Kyiv is Unbelievable! Most beautiful city in Europe?!

On Monday I went to Auschwitz. It took an hour or so to get there by bus. But it took nearly an hour to find the right bus! I think they make it difficult because they want people to pay more money and take the group tour. I was told by several people that seeing Auschwitz was a very intense and emotional experience. I suppose that helped me prepare myself for what I was going to see, but I was extremely moved nonetheless. I met a couple of girls on the bus, and we took the obligatory guided tour together. It began with a film about the liberation of the camp by the Soviets. Then we walked through the complex and went into several buildings with different exhibitions. Some of the buildings and most of the stuff inside have been recreated. I think the Germans destroyed much of the camp when they knew the Russians were getting close. But there are still some original things: a room filled with human hair was one of the more disturbing things. There was literally 2 tons of hair they had shaved off of the Jews after they killed them. They used it to make clothing. There were also collections of luggage, brushes, eyeglasses, little kids shoes, etc. The sheer numbers were incredible, I would guess there were several hundred thousand pairs of little girls' shoes. After we toured the main camp, we got on a shuttle out to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). The Nazis opened this camp when the original began filling up. It is much, much bigger than the original, it held many more people and many more people were killed there. The majority of people sent to Birkenau didn't even stay there. They got off the train and were marched directly to the gas chambers. This camp was so massive it is hard to describe. Nothing has been reconstructed here, so the camp looks as it did in 1945. There are brick chimneys as far as the eye can see because the Nazis burned down the wooden buildings as they left. The gas chambers in the back of the camp are still in ruins, but there is one that you can walk into and even see the ovens. All in all, I am glad I saw Auschwitz, I think it is something to see once in a lifetime. Oh, there were also a few huge groups of loud, wild Israeli kids there, all wore the Israeli flag on their back like a cape. They ran around yelling and sticking tiny Israeli flags to every monument they saw. Kind of strange and interesting to see.

The tour lasted 4 hours or so, then I got back on the bus to Krakow. Monday evening was pretty slow. I met up with Pawel because we had planned on checking out the music festival. It turned out the first few days of it did not include any music, just record release parties, fan meet and greet type things. So we went out to dinner and had a few drinks in a bar, then called it a night. Tuesday was my next day trip, this one on a much lighter note. I went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. These have been around for nearly a thousand years, and are still used today. Again, it was a bit complicated for me to find the correct bus, but the people at my hostel helped me find the right one. I went down into the mineshaft on a guided tour, which is the only way in. We began walking down flights of stairs, and after quite a while, we exited and were 80 meters underground! The mines are like a labyrinth with tunnels heading every direction. Several rooms open up and many include sculptures and churches, all made out of salt of course. We learned about how the mine operated and all the famous people who have visited the mine. I'm not sure why they visited, but there is a salt statue for most of them, including Pope John Paul II, Goethe, Copernicus, and many more. We trekked for 3 km and went down to 135 meters underground. Only 1% of the mines are open to tourists, the whole complex is 300 km and over 500 meters underground! After the 3 hour tour, we were led to a big restaurant and bar, a concert hall, and much more, all 135 meters down.

That evening, I met up with Pawel and we walked into the main part of town. We met a couple of French speaking girls when we were eating dinner, who in turn met a Spanish speaking couple as we left. The 6 of us all went to Pies, which is Pawel's favorite bar. I had now been there about 6 times in less than a week! The group turned out to be a quite a mix of people because niether of the French speaking girls were actually French. I discovered there were at least 7 languages spoken and 6 nationalities represented at the table. It was, as usual, very humbling to be the only person there who spoke just a single language. I will fix that this winter!

Wednesday was my day to leave Krakow. I got on a train to L'viv in western Ukraine. I still don't understand why, but it appears to be about 250 km from Krakow on the map, yet the train takes 9 or 10 hours. The train seemed to be moving fast and in a generally straight direction. True, the border crossing took awhile and was a bit of an ordeal. As I was leaving the Schengen zone, the border guards take their jobs (far too) seriously. They took my passport on the Polish side of the border and said they would give it back to me in an hour. That was kind of scary, I still don't know why they cared so much about me leaving Poland. Then we spent an hour watching the train 'change' tracks. The people next to me explained that the width or guage of Russian (and Ukrainian) train tracks differs from that of Western Europe (and Poland). So they had to basically jack my train car up off the ground and replace the undercarriage and wheels. The process took a long time while the train moved forward and backward, shook constantly, and made a lot of loud noises. On the other side of the border, the Ukrainian border people basically just took a glance at my passport, thanked me, and moved on.

