Our Dogs Are Barking

1. The Motherland statue

2. Robin at Caves with headscarf and candle

3. Phil on walkway down to the lower Caves

4. Tribute to firemen who died at Chernobyl and letters of "congratulations your father died as a hero" letters to the families

[Robin]
Yesterday after we posted we did make it to the Chernobyl museum. To our delight it was open this time. We joined a group receiving a tour by an English-speaking guide. It was very interesting and there were details that neither of us had been aware of before the tour. It was sobering to realize that they continue to delay the completion date for the cleanup. They had widely publicized that 2007 would be the year, but now are saying 2022. The guide was a good one and highly critical of the official response to the disaster and pointed out the various ways they tried to cover it up. If you have kept up with the news, Japan had a serious earthquake a couple of weeks ago in an area that contains a nuclear power plant. They too delayed telling the surrounding inhabitants (for nine hours) that there had been any breach of the radiation.

[Phil]
In the evening, we decided to try a Georgian restaurant that had been recommended in one of our guidebooks. It was about 2 miles from our apartment, but we decided to walk it since the evening was so beautiful. As usual, however, the guidebook was out of date, and the restaurant no longer exists. This has happened about half the times that we've looked for places listed in the guidebooks. In any case, we stopped at a pelmeny restaurant on the way home and had some delicious pelmeny, which are meat-filled (usually) boiled dumplings, much like ravioli, except that are served with butter and sour cream instead of a tomato sauce. While we were eating, the skies opened up. We had a long walk home in the rain. We stopped in our Belgian place on the way home to have 100 grams of vodka and dry off a little. Then we went home and watched some Russian TV before turning in.

[Robin]
The issue, I think, with the guidebook being out of date has much to do with the construction boom in this city. Lots of buildings are being torn down and rebuilt with large metroplexes and apartments. This is definitely a city where people are investing in new buildings and stores. Today on our way to the Caves (which is one of the "must dos" for the city), we walked through an area that was very much the Rodeo Drive of Kyiv. There were lots of luxury goods for sale and designer shops (Guess, Gucci, Armani, etc.) lining the street on both sides. We have also been surprised at the variety of cars here--everything from Range Rovers to VW station wagons to Ladas. They park them right up on the sidewalk. Last night we saw a taxi drive up on the sidewalk and drive through a crowd of people to drop his riders off at the front door of the restaurant (real door-to-door service).

[Phil]
The other thing about the driving on the sidewalk is that there are thousands of heavy concrete flowerpots all over the city that business use as barriers to keep cars from driving up on their section of the sidewalk. I wish I had the Giant Flowerpot contract for the city...

So today we decided to finally make our way to the famous Caves Monastery. We knew it was a bit of a walk, but we really had no idea. It took us more than an hour and 1/2 of walking at a brisk pace. We stopped a couple of times on the way at cafes so that we could rehydrate, since it was a hot and sunny day (although with a cool breeze).

[Robin]
The way to the Caves was lined by parks and so lots of people were also walking along the same road. When we got to the Monastery we were amazed to see the size of it--at least six churches were on the property. We actually had a hard time trying to figure out how to get to the area we wanted to tour (even looking at a map) as there were lots of buildings and pathways all looking promising for good sightseeing. Once we got our bearings, we first went to the Near Caves. We entered through a church door and were instructed to buy candles. This was no joke as it was very dark in the hallways. We followed a group of people down some small corridors that opened up into passageways inset with mummys of monks lying in glass cases. They were each given a little berth and were wrapped embroidered cloth. Each also had a picture (I guess of the monk/saint) over their heads. People were stopping to kiss the glass cases around the bodies. It was quite beautiful. We then went through another long hallway to find another church and section called the Far Caves. This was much more like the catacombs in Rome--we walked with our candles down, down, down narrow steps to arrive at another area containing the saints' bodies in little rooms. There were a number of people praying next to the tombs and crossing themselves. This was definitely a religious pilgrimage for many of the visitors. I had to wear a scarf over my head and a skirt covering my knees to enter into the Caves.

[Phil]
After we left the monastery, we had another long walk back to the apartment, but we walked about a 1/4 mile farther to get a good view of the giant "Motherland" statue. It was pretty amazing, even from a distance. By the way, I discovered from watching the Russian news this morning that today is "Paratroopers' Day", in which all former paratroopers wear all or part of their former uniform and get treated to flowers, free drinks, etc. They are identifiable by their blue and white striped t-shirts. We actually saw a few groups of them today partying it up. I kind of wanted to take a picture, but we never got a chance to do it surreptitiously. In any case, on the way home we decided to go to the Central Grocery, which both guidebooks descibed as a huge grocery store on the main drag. Of course, once we got there, it was no longer a grocery store, but instead housed some little cell phone shops and fast food stands. Augh! Luckily, we found a little deli-like store nearer to our apartment and bought some needed supplies. After all this walking, we practically collapsed on the sofa in our apartment and rested up for about an hour (including a viewing of today's "Hour of Justice") before coming over here to Le Borsch to do our blogging.

[Robin]
Tomorrow we may go visit Babi Yar, the site of an infamous massacre of civilians in the second world war. Boy, this sounds pretty depressing, I'm sure..... Unfortunately, Ukranian history is full of suffering and hardships. It is amazing to look around this vibrant, park-filled city and realize what some of the citizens have endured. The older women (babushkas with scarves and heavy soled shoes) who are sweeping the sidewalks and selling vegetables near the metros I'm sure have stories to tell.

Incidentally, in response to Suzi's question, we are still in the same apartment and will be there throughout our trip. #28 has become our home.

[Phil]
Also, thanks for leaving comments. Our email on Robin's PDA is very sporadic here, but we can always use it from our apartment to look at comments, so that's actually the best way of sending messages to us.

[Robin]
Thanks for everyone's encouragement. Our decisions have been made easier knowing we have so much love and support coming from our families and friends. We are looking forward to seeing you all!