Kiev and Moscow

Hey everyone! It's been a while! For about two weeks I was in Kiev, Moscow, and Odessa. The first two were with the whole group of us CIEE students, and Odessa was a personal trip, so I'll blog about that separately.

Kiev:

We flew to Kiev in two groups of about 50 students. As usual, we had a bus tour of the city with several stops. Kiev is a lovely city with beautiful architecture, like Petersburg. Unlike St. Pete, however, the weather was nicer, the sun shone more, and the people were more laid-back. It was a nice change of pace.

Ukrainian money is so colorful!

An example of the architecture

Софийский собор (Saint Sofia Cathedral), built in the first half of the 11th century. Some parts were preserved, which I thought was really cool. 

We also went to the Киeво-Печерская лавра, or the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. As part of this tour, we got to walk through the catacombs ourselves. It was a strange experience. As usual, no photographs were allowed. Women had to have their hair covered by scarves (not uncommon), and we were also given long aprons to wrap around our waists if we were wearing pants. The halls of the catacombs were dark and narrow, so we walked single-file holding candle sticks through the catacombs lined with buried saints (some of which had their hands exposed!!!) It was kind of creepy, not to mention claustrophobic and some people were understandably spooked.

Before entering the lavra

 We also went to a museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Unsurprisingly, it left us feeling somber, but the war was an extremely important part of Russian and Ukrainian history, and the museum commemorates this period beautifully.

The photos are what struck me the most. Thousands of them lined the walls; pictures of people who may or may not still be alive, most of which certainly aren't. It occurred to me that there's a chance someone I could be related to may be in one of these pictures and I will never know.

Moscow:

After only two days in Kiev, we took a night train to Moscow. The night train was fun, but left us feeling a little gross the next day. Unfortunately for us, we had a 4 hour bus tour without getting much of a chance to freshen up, so my first day in Moscow was not exactly the most pleasant.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Saint Basil's Cathedral

Impromptu human pyramid in the Red Square

I didn't take a ton of pictures in Moscow partly because I don't really like taking pictures, and partly because they weren't allowed in a lot of places.

Some other things we did there:

• I saw Lenin's mausoleum. Let me describe that process: Firstly, you must check your bags, cameras, and phones, and go through a metal detector. You then walk past the graves of many men that were important in the Soviet Union, including Stalin. You then walk into the mausoleum, which is very dark and at every corner you turn there is a security guard who hushes you and orders you to take your hands out of your pockets. Finally, you end up in a brightly lit room with a big glass case in the center and lights shining on it. You walk around it and stare at Lenin's cold, dead body and contemplate weather it's really him or a Maddame Tussauds wax sculpture. Then you leave.
• We got a tour of the Kremlin. My favorite part was the museum tour because not only do they have all the beautiful faberge eggs and china and art, but the actual carriages and thrones and clothing of the monarchs!
• Some friends and I went into the State Historical Museum, also in the Red Square. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go through the whole thing.

And there you have it! Obviously, 2 or 3 days isn't enough time to spend anywhere in order to get a full experience, but I can definitely say that I enjoyed Kiev more than Moscow. The Red Square was kind of surreal and I'm glad to have visited it, but Moscow is a huge city and not as cultural or pretty as St. Pete or Kiev. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have visited such historic cities.