This was a relaxed set off for a change as it was an afternoon flight. No rushing round at 0315 in the morning. Drove to Stanstead. Had a McDonald’s. Got to the airport. Went to three WH Smith’s because ‘they’ll have better magazines for the kids in the next one’ Went back to the first WH Smith’s we saw. We then ended up right at front of priority queue. Little hack for families – just buy one priority ticket and the rest normal, and they let you all go through priority on that booking! Just make sure it’s the first ticket you show. Can take a bigger bag on too. This is with Ryanair. Not sure what a proper airline does.
Got to Kyiv. Oh, that’s the correct spelling of it by the way. There was a bloke with sign with our name on, who struggled to walk. Nightmare getting out of car park as there’s no proper queuing or anything. It was cold too at -2 degrees. Drove through the city and there were loads of tower blocks on the way in which reminded me of The Streets (best) album, Original Pirate Material. Saw some of the famous domes and Motherland monument.
We got to the AirBnB which we never would have found in the dark! Right next to Independence Square but then down a weird alley. In the dark. Tidy. Paid driver in Euros. Accepted US Dollar too. Or Ukrainian Hryvnia. Which we had none of. Closed currency apparently. Will get some tomorrow.
Exploring
Next day, we got out about 11. Walked around the corner to a St Michael’s cathedral, with the domes. Then to a park, with a nice view over the Dnieper. This was on Volodymyrska Hill. There was snow/ice on all the sides of paths where it had been cleared, and then been too cold to defrost. Skies were beautiful blue, not a cloud to be seen, but still so chilly. Just scarfs at this point though, no hat or gloves.
Left there and ended up at St Andrew’s church. Another dome. This one you could pay to go in, but we still didn’t have any cash money, so carried on. We then got to Andriivsky Descent, a hill with loads of street traders on. Market stalls and that. First one we saw had loads of war memorabilia, including a pilot’s helmet from a MiG 23, and some Luftwaffe stuff. He also had stacking dolls, which the kids loved. Russian dolls. They’re called stacking dolls because of YouTube probs. Stan saw a nice authentic Star Wars one. Asked the bloke where a cash machine was and got some cash out. Trying to choose the right amount was hard. Ended up with 2500 Ukrainian Hryvnia! It’s only about 80 quid. The Star Wars Russian dolls were something like 2400!! He said, ‘best price 1000’. Yeah, I’d love to pay £30 for some stacking dolls. We left, much to Stan’s protestations. Next stall we found some cheaper, a tenner.
Weeing Statues
Next on the list to see was a statue of four boys having a wee. I take my family to all the best things! Had to walk through a ‘sculpture park’ with loads of cool statues and that. A nice Alice in Wonderland slide thing too. Alice was a bit weird though. Found the boys doing a wee, then found a cafe because Stan was dying of starvation.
It was called ‘City Zen’ and was nice you know! Looked like a posher cafe. Woman showed us to our table, and it was nice watching her build up to speaking to us in English. She did 99% better than I did in Ukrainian but was lovely to see her do it and do it well enough that we could understand, which is the whole point of a language.
If you have to make up a word, or do a silly action, or find other words to use, that’s part of communication. I think people, especially British people, get really embarrassed or nervous when trying to either learn a language, or speak to a native in their language. The whole point of speaking to someone, is to get whatever point you want to make across to them. If it’s broken Spanish or half Russian half Ukrainian, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re understood.
We asked for a cappuccino, and three hot chocolates. She then asked if we wanted anything else. We said we’d look at menu. We then ordered 3 croissants and a ciabatta. She then asked if we wanted more. We didn’t. After we finished, she brought over 2 Apple Cheese Cakes for us, as a gift, which was really sweet. Genuinely think this was because we were either British, and they don’t see too many there, or, well, there’s no other explanation. Was a nice touch.
Getting Fleeced
Next, we went to St Sophia’s Cathedral. Before we went in, we were pounced on by a woman with 2 pigeons, and a man with a sword. I knew it was one of these street people who charge you as much as they can for a photo. Thing is, Amelia had weirdly said that morning that she wanted to hold one (I had caught one previously in Krakow), so we said ok.
Woman did the patter. ‘How much?’ She said nothing, don’t worry. Yeah right. Then put the birds on the kids and then on Char. I was gonna give her 50 hryvnia to say thanks. She said, ‘ok that’s 800 please’. Ha, no chance. Argued that she said it was free, she then said 600. Ended up giving her 200, which is about £6 more than she should have got, but there was a man with a sword. Can’t put a price on our kids’ heads!
