An Extra Day

We were unable to get a flight home for today (Friday) which gave us some time to do a bit more exploring in Kiev.  Our Kiev advocated took us to a local Internet Cafe to catch up on computer stuff.  This one was not close enough to walk home, so our driver waited for us until we were done.  After reconnecting with the our world, we set off for a visit to the Monastery with a quick trip through the drive-thru at McDonald's for lunch (gotta love the fries - Ukraine or US, it's all the same).  

The Monastery is a huge compound with several museums, a large cathedral, the Trinity Church, bell tower, gift shops (of course) and so much more.  On of the museums displayed the works of Nikolai Syadristy.  His art and technique is called micro miniatures.  You must look through a microscope to see them.  It is phenomenal and hard to wrap your mind around.  One piece was a portrait drawn on a piece of glass and inserted in 1/2 a poppy seed.  On the other half was a detailed gold model of a violin - strings and all!  Another model was placed on the end of a shaft of hair.  There was also a composition of gold showing 4 camels, a pyramid (with each store showing) and a palm tree and then this was placed in the eye of a needle!  I hae a hard time getting a piece of thread through the eye of a needle.

The other museum displayed gold artifacts dating as far back as the 4th and 5th century B.C. There was lots of jewelry, lots of adornments for horses, swords, whip handles, and lots of icons - especially as we moved into the 14th and 15th century.  We started seeing lots of tabernacles, bibles, chalices,... (it made me think of Indiana Jones).  There were also dishes, snuff boxes, vases...  The detail in the work was truly amazing.  I caught myself say "Pretty" at almost every display.  I really need a bigger vocabulary.

Below the Monastery grounds were caves that are actually part of the compound.  The first monks lived there long ago.  For us to enter, I had to buy a scarf to cover my head.  My knee length skirt was barely long enough and William's shorts (to the knees as well) were questionable, but they let us in anyway.  The cave passageways are narrow with smooth white-washed walls.  Throughout the caves are small rooms.  Most of these contained glass topped coffins with bodies of saints inside, covered with elegant shrouding.  These are highly revered by the Orthodox.  If you want health or healing you pray at the body of the saint who was a healer.  Many worshipers will kiss the glass of the coffin as a sign of respect.  There are no lights inside se we bought and carried long thin tapers to light our way.  Visiting the caves is a very holy thing to do for the Orthodox people.  You come out cleansed and pure.  Understandably, no pictures were allowed. (Sorry, you'll just have to miss me in my scarf).

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at the market (that we never found our last trip to Kiev) for food for dinner.  From there we walked home to relax for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow our ride arrives at 2:45 am to take us to the airport.  It should only take us about 20 hours to get home - just in time for dinner.

See you in California!