Our stay in Ukraine was short, only three days, but we loved Kiev. We stopped over after leaving China on our way to Romania.
I may have looked like I had a broken neck when I arrived as I had not seen such blue skies in months and kept staring straight up.
With any country we visit, we get an impression of what it must be like to live there, which may or may not be correct or representative. And, of course, our perceptions are strongly influenced by the few taxi/Uber drivers, Airbnb hosts, tour guides, waiters, etc. that we meet.
In Ukraine, I felt those we talked to were angry, strong, defiant, and discouraged while at the same time still a bit optimistic (unlike in Romania where it felt that all hope for a better future was gone). They were angry about successful revolutions followed by further corruption and the war with Russia that continues killing their young. But they were proud to have fought back. How can you not want to root for people that covered a charred building from the 2014 revolution with a banner stating “Freedom Is Our Religion”?
The photo below shows pictures of those killed during the 2014 revolution. It is, and felt, very recent.
Another monument to those killed in the protests.
But all of our tours and wanderings were not a “daily dose of depression” (as Logan often calls our Social Studies lessons).
Below are murals painted in the past few years.
Logan and then Ethan in Landscape Alley.
St. Michael’s golden-domed monastery
Below is a locally famous cat that died in a fire. They felt it needed a statue.
Communist-era construction below (strongly ridiculed by our tour guide).
