Happy summer and happy early 4th of July! I am very excited about this blog as I get to share with you all the experiences and photos of my trip with my parents to Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg! I had not seen my parents in about 21 months! Quite a long time to be without their hugs! It was wonderful to see them and we had a great time seeing the sights!
My parents traveled from MN to NY and then caught an overnight flight to Moscow followed by a much shorter flight to Kiev. They arrived in Kiev where I greeted them at Borispol Airport on June 13th. Though I had brought a welcoming sign, it was mom who had the camera out and many tears ensued! I had prearranged an apartment in Kiev just off the main street, Kreschatik. (Pronounced Kre – Shattuck!) Kiev is a very colorful city as my past photos have shown – golden domed churches, pastel colored buildings, lots of large cement buildings in the European style as well as plenty of Soviet ones too. It was very exciting to show the parents the city which I feel I have labeled my second home as I’m so frequently there! A tour of Kiev exists in two large loops – the first took the parents to see the National Opera House, the Golden Gate, St. Sophia’s Cathedral, St. Michael’s Cathedral, and St. Andrew’s Cathedral. We climbed the bell tower of St. Sophia’s Cathedral from which I was able to point out some of the sites of the city. It was dad, however, who pointed out to me the under construction football stadium which is being built for the upcoming Euro Cup in the summer of 2012. He asked if I’d been to this city before (I have seen the stadium before but not from above!) It was in front of the National Opera House where dad started to weed the flower beds – he did not stop throughout the entire trip from either pulling a weed or commenting on them! We could have left him multiple places for hours and he would have been quite busy!
Lunch in Kiev was a cultural one as I took the parents to a Ukrainian buffet and loaded our tray with traditional foods. The parents tried varenyky (dumplings) filled with potato and mushrooms, deruny (potato pancakes), beef shashlik (shish kabob), chicken Kiev (or as my mom called it – “exploding chicken”), borsch (beet root soup) and pampushkis (garlic rolls eaten with borsch). Though they tried everything, their favorite dish at lunch was a cheese covered brussel sprout dish probably designed off a more western dish. Sigh.
The second loop in Kiev showed the parents the President’s office, the Parliament, the Marynsky Palace (officially the residence of the leader of Ukraine but currently under renovation and uninhabited), the Kiev Dynamo Professional Football Team’s stadium and overviews of the Dnipro River (which flow all the way down Ukraine and through Velyka Lepetykha!). My favorite part of the day was taking the parents in the evening to see the ballet, Don Quixote, at the National Opera House! Though the performance had little to do with the story of Don Quixote (there was still of course the windmill scene), the dancing was excellent and has added another show to my repertoire of performances viewed at the Opera House!
The following day, my parents and I flew to Moscow. Aeroflot, the Russian airline, has many daily flights from Kiev to Moscow which take only 1 hour 15 minutes and still serve you a sandwich and beverage – come on Delta, where is my sandwich on a 3 hour flight to NY!? Dad had booked us a nice apartment through a mutual friend’s Russian friend and we were thrilled to see that one of the apartment building’s first floor tenants was a Papa John’s Pizza!! “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” was printed in large letters on the welcoming sign in Russian – it was great (and was our dinner on the second night in Moscow!)
In Moscow I took the parents directly to the center to see the Kremlin and Red Square. Our first visit was to the Armory of the Kremlin where all of the most precious jewels and treasures of the Tsar dynasty are kept on display. Faberge Eggs, porcelain dish sets, gold and silver serving trays, and gem bedazzled bible cases glittered in front of our eyes as we listened to the commentary about the history of the tsar empire and the changes in tastes and fashion over the years. The lower floor was filled with clothing back to the days of Catherine the Great, carriages which brought Elizabeth to her coronation, and the crowns of all the tsars from the beginning. The armory was my favorite part of Moscow last year and continued to be this year – I just love all the jewels!
On the second day in Moscow we started with a trip to see Lenin and as my dad stated “Lenin is still dead.” But when one looks at him – you wonder if he was ever really alive! Lenin’s body has remained on display since his death in 1924 and he looks like he is made of wax. When Lenin died, he requested to be buried in St. Petersburg alongside his mother, but it was to Stalin’s demands that his body was embalmed and put on display. Russia this year created a website which asks fellow Russians to vote on whether or not Lenin’s body should finally be laid to rest but for now he still lies in his mausoleum in Moscow.