I arrived in L'viv near midnight. As soon as I got off the train, I realized that while I thought I had been travelling in Eastern Europe, I was very wrong. Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland do not even compare to the Eastern Europe feel of Ukraine. There are no tourists, no tourist information, no English signs, no English speaking people! The toughest part is that the language is entirely different. I mean the actualy alphabet is so different that it is difficult to even ask for help. I decided to try and walk to my hostel anyway, though I didn't have a map and only really knew the street name. I walked for an hour in the cold, asked many 8 people along the way who gave me a variety of answers. Another hour and I was pretty sure I was getting close, though I had been going in circles due to the conflicting directions. I finally figured out that my street name is also the name of a monument, plus there are a couple of other streets with the same name. I finally did the one thing that I absolutely loathe: I got in a taxi. I felt so defeated, especially when the drive took about 3 minutes and an hour earlier I had been about 50 meters away from the hostel. The hostel was ridiculously cheap (2.35 euros a night!). I guess I got what I paid for because it was quite a dive. I had to wake someone up to get inside, after I finally got my bunk up on the 7th floor I managed to sleep only to wake up shivering at 6 in the morning. Very few of the lights worked, particularly the ones in the bathroom. I was told there was no hot water in the morning anyway. Strange thing is, the hostel had Wi-Fi with a perfectly strong signal!

I checked out but left my bag at the hostel the next morning. I spent the entire day exploring L'viv, which is a very pretty city with cool architecture and nice monuments. After several hours, I had seen most of the main part of the city (a lot of which I had seen the night before). I ate at a couple of different street vendors selling food for absurdly low prices (about 60 Euro cents for a footlong sub sandwich). In the evening, I saw a very interesting musical street performance in one of the main squares. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the musicians were Native Americans! The Ukrainian crowd was in awe of course. I am still trying to decide for sure if they were actually American or not, but you can take a look when I post the pictures. I went back to the hostel to pick up my bag, then out to the train station for the night train to Kyiv! I think one day was plenty for me in L'viv. The train was fairly painless, and I arrived in Kyiv at 7:30 Friday morning. After navigating the metro, difficult because the alphabet is so foreign to me, I found Yulia! We went back to her amazing apartment. She lives in the northern part of the city that has several massive apartment buildings. Hers is on the 13th floor and is huge. She has an enclosed sun deck type of room with fantastic views of the city.

Yulia helped me settle in but then left for work. I spent all day Friday exploring Kyiv. This city is absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't stop saying 'Wow' everywhere I went. It might be the coolest looking city in Europe! The city is very spread out, so the metro is essential. It is very quick and efficient, and easy to use once I started recognizing the names of the stops. I started out in the city's main plaza, called Independence Square. This was the sight of the Orange Revolution, more on that later. There are amazing buildings and fountains and monuments everywhere you turn. I spotted a gigantic golden-domed church and began walking towards it. Turns out this city is filled with golden-domed churches. They literally dot the skyline and are all incredible. I got to St. Sophia's, which is the 2nd most important religious site in Kyiv. It was really breathtaking as I walked into the cloister and explored the grounds. This one was all original and built in the 11 century. Afterwards, I went to a very similar golden-domed church that faces St. Sophia's down a busy boulevard. This one was destroyed by the Communists to make room for some stupid concrete and building which they never built. So the church was rebuilt ten years ago. The inside was filled with amazing golden art and architecture. I headed out to the main river running through town and through a park with great views. To get down to the river, I took one of the oldest streets in town called Andrew's Descent. It is cobblestoned and steep and lined with souvenir shops. I climbed a couple of nearby hills to see more great views of the city. I walked for an hour or more along the river until I found the Caves Monastary. This is the most important religious place in Kyiv and all of Ukraine. Unfortunately I got there too late to go underground so instead I saw the churches and chapels and the other sights on the monastary grounds.

