Around 7am in the morning I was on the phone with my Aunt Nancy when who should be at my doorstep than my old friend Tom! Tom had spent the past 2 weeks or so hiking out in the middle of nowhere (our versions of vacation are extreme opposites). It was fun to have a friendly face to talk to, but also as important: Tom actually had a bucket list of things he wanted to do while we were in Kiev together! YAY!
Even though the day before had been enjoyable, and I was starting to not think of Kiev as the black hole of ugly cities, I was completely out of things to do (except one-more on that later), so Tom’s bucket list became my bucket list! It was good to be the follower for a day. We went to some churches (St. Michael’s Cathedral, St. Andrews, etc). At Saint Sophie’s Cathedral a bunch of “tourist trappers” ran up to Tom and wanted money to have his picture taken with him. I was smart enough to just walk away, but being the nice guy that he was, he kept talking to them. Before he knew it, he had several birds perched on him and a guy in some odd toga thing with his arm wrapped around him. Somehow I was the one who ended up paying the $100UAH (about 4 dollars), but it was so beyond worth it. Also at Saint Sophia’s, I got to climb to the top of the bell tower (more stairs to climb—seems like a theme this trip).
We walked down this great cobble stone alley down a hill called Andreevskiy Spusk, where there were all sorts of street vendors and artists selling their paintings. We also saw the ruins of an old castle that Tom’s ancestor helped build. However, all that’s left of it now is the basic foundation (and by basic I man a patchwork of stones no more than 6 inces high). We also went to the Vlladir the Great monument which overlooks the city over the river. I briefly took Tom down to Maidan (he’s been there before), but it was getting late so we called it a night.
For our last day in Kiev, our plan is to visit the open air museum, which is where they filmed the movie “Bitter Harvest.” It’s a preserved Ukrainian village from the late 1880’s, with chapel and mills and cabins, etc. It looks SO cool…and is the number one reason why I wanted to return to this place.
Kiev is not as bad as I once thought it was, but that doesn’t actually mean I like it. J So, one more adventure in Kiev and it’s off to Lviv (a place I have never been before on the border of Poland). Until then…
Jeff: Aug 22nd, 2017
jeffinukraine2016 
Really enjoyed your post Jeff. Tom told me, but I fail to remember, were you two able to see the area they filmed Bitter Harvest? Seems like Tom may have said you two couldn’t for some reason. Hope my recollections is in error. Wish SO MUCH I could have gone. Double darn and triple drat! I’m really glad you’re posting these. Like I said, I really enjoy looking at the photos, even tho I haven’t been there, and reading your posts. Thanks for sharing your trip. Keep on having a good, enjoyable and safe experience. Miss Abraham says Hi.
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