Memories of Kiev

BEIJING: In Kiev, the day after visiting the Cave's Monastery - see below - we checked out a fantastically adorned building that lays claim to being the Gaudi of Kiev - The House With Chimeras. Amongst its many decorations

Then we attempted the Kafka-esque task of tackling the Ukrainian postal system at which we succeeded with the patience of Solomon, some kindness and some good luck. Then with the light starting to fade we checked out St. Michael's Cathedral, the newer of Kiev's twin beauties.

That accomplished we set out to raise St. Andrew's Descent or something. Unfortunately the persistent snow and failing light meant that Kiev's most famous street probably wasn't as magical as it could have been, however, it was still a lovely street. The other disappointment was that we all read Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and the Margarita and while the great man did actually live on the street the main draw was a cafe that was said to be decorated with a depiction of the book's legendary cat/demon Behemoth. The cafe was though like a film adaptation of a good book, it didn't quite live up to our expectations of this sharp shooting, chess playing, wise cracking cat.

To finish the evening Kate and I went to see Madame Butterfly at the State Opera which was very average though the woman playing Butterfly did warm to the role as her death approached. All in all though it felt like a high school version with slightly better singing. We finished off the night in some reasonably funky bar.