Friday evening I met up with Yulia back at her place. A friend of her's came over and the three of us went downtown and found two different pubs with live music. Yulia and I got a slow start on Saturday, but made it out to see a few more sights in town, including two museums. We also climbed the bell tower at St. Sophia's which was lots of fun. We walked through a brand new, rich neighborhood of Kyiv. It is filled with houses of cool colors and interesting architecture. After eating dinner at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant, Yulia informed me that Saturday evening would be The Orange Revolution - Part 2! She didn't tell me much more than that so I was pretty excited. In short, the Orange Revolution was a populist movement in 2004 after a fraudulent and corrupt election. The people protested in masses in Kyiv for a couple of months until the courts declared a new election, which the original winner then actually won. 'Part 2' probably wasn't quite as exciting, but I sure enjoyed it. We went to Independence Square, which was absolutely packed with people. There were easily several hundred thousand people, maybe even half a million or so. It was a political rally for the current Prime Minister who is running for president. We muscled through the crowds while several people spoke on the podium, then found a spot right in the middle about 50 meters from the stage. Their PM (named Yulia as well) looks like a beautiful doll, not a politician. After she spoke, several famous Ukrainian musicians came out and played, then fireworks finished off the night.

For some reason I have been seeing a lot of politics in the last couple of months. First was the vote on the Lisbon Treaty when I was in Dublin. Next was the German elections when I was in Hannover and Munich. Then I stumbled upon that right-wing rally in Budapest. Now a Ukrainian rally as well. The politics here are pretty unusual. The guy who the PM is running against is the same guy who initially 'won' the corrupt election in 2004. He has also been to prison 3 times, including once for rape! I don't understand how a convicted rapist can become president. The guy is actually leading in the polls!

Yesterday, Sunday, Yulia and I took the metro and then a bus just outside of the city to an open-air museum. It was actually kind of an old Ukrainian village that has been set up to see how people used to live. It is in a massive park, basically, so we walked through and saw old straw huts, windmills, wooden churches, barns, and a lot of other cool stuff. We stayed there till dark. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home so I could cook dinner. Yulia has been really nice to let me stay at her place and show me around. I cooked Italian food last night to help repay her. Today, she is off at work and I am planning on heading back to the Caves Monastary to go underground. I hope to also see the WWII museum.

A few things about Ukraine. The currency here is the hryvnia which is difficult to pronounce, so I don't really try. There about 12 of them to one euro. Yet they have a one hryvnia note and all the coins are even smaller. By comparison, the smallest euro note is 5, which is about 60 hryvnias. So everyone constantly uses notes here to pay for even the smallest things which is pretty strange. The public transportation is unbelievably cheap. The tram in L'viv cost 1 hryvnia to use which is 8 cents! I am glad I bought tickets though because the ticket police checked me 3 different times. In Kyiv, the metro tickets are a whopping 1.70 hryvnia. Apparently they used to be .50 and people threw a fit when they upped it by so much. For the metro, you buy little plastic tokens instead of a ticket. I really like this method, much better than having a ticket stamped or punched. You put your token in and walk through, nothing to carry on you to show anybody. People here are also extremely religious. Nearly every person that even walks past a church or monument crosses themself. Many of them even go kiss the monument as well. Even the most famous churches are actually filled with people praying, not just tourists like most places. Every person here speaks two languages as well! They speak Ukrainian and Russian, which are quite similar. But in Kyiv, it is 50-50. I don't know of any other city that has an even split of two spoken languages where everyone understands both.

I have my plans for the next few weeks as well. Last Wednesday, I bought 3 plane tickets! I am flying from Kyiv to London this Friday. I am going to hang out with Cameron and I'm sure go to a fun Halloween party. Then on the 7th I fly back to Krakow! It is going to be a reunion with Cameron, Vincent, Clement, and Pawel. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun even though I was just there. I will try and do a day trip to either Wroclaw or Warsaw. On the 11th, I head back to London. I would like to explore England a bit (I have only been to London so far) until the 18th when I have to get to Franfurt for my flight to Seattle. As for this week, I will spend the next two days here in Kyiv. Then on Wednesday I am going to take a bus down to Odessa on the Black Sea. It is a big beach party city during the summer, but I think it is pretty laid back this time of year. Yulia has a friend who I can stay with and who will show me around. I will probably head back Thursday night before my Friday morning flight. I am really enjoying Ukraine. It is very different from anywhere I have been so far! I am trying to learn a bit of Russian as well :)