Sights of Kiev

 This is the street our apartment is on.

 Walking to eat lunch and go to the grocery store. Yes, this is the sidewalk, they park all over the sidewalks here, they even have people whose job it is to assist you in parking on them!

 This is indoors, but is a pretty large fresh market. You can get all kinds of fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, seafood, and flowers.

 It also has a section of butchers where you can get cuts of meat.

The Motherland Statue and The Museum to the Great Patriotic War (World War II)

The statue was erected to celebrate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and to honor the Ukrainian soldiers who fought. The Museum is in the bottom part of the statue, and is the museum we went to today. It was really interesting. I was surprised to find out that Ukraine was so involved in WWII and was so heavily affected by it. It is estimated that 27 to 28 million Soviets died as a result of the war on The Eastern Front, through combat, starvation, being imprisoned, and killed in cold blood and other factors. That is almost half of the estimated total deaths of 60 million for WWII.

 This was my "favorite" part of the museum, it was the memorial room, full of pictures of those lost in the war, personal notes and memorabilia.

This is Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kyiv Cave Monastary. It was founded in 1051 with the original caves and is where Orthodoxy first started in Kiev. I really wanted to tour the monastary, but Yuri said no sound is allowed, and he didn't think that was possible for us having Cavin with us.

 This is the national bank building.

 This is St. Michael's Cathedral. The original church was built in 1108, with the main parts of it beginning construction in 1710. However parts of it were destroyed during WWII and have since been rebuilt and restored.

 This is St. Andrew's Church and was built between 1747 and 1754.

 This is the SDA building, where we go for our SDA appointments. It is right across the street from St. Andrews.

 This is Saint Sophia's Cathedral, it is right across the street from St. Michael's. Building began on the cathedral in 1037, with the cathedral being finished in 1707 and bell tower being completed in 1752.

 This is the Golden Gate, built in 1017-1024 and served as a main entrance into the old city of Kiev. The ruins of the gate are enclosed by the structure in the picture.

 Just a building on one of our walks.

 Just another building.

This is the Ukraine Independence Monument, which includes the statute of a woman in Ukrainian national costume on a 40 meter column, symbolizing the independence of Ukraine.

This is the Kiev Opera House

  

This is another street view, not far from our apartment.