Day 5 -- May 17 -- Tuesday: Museums and a stroll at evening
Abbie woke up with strange sensation: her mind was so filled with new experiences that she felt like was floating in the air, skimming across the ground. I experienced that same feeling two years ago. It’s like the brain is overloaded with so much new information…
Dima took us to the War Memorial and Lavra, the main monastery at the edge of the Dnipr River.We had a guided tour, but it was in Russian, since Dima insisted on paying. I think it came to $2.50 for the three of us, but it would have cost $15 for a tour in English. That was a strong argument for choosing the Russian-language tour. The churches and monasteries have all been refurbished, a sharp contrast to the majority of buildings in the country.
Left: At the War Memorial, with the Dnipr and the City of Kyiv in the background. Right: A horse chestnut tree in full bloom forms the backdrop in this picture of Abbie and Dima. The streets of Kyiv are lined with these trees, which are the symbol of the city.
Gilded domes of the Lavra sprout above the trees and dominate the view of the city. These and other churches are the most well-kept buildings of the city. Images of the saints decorate the outside of the main church.
We also visited the gold museum. I remember being impressed by it two years ago, and I wanted Abbie to see it. These artifacts come from archeological sites in Ukraine, and the most delicate and well-made pieces date from the 4th & 5th centuries BC. I didn’t see anything there that proved man has been evolving. What I did learn this time was that the Scythians (Paul mentions them in the book of Colossians, remember?) were some of the early inhabitants of what is Ukraine today. Does that mean that an up-dated translation should say “there is neither…Barbarian, Ukrainian, bond nor free” in Col. 3:11?
I include this picture
just because I like it.
Cats in Ukraine
sit in window sills
like they do
anywhere else
in the world.
This was at the Lavra.
The other museum we visited held an exposition of miniatures produced as far back as the 1980s, perhaps even further back by a Russian(?)/Ukrainian(?) scientist. Can’t remember his name, and I don’t remember the dates exactly, either, but I know they go back a couple of decades or so. These pieces are so small that you have to look at them through a microscope lens. Examples: gold horseshoes on the hind feet of a flea; a poppy seed split in half, with a portrait of a poet engraved on one half and a poem of his on the other half; a 24-page book, about 6mm (1/4”) square, with readable text. Did I mention these were miniatures, really, really miniature miniatures? Among the other objects on display was a strand of human hair that had been hollowed out, polished inside and out until it was transparent, then a red rose with a stem and leaf was inserted inside the hollowed-out hair. If you’re ever in Kyiv, you ought to see this display.
It was a long day, and we didn’t eat lunch until 4 in the afternoon. We rested instead of going back to church. There was a prayer meeting, I think. About sundown, we went for our first walk on our own. We didn’t go far afield, but we did wander about the neighborhood, walking through the maze of Soviet-style housing (shown here) that prevails everywhere. We enjoyed the late evening air and sat on a bench until we discovered mosquitoes were trying to enjoy us, which took away our enjoyment, so we went back in the apartment.
Left: Although there are supermarkets, most people buy the essentials from "convenience stores" like these. "Window shopping" takes on a new meaning here, because everything has to come through the window: bread, water, canned, bottled and packaged foods of all sorts. Do you recognize the Lays potato chips in the left picture? The sign reads "Bread - Assorted Confectionary - Cakes"
You should always read the instructions (if you can)
As I was getting ready to go take a shower, I asked Abbie what soap she was using. There was shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste in the bag she brought with us, but I hadn’t seen any soap. She said she was using the bath gel in the yellow tube. Well, I had seen that, too. It was given to us by a sister from Berlin who has come to Madeira many times over the years; she told Abbie it was for washing. Of course, everything on the tube is written in German, but by the pictures of planes and boats and trains you can tell it’s made for travelers. So Abbie packed this bath gel. The reason I hadn’t used it was because I had read enough of the German to figure out it was for washing out your underwear. “Well, that explains why it didn’t seem to lather up very well,” Abbie concluded. Of course, if she had known what it was, she could have left her clothes on when she took a shower, I guess.
