Some amazing news has been given to admirers and visitors of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Ukraine, as the central area in the cathedral once again has its Royal Gates returned. A subject of great despair, these gates are a requirement of the church canon used to symbolize unity between heaven and earth, and during the last century, the Soviets had taken the gate down and possibly even melted it for different reasons. While there had been pieces found, there has been a great move to restore these beautiful works since as early as the 1970s.
Now, after 2 years of work financed by an anonymous benefactor, Polish restorers were assigned and have now brought these amazing works back to Kyiv. The restoration has taken over 100,000 dollars, and are constructed of pure silver. It has taken an amazing amount of time, effort and precision to resotre the gates, but now, out of the 50% of the original gates, the St. Sophia Royal Gates are back.
One of the greatest cities in the Ukraine is Kiev, the breathtaking capital of the country and one of the largest cities. However, when visiting Kiev, you simply MUST visit the Pechersk Lavra, or your visit just won’t be quite right. The Pechersk Lavra (Caves and Monastary) is an area in the city which is an amazing centre of churches, several gold domes, absolutely stunning iconoclastic artwork, and then the other major claim to fame, you can walk through the very caves where the burial grounds of quite a few saints from the Russian Orthodox Church are held.
If you decide to tour the caves, just be aware that you’ll be doing it with a guide and that you’ll be handed a candle to help you have enough light in your group while you explore. You’re also allowed to place those candles at different points on your walk through the caves, in order to offer your prayers to any saint you wish. It’s worth seeing just for the artwork and architecture, so don’t miss out when you’re in Ukraine.
Many visitors to the Ukraine will wonder if they are suppose to tip people that offer them a service just like they would in their home lands. While tipping in the Ukraine used to be something that was not done, in recent years it has begun to develop. Because of the introduction of the more modern entertainment and restaurant establishments that have begun to come up in the Ukraine because of the large amounts of Western clientele that are visiting the Ukraine things have changed.
Today in the Ukraine you are expected to tip on the average of about 5-10 percent in a Ukrainian establishment. In the establishments that are more upscale you will find that tipping is more along the lines of what you are used to in your homeland of about 15% of your total bill. There are times and establishments that will include the tip in the bill so make sure to check before you over tip. If you are unsure if the tip is included as the waiter or the manager for assistance.
Drivers are not usually tip, but if you feel he has done an excellent job you are allowed to tip and the tip will be greatly appreciated by the driver.
The official language of the Ukraine is the Ukrainian language. The Ukrainian language is one of the East Slavic languages similar to Russian and Belorussian. All of these languages use the Cyrillic Alphabet. There was a long period where the Ukrainian language was on a decline is use but recently the beautiful language has been making a comeback. It is used widely in the Western Ukraine where it has had a large amount of influence from the Polish.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian languages are spoken in Kiev. Kiev used to be a city in which Russian was the primary language spoken but the change of also speaking Ukrainian is a notable change. This change was mainly caused by the large amount of migrants that flooded in from the western regions of the Ukraine but it also was caused by the residents of Kiev returning to using the same language they normally speak in their homes for more of their everyday matters.
Here are a few common words in English and their pronunciations in Ukrainian:
Hello—Vitayu
Good morning—–Dobrogo rankoo
Good evening—Dobryy’ vechir
Please—-Proshu, bud’ laska
Thank you—Dyakuyu
Do you speak English?—– Chy vy hovoryte po anglyis’ki?
Several girls in Kiev have take to bathing and protesting in central Kiev in Independent square. They are protesting to the fact that the hot water has been shut off in their hostels.
This is not something that is just being done to them and it is something that the people of the former Soviet Union have come to expect. The hot water is not regulated by the household or even by the building but rather by city blocks. Over the course of the summer months the government will turn off the hot water in certain parts of town in order to perform upkeep and repairs on the pipes.
So for those who have lived in the Ukraine have become accustom to waking up one morning in the summer to find that the only thing coming out of the water taps is straight cold water. So what do the people do when they have no hot water for weeks at a time? Many have found several different ways to deal with this. Some will visit friends or family that live in other parts of the city, some will take to boiling their water which can become very time consuming others will find locations such as the sauna or the gym and as many can see others will also take to protesting and bathing in liberty square.