Following our trip to the mausoleum, I took the parents around Red Square. First up a trip into St. Basil’s (also know as the Onion Dome Church or the Ice Cream Church to many) in which my dad was very excited to see church relics dating back to the 11th century (one of the oldest items he had ever seen before). The inside of the church has been well preserved and many of the original paintings still coat the walls. Also in Red Square is the GYM, a large mall which houses some of the most expensive shops – we visited to use the bathroom and steal Internet from Coffee House.
The most famous street in Moscow is called “Arbat” street and is a walking street lined with street performers, artists, souvenirs shops, cafes and restaurants. This is also the location of a number of American chains, which this Peace Corps Volunteer has been deprived of, including Cinnabon, Starbucks, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Subway, and Hard Rock Café. Russia also is home to Dunkin Donuts, Hardee’s (Carl’s Jr.), Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Burger King and others. I did get Starbucks which was delicious! In the afternoon we did a boat tour down the Moscow River which borders the southern half of the city. On the boat there was a group of NASA workers who had come to Russia to work with their Moscow counterparts on space development. Though I of course was not alive for the Cold War, through my time in Ukraine I have learned just how strained the USSR – USA relationship was and the incredible steps which have been taken to mend this relationship. Considering NASA working in partnership now with Russia seems quite a large step in the mending of the Russia-USA relationship of the past!
On our last day, which dad labeled as the “day of churches,” I took the parents inside the Kremlin to see chapel square, a portion of the Kremlin interior which has 5 large churches, used during the time of the tsars for coronations, weddings, services and burials. Amazingly preserved and restored, despite the Soviet Union being anti-religion and destroying many churches, these churches house beautiful paintings of the apostles and passages from the bible. One of my favorite parts about visiting the Kremlin was listening to the number of languages the tourist groups surrounding us were speaking. Last summer Sean and I used our language skills to pick up information on the church interiors – this summer there was a large presence of Spanish and Japanese tourists which allowed me to use my Spanish skills to get some of the info on the churches.
In the evening we took an over night train to St. Petersburg, however, this time I got to ride 2nd class! Trains in Ukraine and Russia are the same – there are 3 classes one may choose from which varies the number of people in the wagon car and the level of privacy a passenger may have. When traveling with Sean last summer, we opted for the cheapest, 3rd class ticket which has 6 people in a compartment without doors and thus no privacy. While traveling with my parents, we bought out a compartment in 2nd class. Meaning that there were 4 beds, which can be closed off by a door that locks - definitely a safer way to travel but obviously a bit more costly.
We arrived in St. Petersburg to rain at 5 am and spent a number of hours sitting around a café and McDonald’s waiting for the Hermitage to open at 10:30am. The Hermitage was originally a small portion of the Winter Palace, built by Catherine the Great to house her collection of paintings and works of art. However, as the years went on, the Hermitage was expanded and now takes up the whole Winter Palace where one may see works of art from antiquity to modernism. Seeing the whole museum would take days, and with my mother’s incapacity to go for long without Diet Coke, a toilet and food, we were unable to see it all. However dad ensured that we hit up the rooms with Monet, Van Gogh, and moved along to Picasso. I loved visiting the rooms decorated as the palace would have been in the day of the tsars. The colorful rooms and golden furniture were beautiful.
June is known as the month of the White Nights in St. Petersburg as it remains light out until close to 1 or 2 am! (We did not see this as mom’s bedtime runs about 9:30 pm each night but even then it was still light out!) While we were visiting, one of the largest festivals took place right next to our apartment! The festival is know as Scarlet Sails (Алые паруса in Russian) and is an outdoor concert honoring the recent high school graduates. Students flocked to the streets and covered the center of St. Petersburg, which hosted a concert and fireworks ending in the sailing of a red sailed ship along the Neva River. The city was packed with students, especially on Nevskyy Prospekt (the main street leading to the Hermitage), and we watched them dance and sing with their fellow classmates as they headed to the concert.
