Kiev, Ukraine: A Whole New World

On our first day in Kiev (or, as correctly spelled, Kyiv), we elected to explore the city's many churches and pedestrian areas.  A moderated-sized city, we were able to walk most everything comfortably, though it is very hilly.  The picture above is on the main pedestrian boulevard, Andriyivsky uzviz (which translates as 'Andrew's descent'--St. Andrew's is the church at the top of this street).  This street is rather like a giant flea market--great for people-watching, but selling a lot, shall we say, less-than-desirable products.  At the end of this street, we were also fortunate enough to visit the Chernobyl museum--catastrophic disaster of an event, but an excellently put-together and informative memorial.

Some of the churches we went in to were actually still active Russian Orthodox places of worship, so we had to scarf it up!

This is the main street in Kiev, Khreshchatyk.  It is closed to traffic on Saturdays and Sundays, so it was like an extra little pedestrian zone just for us.

St. Michael's Monastery and church, an example of one of Kiev's many beautiful places of worship.  After being in Russia for a week, the positive, upbeat attitudes and smiles of the people are a refreshing change...sort of a whole new world.