Anti-Mexican Reunion

After chatting with Halina, my Ukrainian friend I decided that we needed a reunion and as she couldn't come to me I would go to her and we would have a reunion in Kyiv - the last city we spent time together back in March 2012. After chatting some more, our Russian and Greek friends were also up for the reunion, and they joined us in the Ukrainian capital, the only place easy to get to for us all that we could all go visa free.

Although I had all visited each of them independently after the Erasmus experience had ended, this would be the first time in over two years, as well as the first time in over three since we were all together.

I started the trip by taking a BA flight from T5 (the first time I'd flown with British Airways) to Kyiv's Boryspil airport. After a three hour flight I arrived and jumped on the airport bus to make my way into the city centre for a reunion with the bestie. And instantly it was as if nothing had changed and we carried on the fun from where we had left off.

The first day was only going to be Halina and myself, as the other two were arriving the following morning, and so we spent it in the Maidan - the scene of the revolution since my last visit, and then by walking around the government areas, where just the week previously there had been some protests and subsequent casualties. We finished the day by getting some booze at the supermarket - a small bottle of vodka for just 75p! And spent the evening getting drunkat our self styled 'Anti-Mexican-Greek-Russian party'.

The following morning the girls arrived and we spent the morning walking around the city, starting with the Maidan (avoiding the bird men), before heading around the hills and towards the Golden Domed cathedrals.

Golden Domed Cathedrals

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery

Taking a look inside some of them and then stopping for lunch with a well earned catch up on all the action of the previous few years, we headed towards St. Andrew's and the Chernobyl Museum.

On Halina and I's previous visit, we had visited the actual reactor building, and therefore to keep with continuity we had to visit something depressing! The museum had a completely different presentation, as this was located within the city of Kyiv, and told more of the story around the incident with videos, photos and objects. Chernobyl itself just shows the effects of it. Although it was slightly worrying at parts, as we were told some of these objects were slightly radioactive. As Halina said to me, it was almost scarier than the real thing - at least you were prepared for that. The museum was definitely worth visiting as it was pretty cheap to get in, gives a different perspective on the event, and is themed very very well. Even with the dark reactor floor styled seating area and mutated puppy on show.

On our way back we took the funicular to the top of the hill, before it started raining and we headed back for a relaxed evening of fun, games and booze. Including a hilarious game of Truth or Dare that resulted in our Russian friend screaming at the loss of the Lenin statue that faced our apartment the previous year.

On the final full day for us all Marianna's Ukrainian friend Alyssa joined us, and we made our way to the south of the city centre. Unfortunately it was raining, and as we walked along the hilltop there wasn't much of the view of the city to be seen.

We reached the Holodomor museum, and took a look at the exhibits on the Ukrainian Genocide in the 30s, before making our way to the Lavra - a large UNESCO protected collection of churches and caves.

The Lavra

At Mother Motherland

Our final stop for the day was at the Mother Motherland statue, where despite the rain we took some group photos before heading back for another evening of stupid games which ended up with an explicit and hilarious game of charades. The following day began with Lisa making her way back to the airport, before we checked out of the apartment, dropped bits off at the Hotel Ukraina overlooking the Maidan, and took a look at the final few sites in the city before I left the group for the airport.

Kyiv is still one of my favourite cities in the world, with its unique mix of beautiful Orthodox buildings, communist architecture, modern history and super cheap prices. Despite the struggle with the lack of English and clear direction I had an amazing time having a catch up with my favourite East Europeans and look forward to our next reunion - wherever that may be!