Okay, it's photo time again. I'll try to keep the text somewhat short, and let the pics do the talking. First things first, a few pics from before and just after Christmas.

I went to Maidan Nezalezhnosti shortly before leaving for England, because they were having a big Christmas celebration, and turning on the Christmas lights on their tree. As you can see, the tree is pretty damn big. I sadly didn't get a picture of the tree after the lights went on, but it looked very nice, with lots of motion lights and stuff. No expense spared.



This was also rather nice: it's the tall monument to Berehynia, but for the occasion they used lights to illuminate it in the colours of the Ukrainian flag (blue sky on top, yellow fields below). The effect was quite striking, as it looked like it had luminescent lights inside the column, rather than lights shining on it. The camera sort of picks up on that here. Below it, Kyiv TV films the celebrations - and a vareniki-eating contest. Hmm.


Many people came to watch, as you see in this 180-degree turned around shot. Don't think they were there just to watch men and women eating dumplings very quickly.






Never mind that. Here we are back in Ukraine after my Christmas break. Pete encouraged me to take pictures of everyday mundane things, so I thought I'd do just that. Coming from an England where, as cold as it seemed, not a drop of snow had fallen, seeing this outside my block of flats (in the background) was certainly rather nice. Didn't feel terribly cold, either. I mean, it was, and still is, but it's not so bad. And the snow really stays, as you'll see later.


For the sake of completeness, here's the TV tower near my flat. I can see it as clear as this from my kitchen window, though if the weather's really bad then it disappears. Go on Google Earth or elsewhere for much better pictures of it. Once they lit it up at night, I wish they'd do that more often.




Now here's the interesting bit. The day before I got back to work - Orthodox Christmas Day - I decided in the morning to go for a little walk around the park right outside my flat, which up to now I'd never been to. It's name is Babyn Yar (or Babi Yar, though I think that's Russian), and it is famous as the site where 33,771 Jews were massacred over the course of September 29th and 30th, 1941 (my birthday, nice...).


Wikipedia considers it "the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust", so it's pretty significant around here. Around 100,000 people were killed in total, but the largest amount was over those two days. This is a statue next to the Dorohozhychi Metro station, a monument to children killed at Babyn Yar. I took it from two different angles, just because it's a circular statue, with different kids around it. You can see the 'M' for Metro on the left of the second photo.

As I walked through the forest, I was struck by how beautiful it looked in the snow. There was a very light amount of snow falling around me, and everything was, obviously, covered in snow, as you can see. Very nice.





This was the road I followed for most of the way through the forest. It's nice that at least the walkway isn't snowed up, but still. There were some dogs up ahead who paid me a bit of attention, and I took a video of them. Not sure how to upload video on here as I've never done it before.




Some people had put a bunch of little Christmas trees in the middle of the park, so I took a snap of the nicest-looking one.







I think the football's off...








This is just another path that led off towards the north of the park. I didn't follow it, but it looked nice so I took a snap.







Here we have another monument, shaped like a menorah, commemorating the 50th anniversary since the initial massacre. The Soviet administration decided to not mention the Jew aspect of the massacre, choosing to just say that 'Soviet citizens' were killed. A month after Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, this monument was erected. Whether the timing is coincidence, I don't know, but as you'll see, this clearly shows the fact that the victims were almost entirely Jewish.

Looks like things have been added to it, this in 2004. It's in English, so it's pretty self-explanatory.







This has a bible (torah) quote: "My pain is continually before me." Psalms 38:18.







The Soviets decided to erect a different kind of monument, though to 'Soviet citizens', as I said. It's a monstrous thing, and the ravine here is really big and steep: the blanket of snow makes it a little difficult to make out, but trust me, it's big and steep. When I arrived, several kids were sliding down the ravine on sledges.




Sadly the white balance messed up on this one, but this is another monument to the massacre. I believe it says "[remember]: for the future", or so Google Translate tells me. I'm not 100% sure what it's for exactly.





Here's an out-of-focus picture of a tablet at the front of the big Soviet monument. The big letters read "one hundred thousand", presumably a reference to the amount of people killed at Babyn Yar in total.





A closer look at the reverse side of the Soviet monument. They did like big monuments, didn't they? Also, I love that snow falling on the photo. At least this one was in focus.






That's all I've got from my trip to Babyn Yar, lots to see, though! Anyhow, now I'll skip forward to yesterday, as I went for a trip to an outdoor museum of Ukrainian architecture. Not many pictures, but I went with some buddies who took more, so they'll be available on Facebook (though some of you won't be able to see that). I met them at Lybidska Metro station, so I took a snap of the interior while I waited.


And here's a field that I saw when we arrived. I just had to take a snap of this, for the folks back home. Neverending snow! We had to walk through that to get to the main part of the museum. Basically, the museum consisted of houses and buildings that we could go inside, with traditional Ukrainian architecture and whatnot. Plus souvenirs to buy, too. Very touristy: the guides even spoke a bit of English!


Apropos of nothing, I saw some ice with what looks like a small frog frozen underneath. So I took a picture.







Here's the only other picture I took at the museum: lovely windmills. I didn't take pictures of the buildings, the spinning sledge that I played on, the snowmen people had built, and the restaurant with traditional Ukrainian food, and some guys in costumes singing a Ukrainian ballad at the top of their lungs. Seriously.



Going home, I got on the Metro at Universytet, which is one of the nicer ones due to its busts. Here's one of them.







Here's a more general snap, which looks awful as the focus on my phone camera is temperamental. So, there's your lot. Hope Pete's happy with this bumper post, and I'm sure I can take more pictures for him in future, such as the route I take to work! Woohoo! Catch you later.