Anyway, I recently had to opportunity to travel to this great city and while I didn't do exactly what I wanted to do, I had a good time.
To get there, I took a train. It left at 3:30 am and was going to take me switfly to Kiev. I got to the station via a taxi t 2:30 and proceeded to wait the hour by standing around. I decided that since 3:30 isn't TOO terribly late I would just stay up and sleep on the train. This would turn out to be a mistake as my train was delayed until 5:20. I walked around for a while, read some of my Bible, even bout something to drink. Delayed again. This time 6:40. So, I went to get something to eat because obviously I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon and I was hungry. I come back from getting food and wait, only to find that it had been subsequently delayed again to 7:30.
I had seen trains come and go. I watched the sunrise over the train yard. People who had morning trains came and went before I did.
Finally, my train arrived and I got on board. For the next few hours I was woken up by various people wanting to know if I was on the train safe and sound. By the last phone call I was about ready to tak ethe battery out of my phone and in retrospect, that might have been a good idea.
Greg had arrived earlier than I because of a mix up of trains. He actually took the wrong train, which in a way was good because he wasn't delayed like I was. He and our host, Sergei, met me at the train station. Pastor Sergei then proceeded to show us a few of the major sights in Kiev before taking us to his home for the night.
There are a few photos from the infamous Maidan square. This is the location of the riots that happened a few months ago. It's hard to see from the picture, but the bridge has pictures of people who died in the conflicts hanging as a memorial. It is a sad place to visit. Now it seems to be more of a tourist scene than anything else though I was warned about pickpockets.
Below are some photos of just a few of the pieces of military equipment at the "Museum of the Great Patriotic War". That's what they call the second world war. Honestly, it doesn't make a difference to me, but it is interesting to see the difference. The jets are different types of MiG's, hint: they get more advanced with pointy-ness.
Finally, and most importantly, at the museum was the statue of the motherland. I'm told that it stands talled than the statue of liberty. I would say that this probably has something to do with the sword, but that's not the point. I don't know if we could go up the statue, but if I could've I would've.
The rest of the weekend was spent simply. Friday night was spent at the Kiev ELC Friday Night speaking club. On Saturday we went to church, then Greg left. On Sunday, I went to the woods with my host and two of his friends. We had a campfire and a lunch. It was nice. Then I returned back to Dnepropetrovsk, this time there weren't any train troubles.
