Day 4 - In and around Kyiv

Howdy there ladies and gents!

Today was another full day but we'll get to that in a minute. We wanted to finish posting a few pictures of places Doug took us yesterday around downtown Kiev. First up is a statue you might recognize if you remember the Orange Revolution that took place here in 2004. It was festooned with banners and flags in press photos that circulated back then. Second is a shot of the cathedral at St. Michael's Monastery which is down the street and facing the famous St. Sofia Cathedral. The communists destroyed it and it was only rebuilt about 10 years ago; the spires are overlaid with pure gold. Finally, in the plaza of St. Michael's there is a statue honoring the monks Cyril & Methodius who created the cyrillic alphabet for the Slavic tribes centuries ago.

Today we visited an outdoor architectural museum that pays homage to all the different types of architecture in Ukraine throughout its history. We saw windmills, homes from the 19th century, barns, outdoor kitchens, cottage gardens and the building in the pictures below. First is a church from the 18th century, inside was the original wall of icons that stretched up about 30 feet. It was still a functional church as there were several prayer candles burning in front of the icons when we entered. We can't take pictures inside any churches (understandable) but if you've never seen an icon wall, they are absolutely breathtaking. We don't believe in praying to icons because of what the Bible says in Hebrews 4:14-16:

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The second picture is a house from the western part of Ukraine where they build really solid little houses almost all from timber. It was interesting to see that in different parts of the country their homes are constructed using different means. In the eastern part of Ukraine, homes are mostly made of stone and brick, for example.
After we left the museum we drove further south on the road to Odessa to see some of the countryside and what rural Ukraine looked like. There is a lot of farmland, Doug has been told that in some parts of the country the topsoil is 4 to 5 meters deep!! (that's a LOT) One big difference I noticed is that like in America, farmers plant trees at the edges of their fields to serve as windbreaks and erosion control. The difference is that those planted trees in Ukraine were at least twice as big as trees in the States, pointing to just how much longer people have been involved in agriculture here.
Sorry to all but three of you who found that incredibly boring :D I have to be a geography nerd once in awhile. Tomorrow is supposed to rain a good bit in the morning but as soon as it clears up we're going to a botanical garden. My shutterbug should have lots to upload and post tomorrow night. In closing, tomorrow is our last day in Ukraine as we have an EARLY flight to catch to Hungary Wednesday morning. He has been an incredibly generous host and we pray that we haven't been too much of an inconvenience. I'm sure he looks forward to sleeping in his bed again Wednesday night once we're gone. We pray that y'all are having a good (though probably hot) Monday and we'll do our best to blog again tomorrow!