On our second day in St. Petersburg, we got up early and caught a bus to a town called Peterhof. Peterhof is home to one of the many palaces once inhabited by the tsars, but this one is famous for its gardens and fountains. We arrived at the palace before its opening and stood in line with the group tourists also waiting entrance. When the doors opened, a group of 3 Russian tourists pushed passed us and headed towards the entrance (Russians as well as Ukrainians do NOT stand in line – they WILL find a way to get in front of as many people as possible no matter where you are – post office, bank, airport security etc. It really is one of the few things I genuinely dislike about this culture) When I told the woman she needed to wait in line she informed me she wasn’t with a big group and thus could push ahead, when I told her we weren’t either, she invited me to skip the line with her and we pushed ahead through the group tourists and entered the palace. I may despise this cultural belief that lines are suggestions not fact, but it got us into the palace without having to wait in line!
Sadly the Grand Palace at Peterhof is entirely a reconstruction as bombs demolished it during WWII. The skeleton of the palace remained when the Russians returned to find it in ruins and have since rebuilt the entire thing, decorating it as close to its originality as possible. Outside the palace, at 11am, a music performance began signaling the turning on of the park’s fountains. Throughout the park, which lies along the Gulf of Finland, fountains flow with statues of Adam and Eve, cascades of water, and plenty of golden figures. The whole park was delightful and I was glad that on this trip I was able to visit! (Last year Sean and I visited a different palace in the town of Tsarskaya Celo).
On our last day in St. Petersburg, I took the parents on a bit of a circular tour of the city – we climbed to the top of St. Isaac’s Cathedral for a view of the city from above, crossed over to see the columns which have been used as light houses for ships traveling along the Neva River and ended at the Peter and Paul Fortress to see the cathedral which houses the remaining tsars’ tombs including that of the final Romanov family. The fortress has a cannon which is shot off each day at noon, a sight which dad thought we shouldn’t miss – upon hearing the cannon sound and my filming hand jump about 1 foot, we realized we could have been anywhere in St. Petersburg and wouldn’t have actually missed it! In the afternoon I showed the parents “The Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood.” A gruesome title but this is the onion dome of St. Petersburg, which was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was murdered. The entire interior of the church is decorated in mosaics – not a single spot is painted. The parents exited and stated that it was one of the most spectacular things they had ever seen – please check out a picture below!
My last day with the parents flew us back to Kiev where we had a chance to do a little more shopping (including a trip to the brand new Gap in Kiev where I scored some very very needed new jeans). We ended the trip with dinner at TGI Fridays where I had baby back ribs! I know I’m in Peace Corps – but Kiev does have some American perks which can keep a volunteer going!
Saying goodbye to my parents on the morning of their flight was really hard. 21 months apart cannot be regained in 10 days’ time! But I reminded myself that I only have 5 months left of my service here in Ukraine (which is very hard to believe!!) and I will soon be back in the states with all of you and my family! It was an absolutely wonderful trip and I am so glad I got to show my parents a bit of the country which has been my home for the last 21 months.
As for the rest of my summer – I am headed off to begin all of my summer camps! In July I will be working 3 camps – Camp HEAL (HIV/AIDS Education), Camp IKNOW (Environmental Education) and ABC Camp (Leadership and Project Development). In August I will be taking my last trip out of Ukraine to Croatia where I will be meeting up with my best friend from Northwestern, Page. When I return to site following all these adventures, I will be sure to update my blog!
Have a wonderful and very warm and happy summer!
Megan
Pictures Include:
- Greeting the Parents at the Airport (3)
- Kreschatik Street in Kiev
- National Opera House
- Dad weeding outside the National Opera House
- View of St. Michael’s from the St. Sophia Bell Tower
- Getting our “Faribault Daily Newspaper” shot outside St. Michael’s
- Ukrainian lunch
- Inside the National Opera House for the ballet
- St. Basil’s in Moscow
- Bolshoi Theater
- Church of Our Savior
- Moscow University (Soviet Union themed building)
- Kremlin entrance
- Chapel Square inside the Kremlin
- Wendy’s on Arbat Street
- Inside the metro in Moscow – the escalators are at intense degrees and go quite a long ways down!
- Peterhof Upper Gardens and Grand Palace
- Wearing our booties for walking around the Grand Palace at Peterhof
- Peterhof Grand Palace fountains (2)
- Performance by one of the cascade fountains at Peterhof
- In St. Petersburg at the Peter the Great statue
- View across the Neva River of the Hermitage
- Catherine the Great statue outside the St. Petersburg Library
- Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood Exterior and Interior (2)
- Final dinner with the parents at TGI Fridays!
