Going to Kiev, Ukraine was not something I ever imagined I'd do. I've always been surprised at how little people outside of India seemed to know about India. In many ways Kiev revealed how little I myself knew about unfamiliar places and how easy it was to go with the 'popular notion' of a place. USA: tall buildings, cold weather; India: lots of people, cows on streets; Ukraine: chernobyl and radioactivity.
I was quite unprepared to learn that Kiev was a city with a 1500 year old history. "Much, much older even", my Ukrainian host told me, "than Moscow which is a mere 900 years old!". Kiev was one of the first European countries to adopt Christianity and indeed was the gateway to Europe for the spread of that religion.
As some readers no doubt might be, I too wondered what this place looked like 500 or 1000 years ago - this beautiful blue and gold cathedral. I was told that most of the cathedrals have been rebuilt - some in the last few hundred years and some just decades ago. And that the near mortal and finish are not what the original cathedrals looked like. Still in most cathedrals, there are areas which have been kept faithful to the original look. Not as colorful or smooth perhaps but with equal or greater charm.
Here's a quick grab shot of the KGB office (as per the taxi driver) and of my hotel which is a actually a boat and charges nearly $200 (US) a night.
Kiev is quite a city and Ukraine is quite an interesting country. Not the sort of destination like Hawaii or India that one often has friends return from and say 'Oh, you must go!' but I'll say this: if you ever get the chance: go! Driving along the highways with Soviet era signboards is quite an experience. I'm a map freak and often look at the end points of a US highway thinking that if I went all the way to one end I'd get to Seattle (or New York or whatever). Well, here, the highway we were on led to Warsaw on one end and to the former Soviet Union on the other end! That certainly got my attention and was a strong reminder of where I was.
Russia's influence is strongly felt - many many highway signs are in Russian rather than Ukrainian though the average foreigner can't tell the difference. Most Ukrainians speak Russian fluently but not the other way around. Ukraine still depends on Russia for oil. Ukraine's western neighbor is Poland with whom they have excellent relations and a long history. Ukraine is now slowly trying to be more integrated with Europe while balancing the job of continuing friendship with gigantic Mother Russia on the east.
