Our guide, Lenya (sp?), came by around 11am. We walked down the street, through Independence Square and past the Ukrainian cafeteria. After that, I have no idea where we were.
She showed us some of the different architecture of the city, National Bank, the "Central Park," and several government buildings. At the end of our tour, we went through a museum exhibit of micro-miniatures (fascinating!). I think the museum was in the area of the Monastery of the Caves, but I'm really not sure. Lenya did not seem to be a religious person, so our questions did not produce understandable answers. If it WAS there, then some of the buildings in the area date from the 12th century.
After the park, we passed their WWII Victory monument on the way to the memorial of the "Time of Hunger." Apparently when the Soviets took over Ukraine, the Ukrainians were not cooperative. So the Soviets destroyed Ukrainian fields, food stores, farming implements, etc. and starved them into submission. The Soviets deny that this happened. Ukrainians estimate that between 15 and 50 million people died. The underground part of the memorial contains books of names of people from several different regions who are known to have died during that time. Many more remain unidentified.
The micro-miniature exhibit was really cool. It was a small exhibit (no pun intended) of maybe 20 or so miniatures. Each had to be viewed through a microscope. Some of the works were mounted on 1/2 a poppy seed or etched on a human hair. I thought the gold sculpture of the camels and pyramids in the eye of a needle was quite impressive. Viv's favorites were the chess set on a pin head, Columbus's ship the Santa Maria, and a rose placed inside a hair shaft. Emma's favorite was the chess board, too. Cliff's favorites were the chess board and the rose. At the end of the exhibit was a regular size portrait of Lenin made entirely of the words of his writings. It reminded me of the portraits made from hundreds of photographs.
As we left the exhibit, we saw a wedding party having a snowball fight. Cute!
After the museum we caught a bus to the underground and took the underground back to our area. Neither was a long trip. The bus was interesting, because people got on front and back and passed their money forward and change back. Very different from U.S. buses where everyone gets on the front and does business with the driver. The underground station where we boarded is one of the deepest in Kiev. Two very long escalators down. We only went one stop.
On our way back to the flat we stopped at the cafeteria for a late lunch. Yummy again! Lenya commented that Vivian's Russian is good. She doesn't know much, but what she does know is good.
Lenya finished university a couple of years ago. That is where she learned English. She wants to get it "perfect" and then learn French or Italian. She is well on her way with English. She needs more practice. She said that English is necessary to getting a good job here. She also told us that under Soviet rule, Russian was the official language, so when Ukraine gained its independence in 1991(?) speaking Ukrainian was seen as a point of national pride. Ukrainian is the official language, but many people also speak Russian. They are similar languages and share some words, but they are not the same. People in the east (closer to Russia) are more likely to speak Russian. People in the west are less likely to speak Russian. People in cities generally speak both. Movies and TV are made or dubbed in Ukrainian.
Lenya also mentioned that culturally Ukraine has some very rich people, a lot of poor people and no "regular people"(her words, not mine). That makes it very difficult for them economically.
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