A Movie Set in Downtown Kiev??

Yes, a movie set in downtown Kiev!

On Friday, Cliff and I were out for a quick walk around the block and stumbled across a movie set on the plaza in front of St. Sophia. We watched for a little while. It appears to be a period piece involving the funeral of a hero and murder of a politician (perhaps).

The Friday scene focused on the funeral procession as you can see from the first slideshow.

On Sunday we got out again with the girls, and the movie set was still active. This time the focus was on the grandstand where a politician (?) was speaking and was then struck down by a soldier on horseback. Very dramatic. Even after they did it 8 times.

We walked from St. Sophia to St. Michael's and explored the area around St. Michael's. We joked that we were going back to SDA, as St. Michael's is on the way. Inside the grounds we found a fountain (?) where people were taking coins out of their pockets, getting them wet, and sticking them on these metal knobs. (There was also an old lady collecting the coins from the water after they fell off). Don't know whether this was for good luck (like making a wish and tossing a coin in a fountain) or for some other reason. I wanted to get a picture of Vivian trying it, but she couldn't reach the knob. So Emma tried but couldn't get the coin to stick. I tried and it stuck.

Then we walked around to the front of the actual church. We couldn't go in, because we were not dressed appropriately. Women much cover their heads to enter. Even though we all have hoods on our coats, we needed scarves instead. We may try again another time.

Behind St. Michael's is an overlook of the Dnieper River that runs through Kiev. We walked along there, then back to the street, down the hill to the market and back to the flat.

Nice way to spend 2 hours outside in partly cloudy, +5C weather.