Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev
It was said that Tsar Nicholas I ordered the entire main building painted red in response to student conscription protests during World War I to remind students of blood spilled by the soldiers.
The Taras Shevchenko statue in the Taras Shevchenko Park in front of the Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev. :-)
And I won't believe it if you tell me what you are staring at is the Shevchenko statue (not to say it is not a master piece). And I have have no idea why I didn't take a zoomed in shot at them.
Taras Shevchenko Park.
Taras Shevchenko Park.
He keeps me waiting... Taras Shevchenko Park.
Little food stand. We bought some quick street food here. Taras Shevchenko Park.
Little food stand. Sergei is ordering. Taras Shevchenko Park.
Little food stand. Sergei is ordering. Taras Shevchenko Park.
Thats a happy face, kvass, crepes, and beautiful girls in the background (nice pic, Sergei...).
This is an art museum, and some art dude stand in front of it. I had no time for art, had to move on, after the crepes and kvass.
The Bessarabka indoor farmer's market. This is the side of it.
Downtown Kiev.
Want some sushi? Downtown Kiev.
Khreschatyk Street
Presidential campaign is going on across the street. Three candidates are competing over-voicing each other, so it is not exactly a quiet street at this moment. The loudest the speaker belonged to the candidate that happened to be the current President.
The architecture of the 1950s. Much more glorious looking than the ones built in the decades following.
side walk along Khreschatyk Street, Kiev downtown.
Khreschatyk Street
Monument of Independence in Central Square
Central Square
Certainly the grandest McDonald I have ever seen.
We ran into one gentleman here, middle aged, middle class looking, in a nice shirt, business casual, typical working class, dignified, very. He approached us and opened a bag in his hand, showing a bottle of vodka in it. He was asking us for a few rph so that he could buy some smoked fish. "How could I drink vodka without smoked fish?", he asked. Biggest cultural shock ever hit me yet, absolutely no sarcasm.
St. Michael's Gate. Discovered in the 1980s, when the wall relics were found underground. This is the rebuilt of the Gate done in 2000.
St. Michael's Gate.
St. Michael's Gate.
People's Friendship Arch Monument.
dedicated to the unification of Russians and Ukrainians. Constructed in 1982, it is often referred to as the "Yoke" by locals.
A close shot of a foot of the arch.
Ukrainian House, cultural center.
National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine
Department of Defense
on St. Michaels Square in front of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery: Princess Olga of Kiev (890-969, center), the first Rus ruler to convert to Christianity.
The busy street that devides St. Michael's Square and Bohdan Khmelnytsky Square (right in front of St. Sophia).
No idea what I am riding, but supposed to bring me luck with my hands on its ears. We will see about it
Pagan totem.
a condo on the left; bank on the right.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Square.
Bohdan Khmelnytsky, a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Ukraine). He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates (1648–1654) which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state. In 1654, he concluded the Treaty of Pereyaslav with the Tsardom of Russia, which led to the eventual loss of independence to the Russian Empire. (from Wikipedia)
A $20000 / sq meter condo. Allegedly the most expensive condo in Ukraine. Certainly nice neighborhood.
Bohdan Khmelnitsky Square from the bell tower of St. Sophia.
Bohdan Khmelnitsky Satus from the bell tower of St. Sophia
Bohdan Khmelnitsky Satus from the bell tower of St. Sophia
St. Andrew Church. Closed, under renovation.
A free shot from above of the rich neighborhood, most we could get out of it.
Golden Gate.
Golden Gate.
Map of Kiev around 1000 - 1300.
Steet shot from Golden Gate
Golden Gate, interior, Byzantium style.
Golden Gate, interior, Byzantium style.
Golden Gate, the front top.
Golden Gate, the back side.
Golden Gate, the back side.
a Mauritania-style religious structure, a Karaite kenassa, presently the Actors’ Club.
The Ukrainian Soviet revolution started from here, as year after Russian, in 1918. See the bullet holes on the building preserved.
Has to do with Soviet revolution, but unsure which side owned this canon.
WWII monument
WWII monument
Me and WWII monument
Monument to commemorate the Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор, 'Морити голодом', literal translation Killing by hunger) was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of Ukraine. (from Wikipedia) The monument also commemorates similar starvation happened in the 1920s and 1940s (post WWII).
Motherland Monument, part of the memorial complex, theNational Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Phone booths! How much longer will they stand there? Behind is a bank (green) I exchanged my traveler's checks. Next time I go to Ukraine, I won't use them. It is a good way to waste my precious tourist time there, although quite an experience by itself. The teller's name was Anton, that I made out from his Russian name tag. Nice guy. It was the process. Well, it did remind me China, with contrast of friendliness though.
Parliament.
Parliament
Some nice looking building. Looks consistent to the design of Tsar's palace. Sergei guesses it is Tsar's guest house. I would be happy to ever get invited here, I think.
Tsar’s palace.
Tsar’s palace.
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