Went into the cathedral. 200 hryvnia. This one got us inside and that. Loads of women working inside, telling us not to touch things, or take pictures, or breath too hard. One was asleep. Had a nice look round and left.
Walked out and found a hedgehog made out of wood and screws. Another bucket list tick for me. Walked to the Golden Gate, which is famous for some reason. I think this one was rebuilt as last one was destroyed.
Char found a cat statue.
Oh, walked past the German Embassy, and they had a massive chunk of the Berlin Wall there, so another tick for the kids!
Got to St Volodymyr’s cathedral. Went in, spent 9 hryvnia on some candles. This place smelled lovely, incense and that. Stan has a fascination with fire. He lit his candle, to blow it out, and light it again. He always tries to blow out all the other candles, even though we have told him that they are part or people’s prayers! Matters not to him. Always seems more religious in these churches. Folk coming in, doing the touch head shoulders and belly button thing, lean head against icons to pray.
Art Exhibition
Walked around the corner to Pinchuk Art Center. Not sure why this was on my list but must have seen summat about it somewhere. Got there and there was a massive queue! Joined it obviously, we are British! There was an exhibition on called ‘Future Generation Art Prize 2019’. 21 artists from around the world showing stuff off. A lot of it was sculptures, quite a few film stuff. One was a woman putting clay on a chair. She’ll probs win. Another was a song on a 5 second loop. Char spent about 15 mins listening to it! Another was a film about them Thai lads that got stuck in a cave. The floor was full of sea shells, probs to make it more realistic.
Left there, found a supermarket, got some supplies and walked home. Went through Independence Square. It was 5 years to the day that there were massive demonstrations here. 113 people died, and the president was ousted. Over a thousand were injured, and some people are still missing from arrests and that. There were a few Armed Forces blokes on the streets. Not sure if that’s a common thing, or just in case anything happened to mark the occasion.
Next day, had a bit of a lazy morning. Finally got out and got an Uber to The Motherland monument. It’s not the normal thing for us as we like public transport and muddling through buying tickets and that, but this was the easiest. Uber is well cheap here, and for that reason, I splashed out the extra 30p on a deluxe Uber. In the UK, this would be a BMW 5 series, or a nice Mercedes. Guess what they sent? A bloody VW Polo!! Not even joking. And he was grumpy.
My Favourite Ukrainian Statue
Motherland statue. It’s a soviet thing, but they kept it because it’s pretty cool. This is the 12 tallest statue in the world!! In comparison, the Statue of Liberty is only 42. Three tanks are outside it, and then a nice big park with loads of statues, and memorials for the wars.
After this, we walked along the road and passed some of the things that were on my list, to get some lunch. Char was hangry, so everything stops! Found a little coffee shop cafe thing called Wake Cup. Nice. Had some sandwiches and hot dog and that. Then got an Uber back to where we had come from. It cost £1.15. It was a Nissan Tilda, so another tick for me. Never heard of it. He was grumpy too.
Went into Pechersk Lavra. This is an old monastery with a cave/catacomb system. Inside these caves are loads of mummified monks or priests or whatever they are. Was a bit morbid, and also a bit creepy as you could see their withered hands. We had to walk around with a candle and passed loads of folk praying to pictures on the wall.
It was a massive hill down, and a bigger hill up! Loads of pensioners were making the trip, so couldn’t complain. Next was a museum which was the number two thing to do in Kiev. But we couldn’t find it! The museum is the microminiatures thing. Some guy has spent a couple of minutes making a camel which sits in the eye of a needle or made some shoes for a flea! Gutted we didn’t get to go. So, got an Uber to Mariinsky Park
Mariinsky Park and Palace
Ok park with an old kids play ground. Full of ice and snow. Got a coffee from one of the kiosks that they have everywhere. Got Stan a T. Rex lolly, which he immediately dropped. We asked for another, but the silly sausage worker thought we were trying to swap the smashed-up lolly for a new one! We just wanted to buy another. Finally worked out what was going on. Had a wander round and ended up by Mariinsky Palace. Looked alright. It’s the President’s house. Or the President’s Residence, which I just thought of and sounded funny. It’s way better than 10 Downing St.
Next door is the parliament of Ukraine. You could just walk up to it. There were a few soldiers and police knocking around, but they probably wouldn’t have shot you.
Down the road was the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. It’s always different to UK as a lot of countries have a Prime Minister and a President. I never know who does what. This was probably one of my favourite buildings. Curved, looked solid and massive.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about Arsenalna Metro Station! We didn’t go down but had planned to get a metro and get off there. It is the deepest underground station in the world! What a title. Forget Hampstead on the Northern Line, the deepest station in London. 58.5 metres underground. New York’s 191st Street is only 55 metres below. Arsenalna is 105.5 metres underground!! Wow right!?
