Climbing on Tanks

Some of my favorite pictures were pictures of us sitting on some WWII tanks.  I wish that I could have sat on the cross of the two tanks like Chauncey, but alas, I was wearing a skirt when we went to the museum, so just getting onto the tank was a feat in of itself. 

Lavra

We really enjoyed going and seeing the Lavra.  One of the churches there was built in 1055!  We were able to see some of the original frescos, but other frescos have since had to be restored.  We also go to see some Ukrainian Orthodox monks, and see part of an actual church service.  The women all covered their heads before entering the cathedral for the service.  I put my scarf on my head to enter and hear the priest praying.  People crossed themselves and bowed after the prayers.  The priest says all of the prayers in Slavionc, not in Ukrainian or Russian.

Also at the Lavra, we saw an 80-year-old man dressed in his soldier uniform.  Maria, our young professional, told us that this man was a general.  She said that he would not be offended if we asked him to take a picture with us.  He seemed honored, and that he did not want to be forgotten.  He was a very sweet old man.  Chauncey said that he was one of the oldest men he had ever seen in Ukraine.  The average life-expectancy of a Ukrainian woman is 73, but the average life expectancy of a Ukrainian man is only 60 (arguably in large part because of alcoholism).

Ukrainian Street Performers

Street performers in Ukraine are amazing.  Many of them are professional musicians, and they do not make enough money to get by, so they play near the metro to supplement their incomes.  It seems that nobody here makes enough to get by.  

We stopped to enjoy the music from many street performers.  A couple of our favorites were an old guitarist who played traditional Ukrainian music in an underground tunnel, and another elderly man who sang while he played a Ukrainian instrument with lots of strings called a bandura. Here are a couple of clips.

I am also uploading a video of some men performing a Gregorian chant in the Sofia church.  

Lviv Chocolate Factory

One of my favorite spots in Kiev is a special little café called the Lviv Chocolate Factory, for well, obvious reasons.  Wow.  It was really great.  They served us little cups of melted deliciousness.  You can order little toppings to go inside.  I ordered dark chocolate Fondue with hazelnuts and coconut.  Chauncey ordered bananas on the side for his.  It was to die for.  I scraped mine clean.  I hope to return to this place some day.  I liked it much more than the Melting Pot, and it was only several dollars per order.  Yum!

Once we were finished and were getting ready to pay a tip, we realized that they would not take credit cards.  It wiped out all the rest of our cash to pay for our orders, and we had no money left to pay a tip.  We had planned on putting that on our card.  Anyway, we apologized to our waiter and offered to tip him in any types of chocolate that he liked (since we had bought TONS of chocolate earlier that day and were lugging it around).  He thanked us and politely declined.  He told us that working in a chocolate cafe had made him no longer like to eat chocolate since he was surrounded by it all day.  We felt terrible!

Shopping for Souvenirs

I LOVED going shopping for souvenirs near Andreovsky Spusk.  There is a long, steep road that descends from the Andreovsky Cathedral, and the whole road is lined with dozens of venders for every type of souvenir imaginable.  We saw hundreds of paintings, martroshki dolls, hand-carved santas, scarves, painted eggs, painted boxes, and handmade toys.  Everything was hand-carved and hand painted.  We had not planned on buying much, but everything was so beautiful that we could not resist.  We purchased two paintings: a large one of a traditional Ukrainian cottage with a Ukrainian man and woman, and a medium painting of a toddler girl standing in a field of flowers.  The painters themselves were standing on the sidewalk selling their paintings.  We negotiated with each painter to lower the prices.  We bought the cottage painting for $120.  That was Chauncey’s favorite.  My favorite painting was the one of the little girl.  We bought her for 480 hryvna (about 60 dollars).  The painter was asking for 850 grieven, but he had had a bad day selling, so he came down for us. 

One very exciting souvenir we bought was a BYU Football-themed martroshka doll.  It has the faces and names of the football players from last-year’s team painted on it.  The biggest doll is Heaps.  Chauncey is excited to put it in his office because it will display his interest in three of his favorite things: BYU, Ukraine, and football.

We also bought one hand-carved and painted santa.  He looks very Russian/Ukrainian.  There is a beautiful picture of a little girl clutching a teddy bear painted on the front of him. 

We bought hand-made wooden toys for the kids.  We bought a train with a few cars attached by string, an old-fashioned car, and two planes. 

The last souvenir was a set of stacking wooden eggs that is nativity-themed. The first egg has the manger scene, the second has the wise-men, the third has the shepherds, the fourth has a lamb, and the fifth has a dove.

Last but not least, we bought a ton of chocolate to bring home and share with everyone.  The lady at the grocery store looked shocked at the amount of chocolate we were buying when I placed it all on the counter.