I'm feeling lazy right now (so what's new?) so I thought I'd just give you a bunch of pics to look at. Saves me writing stuff, and I'm sure you guys are more interested in pics anyhow.

The view going up one of the endless escalators inside the Metro stations. Some of these stations (well, most of them) and very far underground, so the escalator rides really add to your journey time. For a first timer, they look quite pretty, but trust me, the ads for TV shows and the like get old pretty quick.




The end wall sculpture in Politechnichni Institut Metro. Some of the Metro stations are really quite nice, compared to the blank and purely functional look of Metro systems in London, New York or elsewhere.





This is one of my particular faves: our old pal Lenin, to be seen in Teatralna Metro. It seems so strange to still have this Communist relic sitting here, 17 years after independence, but it's a pretty marvellous bust, admittedly. The walls are also decorated with quotes from the big man himself, some in Russian, some Ukrainian. Unfortunately, the walls are now also decorated with Ani Lorak promoting some bloody heater. Anyway, this picture gives rise to a neat juxtaposition of the old heroes...

...and the new ones. Quantum of Solace was promoted heavily here for obvious reasons (the Bond Bird is a Ukrainian), though I forget which station this is (it's full of these ads for Sony stuff, though this vast end-wall poster made for a beautiful comparison between the old Communist idol, and the man who used to be its sworn enemy...).



One final end-wall thing, this time from Shuliavska Metro. Nothing like the image of a proud worker holding the atom in his hands to remind you of your recent trip to Chernobyl, and the nuclear disaster that preceded it...





We have our own single toilet in the KPI building we share with the polytechnic, but this is an example of the ones in the rest of the building. I just hope that stick isn't a replacement for toilet paper.






Most big cities have homeless guys. This city has homeless cats and dogs. They wander around hoping to get a bit of food, so naturally their lack of food energy makes them pretty docile. Cats can be a bit more pushy, but the dogs just walk around feeling sorry for themselves. This collection of sleeping dogs near the school had me reaching for the camera, obviously. I just could let them lie (sorry).


Now for more proper sightseeing: this is the Golden Gate, or Zoloti Vorota. Wikipedia and other places should be able to give you more info than I can, but FYI it's not an original, it's a reconstruction. Still rather pretty as you can see.





So now, as you walk from Zoloti Vorota, you see these few things: first, a statue of a guy on a horse. Answers on a postcard regarding what it represents...






Further down the road, the Hyatt hotel, arguably (well, unarguably I suppose) the nicest hotel in Kyiv, and obviously the most expensive. It's a nice-looking building so I had to snap it.






And at the end of the road, a church (there's a few around Kyiv, funnily enough). Don't know the name, but I'm sure you can find out. Turn right for O'Brien's Irish Pub, if you're ever in town. Not that I go there, mind. Never again.





This will be of limited interest, but it illustrates how legitimate software piracy is in Ukraine - and why people play games on their PC instead of wasting their money on consoles. Four Call of Duty games in one pack? FIFA 09 plus the Olympics game? Even better, though not in this shot, was FIFA 09 plus the latest PES, complete with Ukrainian league patch. As if the two games would ever be on the same disc. All that for just 35 UAH shows something.

Megamarket really does sell everything. If they have Marmite I might never come home.








And finally...

Yes, I really did see Chesney Hawkes in concert on the 'Nostalgia' channel on cable.







And to quote our good friend Levi quoting somebody else: "If the barmaid gave me head like that, I'd send it back." And they evidently did. I drank it, though.