Pyrohiv

Pirogovo is an outdoor museum of folk architecture and life of Ukraine.  We had to check out of the hotel and our flight left Kiev at 9 pm.  And the temple was closed, so we spent some time at this outdoor museum.  It is 350 acres and I think we walked all of them!  It is interesting to see how the people have lived throughout the years.  It rained for a little while, but the weather was quite nice to be outside.  I kept thinking of "Fiddler on the Roof" all day.

These are Soviet era cottages.

Beautiful artwork and a photo of Lenin.

Amazing wood carving

This lady is playing a stringed instrument.  Very lovely music.

This man is playing an instrument that sounds like a soft version of a steel drum.

Ukrainian handiwork in a typical house.

The sides of this building are woven branches.

This house had a baby bed hanging from the ceiling.  I bet little Amber would like that!

Butter churns and baskets

An OLD wheat grinder

Inside the little wooden chapel.  I did not expect to see such an ornate chapel.

These yokes are hand carved.  Beautiful and useful / if you have cows or oxen.

Some of the houses were more decorated.  On the left is a storage chest on wheels.  It looks like it is also used as a table.

This one had a large variety of pottery.

The church bells at one of the churches.

A map of Ukraine and the various regions represented at the museum.

Another visa trip to Kiev

This is the main Metro station in Kiev.  The entire station has Batman posters.  Looks like they're advertising an energy drink

This is another chapel in Kiev.  It doesn't look as ornate on the outside, but the inside was very beautiful.

Another movie poster in downtown Kiev.  The new Sylvester Stallone movie "The Expendables 2"  in Russian is "Extreme 2"

This was taken in Kreschatik Square downtown Kiev.  We were in front of McDonalds eating ice cream cones.  It's an interesting place for people watching!

Alan wanted to show the "de"construction of this building next to the Kazakh Consulate.  Alan had described it in a previous post and got a second chance for the photo.

Starbucks Kiev style.  The ladies set up a card table and a sign and cars on the highway pull over for their morning fix.

These are huge Ukrainian eggs!

They were preparing for Ukrainian Independence Day which is August 23.  It has been 21 years since becoming independent from the Soviet Union.

Some street performers

A fountain on Kreschatik Street.

There is some amazing architecture here!

We thought we had found a mall, but it was a hardware / garden store with an amazing display of cactus!

This is a sidewalk underneath the highway filled with tiny shops and kiosks.

This boy was loving his turn on the bungee jump.

It was pretty crowded on the marshuka.  How many Ukrainians can fit in the mini bus?  Always one more!  Alan about lost his shoe on this one.  And I ended up being the ticket lady as everyone passed the money up to the driver.