sell for about 20 - 30 percent higher than in Canada which obviously deterred me from buying an Armani.

This Lavra dates back to the beginning of Christianity in 988 and contains the mumified remains of the various saints and Metropolitans/Patriarchs of the Christian (Orthodox) Church. There are many churches on the grounds and we spent several hours exploring the complex. It is the seat of the Free Church in Ukraine. Unfortunately, again, they kept speaking Russian. When I countered in Ukrainian, English and French, just for good measure, they just spoke over my head, to my obviously blonde trophy wife in Russian!

Later we wandered around Independence Square, tried to get our bearings and did a bit of sight seeing. On the weekends, the main street (Khreschatyk) and Independence Square are closed to motor vehicle traffic. The street, close to a kilometre long is filled with people partying, musicians, one fellow doing a fire act and you can have your picture taken with an owl, hawk or monkey. Gail refused to have her picture taken with a monkey, again!, shades of Gibraltar! Meanwhile, all the parties were rallying and marching around the square. It was orderly and noisy! All the politicians, leaders, were extolling themselves to be more Ukrainian than the other, although some were speaking Russian! (We are all Ukrainians, no matter what language we speak!) Yeah, right!

We had dinner at "Double-Coffee" (on Khreschatyk), which turned out to be our favourite coffee house. After, we just went back to the apartment as it was raining and cold.

Kyiv, Sunday, April 22nd

Today we took the funicular down to Podil (by the Dnipro River) [Landmark: another McDonalds] and walked up Andrew's Descendt which is also the km long string of souvenir pedlars. Again, I swear the slope is at least an 89degree slope. How they drive standards, I don't know! We also went to St Michaels and in the afternoon went on an abbreviated walking tour (all I would agree to), which we probably should have done the first day to get our bearings. This being our 29th Anniversary, we went out to Verenyky (the Perogie Palace) which boasts 35 kinds of pyrohy! It is a nice restaurant with a variety of food. We wanted a white wine (house) and they said they had a very young one. This we learned to interpret as having a shot of Horilka or Vodka added to grape juice!

Kyiv, Monday, April 23rd

We started out by taking our luggage to the train station to leave our luggage, which took over an hour. No fault of any system, except we had so much and it was so heavy, that they had to take it down a back ramp. The we took the Metro and went to St Sophia's Cathedral. Later, it was back to the street of the vendors in an attempt get into the Museum of One Street, which unfortunately was closed Mondays as well as Sundays. Wish we would have read the sign more carefully on Sunday! Gail then went to the House of Chimeras and the House of the Greek Gods. My foot was killing me, so I opted to wait in the food court. Then dinner and off to the train station and the train to Ternopil. We had a sleeper car, but unfortunately, I'm sure it was well over 30degrees in it.

Ternopil, Tuesday, April 24th

We got into Ternopil at 5:30 am, got a taxi to the hotel, got into the room immediately had a bit of sleep, called the relatives at 7 am back to bed, had breakfast, did a bit of shopping and were picked up by Oleh, who had visited us in Ottawa around noon. From there, we picked up his son Petro from school and drove out to Chabarivka. We met most of the relatives, were plied with food and were back to Ternopil where we went out to the "Old Mill Restaurant" for cappucino with Oleh and his wife who was unable to go to Chabarivka with us because she had just started a new job last week.

Ternopil, Wednesday, April 25th

After a good nights sleep, Oleh got us on a train for Lviv, where we were met at 3pm by Mike and Tess - young people referred by a friend - the relationship is too long to explain. Anyway, they found us our apartment which is small, but has a good bed and shower and is 2 blocks from downtown and the State Archives where I am going to be doing some research. A pretty non-descript day in that we went for a beer, unpacked, had dinner and pretty much crashed.

Lviv, Thursday, April 26th

We had breakfast and Mike and Tess took us to two castles and a fortified monastery. The monastery has suffered much, not only in former times, but during WWII and the Russian occupation. We got a guided tour by the priest which was fantastic. There is much to rebuild, but they have done a lot of work already. The work is being done by the priest and parishoners, almost all by hand. These three fortifications are part of the Golden Horseshoe of fortifications built I think about 100km around Lviv.

Lviv, Friday, April 27th

First thing in the morning, Mike and I headed to the Archives. Closed for some reason, even though they were supposed to be opened. Mike then took us on a tour of Lviv. Mike is looking to take his tour guide certification - another example of what you can do with a masters in History.

Lviv, Saturday, April 28th

This morning Mike and I headed for the Archives again - they were open and there. There were forms to fill out and records have to be ordered. A lot of it is just like working in Canada. Mike was more frustrated than I was because he has never done archival research. They have a few more forms and stamps, but the records should be there when I come back. Later it was mainly some sightseeing on our own as well as going to the market for some souvenir shopping. In the evening, we went out to the Kupol Restaurant. This is a great restaurant with Austrian-Ukrainian-Polish food and its theme is "in the good years" which were before 1939.


Lviv, Sunday, April 29th

A bit more sightseeing and then it was off to Warsaw, Prague and Canada for Gail. I went back to the apartment to put it back in order and rest up as it has been pretty hectic.


Lviv, Monday, April 30th

Today, it was up to do more a bit more souvenir shopping and then it was off to lunch to a fantastic upscale (I can now eat better that you're gone Gail) Armenian restaurant where I tried the much vaunted Shaslyk albeit Armenian style. We then went to get my train tickets. The one to Ternopil city was no problem - the one to Vienna (Wein) was a nightmare! Go here, go there, purchase a ticket to purchase a ticket - 5UAH - $1.25CDN. Do everything by hand, create a written ticket and then a computer generated ticket like the ones that you buy for local trains. On top of that there was confusion as to the date.