Dima took us to the War Memorial and Lavra, the main monastery at the edge of the Dnipr River.We had a guided tour, but it was in Russian, since Dima insisted on paying. I think it came to $2.50 for the three of us, but it would have cost $15 for a tour in English. That was a strong argument for choosing the Russian-language tour. The churches and monasteries have all been refurbished, a sharp contrast to the majority of buildings in the country.
Left: At the War Memorial, with the Dnipr and the City of Kyiv in the background. Right: A horse chestnut tree in full bloom forms the backdrop in this picture of Abbie and Dima. The streets of Kyiv are lined with these trees, which are the symbol of the city.
Gilded domes of the Lavra sprout above the trees and dominate the view of the city. These and other churches are the most well-kept buildings of the city. Images of the saints decorate the outside of the main church.
We also visited the gold museum. I remember being impressed by it two years ago, and I wanted Abbie to see it. These artifacts come from archeological sites in Ukraine, and the most delicate and well-made pieces date from the 4th & 5th centuries BC. I didn’t see anything there that proved man has been evolving. What I did learn this time was that the Scythians (Paul mentions them in the book of Colossians, remember?) were some of the early inhabitants of what is Ukraine today. Does that mean that an up-dated translation should say “there is neither…Barbarian, Ukrainian, bond nor free” in Col. 3:11?
I include this picture
just because I like it.
Cats in Ukraine
sit in window sills
like they do
anywhere else
in the world.
This was at the Lavra.
The other museum we visited held an exposition of miniatures produced as far back as the 1980s, perhaps even further back by a Russian(?)/Ukrainian(?) scientist. Can’t remember his name, and I don’t remember the dates exactly, either, but I know they go back a couple of decades or so. These pieces are so small that you have to look at them through a microscope lens. Examples: gold horseshoes on the hind feet of a flea; a poppy seed split in half, with a portrait of a poet engraved on one half and a poem of his on the other half; a 24-page book, about 6mm (1/4”) square, with readable text. Did I mention these were miniatures, really, really miniature miniatures? Among the other objects on display was a strand of human hair that had been hollowed out, polished inside and out until it was transparent, then a red rose with a stem and leaf was inserted inside the hollowed-out hair. If you’re ever in Kyiv, you ought to see this display.
It was a long day, and we didn’t eat lunch until 4 in the afternoon. We rested instead of going back to church. There was a prayer meeting, I think. About sundown, we went for our first walk on our own. We didn’t go far afield, but we did wander about the neighborhood, walking through the maze of Soviet-style housing (shown here) that prevails everywhere. We enjoyed the late evening air and sat on a bench until we discovered mosquitoes were trying to enjoy us, which took away our enjoyment, so we went back in the apartment.
Left: Although there are supermarkets, most people buy the essentials from "convenience stores" like these. "Window shopping" takes on a new meaning here, because everything has to come through the window: bread, water, canned, bottled and packaged foods of all sorts. Do you recognize the Lays potato chips in the left picture? The sign reads "Bread - Assorted Confectionary - Cakes"
You should always read the instructions (if you can)
As I was getting ready to go take a shower, I asked Abbie what soap she was using. There was shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste in the bag she brought with us, but I hadn’t seen any soap. She said she was using the bath gel in the yellow tube. Well, I had seen that, too. It was given to us by a sister from Berlin who has come to Madeira many times over the years; she told Abbie it was for washing. Of course, everything on the tube is written in German, but by the pictures of planes and boats and trains you can tell it’s made for travelers. So Abbie packed this bath gel. The reason I hadn’t used it was because I had read enough of the German to figure out it was for washing out your underwear. “Well, that explains why it didn’t seem to lather up very well,” Abbie concluded. Of course, if she had known what it was, she could have left her clothes on when she took a shower, I guess.
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