"I'm sorry Murray and Donna, but you are the last team to arrive...."

Well, today was our last day of being “tourista”. For those of you who are Amazing Race fans, it was not a good day for us. More on that later.

We woke up early again around 5:30 a.m., and headed out the door by 8:00 a.m. Took metro to Kyiv Percherskva (caves) Lavra (senior monestary). See link on our list of links. Overall it was a very moving experience. Tourists and Orthodox pilgrims alike flock to see the Lavra. Set on 28 acres on grassy hills along the Dnipro River, the monestery’s tight cluster of gold domed churches is a feast for all eyes. For Orthodox pilgrims this is the holiest of the holy land. It was founded in 1051 by Greek St. Antoniy after Orthodoxy became the official religion in Kyiv Rus. Looks like lots of action was happening around Kyiv at the turn of the 1000 century (See notes on St. Sophia & St. Michaels). Caves were dug out where the monks lived, studied and worshipped. When they died, their bodies were preserved without embalming by the caves cool temperatures and dry air. Their bodies are mummified to today, hence worshippers believe them to be holy men.

We started off by joining other worshippers in a very small church just outside the walls of the lower lavra, where one priest blessed us on the head with a “hat” and then another anointed our forehead with oil. Women were chanting a song over and over again, and many people prayed in front of icons. It was very crowded but a very moving experience for us.

We proceeded to the Church of the Raising of the Cross which is the entrance to the first set of caves. Tourists are allowed only in some parts of the caves, as other areas are closed off to monks and orthodox clergy. We walked in completely dark passages, all but light by thin bees wax candle we were holding. The passages were very narrow and low, so Murray had to watch his head. You could see the mummified monks clothed in vestments behind glass. It was somewhat chaotic in the caves with worshippers moving from one monk to the next kissing the tombs, and lost in their religious ecstasy, the candle fames could easily have set head scarfs on fire. Hence we did not stay long in the caves.

From the Lavra we made our way to the statue of Rodina Mat (Nation’s Mother or formerly called Defence of the Motherland Monument commemorating the Great Patiotic War, WWII). The 62 m tall statue is also nick named “Tin Tits”. Looking over the Lavra churches, it was no doubt intended to symbolically give an impression of Soviet domination over the Ukrainian church. See photo of Murray paying homage to this great woman!

So, if we were in the Amazing Race, up to this point we would have been right in the middle of the pack. But things went wrong when we decided to cut across country to get to a different Metro station and see a different area of Kyiv. We ended up lost on a winding side street. We both were very tired (and cranky) from all the walking in the mid day heat. In the end, we hailed a cab to take us to the metro---less than 5 min ride for 40 hyrvnia---got very ripped off. Had we arrived at the check-in this day, Phil and some Ukrainian divchenka in traditional garb (i.e. with stilettos, tight low-cut jeans and short shirt and no bra) we would have definitely been the last team and eliminated from the race!

We were both exhausted when we got back to the apt that we slept from 6-8 p.m. Murr woke up and thought it was already the next morning and freeked out a bit.

We are getting messages of well wishes from friends and family back home for our appointment tomorrow. Your support means a lot.

One observation….Kyiv has more cars than it can handle. Cars park everywhere---on the street, or on part of the street and part of the sidewalk; on the sidewalk; in flower beds. And there isn’t a single parking meter to be seen. Looks like this city is missing out on some major revenue, and then loss in parking controls.