Sleeping in airports

I spent last night (from 22:00 till 07:00) at Gatwick Airport north terminal departures level. There were over 50 other people doing the same thing! Interesting crowd those who choose to sleep at the airport. Surprisingly it was mostly older people. I remember trying to sleep at airports in California when I was much younger and at Victoria train station in London when I was 18. Those were some pretty miserable experiences! Armed with those memories I decided on a new approach... Just stay awake the whole night! I have some Ukrainian energy drinks and the lastest book from my 3rd favorite writer, so that's not a problem. I've got a free breakfast and a shower waiting for me in the British Airways first class lounge after I check in, and now it will be even easier to sleep on the plane. Life is good.

St. Sophia's Cathedral

After trying for 3 days I finally got into St. Sophia's Cathedral yesterday. One day it was closed because the president was there. The next day was Easter Sunday and it was closed again, which I thought was really odd, but inside I found out it's actually a museum and not an active place of worship (in that way sharing the same fate as the Hagia Sofia, the church it was designed to rival). Quite different from the other churches I visited in Kiev in this respect.

Inside St. Sophia's Cathedral

mayden Nezalezhnosti

Where the people gathered during the Orange Revolution.

mayden Nezalezhnosti at sunset

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

A very spiritual place, I tried my best to stay out of the way of people who were trying to pray. Know as the Caves Monastary, the monks here dug caves where they lived and worshipped and when they died their bodies were placed in their caves. They're still there and you can walk around in the caves and see the mummified monks bodies in glass topped coffins. It's spooky.

Another Kiev pic

The Kiev TV Tower

The 13th tallest free standing structure in the world. Sadly I found out the observation deck is not open to the public.

Some new friends

I met these guys at an impromptu bus stop karaoke party. Someone had set up a generator behind the bus stop and an amp, computer, and speakers in front of the bus stop. I went over to check it out. When they found out I was from the USA they were pretty excited and asked me a million questions. People here are really really cool!

St. Michael's Monastery

Decending into the Kiev Metro