Kiev

The crew begins early; they are washing the three upper decks and the cabin windows before the morning "radio" music begins to play at 7a.m. Our group are usually at breakfast early but this morning we leave the ship at 8a.m., boarding a bus for a driving and walking tour of a small part of Podol, the older part of this huge city. A tiny church of patron saint Nicholas is only a few hundred feet from our Dnieper Princess; as patron of sailors (and children) it is appropriate that he is patron saint of Kiev. In addition to the various destructive events of the 20th century, there was a huge fire in Kiev in 1811, meaning many popular buildings have been reconstructed at least once in the last 200 years. Statues and giant memorials seem to be in every direction; a titanium statue of Mother Russia was built in 1982, overlooking the river, the huge rainbow commemorating the brotherhood of Ukraine and Russia about the same time. (The 1500 year anniversary of Kiev and Rus were celebrated then). Some have been rebuilt since the 1991 independence from Russia.

St. Michael's Cathedral (for Archangel Michael) is the first we walk to, past a trio of Ukraine heroes. St. Olga, grandmother of Prince Vladimer who brought Christianity to Rus from Byzantium, in hopes of uniting the many different tribes of the eastern European area, is flanked by the figure of St. Andrew, reputed to have come near this area in the first century, sharing the Gospel, and the figures of brothers Methodius and Cyril, who failed at converting Rus to Christianity, but translated the Gospel for future generations by creating the Cyrillic alphabet. St. Michael's is gorgeous pale blue with white ornate trim. We hear one service being sung by priest in the surviving Ukrainian style refectory building, then hear the end of another service in the main chapel, at least 200 tourists and worshippers milling around and referencing the many icons, leaving flowers or lighting taper candles for prayers (only 1 UHL, or 12 cents). (remember that Orthodox don't sit but stand and walk around during their services)

We then walk a short distance to St Andrew's, but because of major road construction, we can only admire it 100 yards away. We walk another block back to the square, then enter the famous St. Sophia Cathedral, important when signing national documents, installing new leaders, etc. It is a museum, not an active church, but frescos from 11th century forward are visible on almost every surface. They have restored a few of the original ones in 1843-1853, but left some later layers showing, too. The iconostasis was redone on orders of Catherine the Great in rich golden Baroque style. The nineteen domes also glisten with gold