Walked home. Found a shop for some more toilet roll. I had to use baby wipes this morning. Handy to have in the bag! Messy kids and running out of loo roll.
Had a jacuzzi. Hot water ran out so took about an hour and half to fill as waiting for more hot!! Put bubbles in. Big mistake.
Checking out today. Flight is at 2100 so almost a full day. Had to leave keys under the mat, which is always the best thing to do. No one looks there. As we got out though, the cleaner was on her way in. Or it was a really lucky robber.
We were going to take our bags to the dude’s office to keep for us while we had our last day, but it was sort of in the wrong direction, so didn’t.
Went for some lunch at Mr Grills. This was the Number 1 restaurant in Kiev on Trip Advisor!! Number 1! It was a burger place. And hotdogs. Like a 5 Guys, but not as many chips. It got a bit weird though. Stan and Char had a burger. Plain, classic burger. It came with a fried egg in the middle of it. Also, meals came with a pair of black latex gloves rolled up with a Mr Grills sticker on them!? Like to wear so you don’t get your hands dirty!? Weird.
I asked the waiter which museum was best to visit out of two different ones. The Museum of Water, or the Chernobyl Museum. I know, how to treat the family right!? He said, ‘one moment’. A waitress came over, with a phone, spoke to us in Russian for 8 minutes, and then said, ‘you don’t understand, do you?’ Nopes. She showed us where the water museum was on her phone. We already knew but didn’t know how to tell her in Russian. So, we went to the Museum of Water. The taxi driver yesterday said I t was good, so had a word of mouth review too.
Museum of Water
You know what, it was good. We went in, was told to wait by the receptionist. It was a guided tour thing, so a group of Ukrainians went with the guide. What happened next was lovely. They called us forward, and a woman called Ala, early twenties, introduced herself and said she’d be our guide. Perfect English, good with the kids, and just a nice person! The other group was about 10 people, but she took us round just as a family, and did the whole tour in English.
There wasn’t that much English spoken in Kyiv. Most waiters/waitresses did speak it, but it’s a third language if that. It was really nice of her to do it. I’m not one to patronise, but at the end I said it was really kind of her, and that I understood 99% of what she said! There was one word I struggled with. The fact she was telling us about sewerage systems and water treatment facilities, and there was only one word I couldn’t understand, was a me problem, not hers!! She was genuinely relieved and happy when I said how great she had done. Oh, the place was good too! Some experiments for kids, interactive stuff, koi carp touching, standing inside bubbles and that.
After this place, we walked past the Puppet museum or something. It was a bit closed so couldn’t see anything. Walked down to Frankie’s, an American type cafe where we sat for two hours, waiting for a decent time to leave to get our flight. Coffee and American pie cake and got chocolate. Kids sat and played, we sat and chilled.
Got an Uber, as it was half the price of the transfer in by the AirBnB bloke. First one turned up, and it was a VW Caddy. A white van with seats. Got in and there were no seatbelts in the back. Wife told him and he was like ‘meh’ and started to drive! We said we wanted to get out, and did. Went to book another one, and the cheese pilot hadn’t cancelled his trip! I could ‘see’ us driving down the road. I had to edit the end point, from the airport to just by the location the taxi was. He was trying to get as much cash as he could. Finally booked another. A Nissan Leaf. Electric vehicle. He was on 64% charge, but then started driving slow on the motorway. Ended up on 32% when we arrived, so hope he made it back!
Had dinner in airport. Trying to use last of our currency. Ended up going 13 UAH over what we had, which was about 37 pence. Had to spend a Euro to pay for a drink to make the bill up! Guy was well miserable.
Got flight. Got home. Was a lovely few days. Weather was good, but cold. Not too cold though. Loads to see and do. Could go for another trip and see completely different things and still have enough to do another trip! The people were friendly enough, but not on a day to day basis. Like, if someone crosses over a zebra crossing, they don’t acknowledge the driver, or give them a thumbs up like we do.
Other difficult thing is the language. It’s not a ‘normal’ alphabet, so unlike in Spain or Italy, you can’t guess what things are! There’s the letter 3 for example, or ф and д. English isn’t widely spoken, so you do need an app or some language to go. Other bad thing is it’s not in the EU, so expensive roaming charges. Not that that will matter in about 2 weeks’ time (shakes fist)! I used it for one of the days, at 150mb for £6! Otherwise, Wi-Fi is decent in most restaurants and that if you need it. Nice city, nice atmosphere, loads of history and lovely buildings and that, and would defo recommend a visit.
