Educators on the Edge: June 2014

Victory Day - May 9

We had the day off from school so we decided to explore more of Kiev. The botanical gardens, we heard, are especially beautiful in the spring. It was our main destination, but saw a lot of other sights along the way. We took the Metro from our neighborhood, Svyatoshyn, to Shulyovska three stops away. From there we started walking. We did a lot of walking that day! I think we covered about 20 kilometers (10-12 miles).

We passed the entrance to the city zoo

and the circus.

The next picture shows the outside of a hotel. "Ibis" must be a chain of European hotels because I remember staying at one in Paris in 1979 while on a school trip. And that's why I took the picture.

This is where we stopped for lunch, "Oliva!", an Italian restaurant.

As it turned out, the botanical gardens were closed for the holiday. I took this picture of the sign by the entrance gate. I also took a few pictures through the fence as we walked the perimeter of the property.

An advertisement for Ukrainian Airlines.

I'm not sure what this next building is, but it had some beautiful mosaics across the front of it.

A WWII memorial with fresh flowers placed around it for Victory Day.

A selfie in the park!

It was a great day. We decided to take these walks more often when the weather is nice. It was a good way to help us understand the layout of the city.

Ladies Day Out - June 8

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon Joyce, Kristina, Jessica, Traci, and I decided to go out for lunch and do some shopping on Andriyivsky Uzviz (Andrew's Descent), a cobblestone street in Kiev lined with souvenir stalls, Ukrainian crafts, and Soviet memorabilia.

The street is named after the apostle Andrew, who is believed to have climbed the hill here, affixed a cross to its summit and prophesied that this would be the sight a great Christian city.

Saint Andrew's Cathedral at the top of Andriyivsky Street

We ate lunch at a small bakery/café known for their fresh homemade sweet and savory strudels. I decided to have the vegetable strudel so I wouldn't feel guilty about having a big piece of chocolate cheesecake for dessert. The other savory strudels included chicken and cheese, onions and salmon, and cheese and mushroom. The sweet strudels included cherry and apple. They also had an assortment of cheesecakes and other pastries.

You could watch the baker assemble the strudels through the window.

We ate on the outside porch of the bakery.

It was a very busy day on the street; there were lots of vendors and lots of shoppers.

A beautiful mural depicting Ukraine.

Me, showing off my new Ukrainian headdress, and Traci showing off her new Ukrainian blouse. We all came home with some special treasures from the day including the memories we made being together.