After cooking our own breakfast in a kitchen the size of a coat closet, we visited Rodina Mat and the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Rodina Mat, which means "Nation's Mother" is a VERY tall statue of a women who faces Moscow, which means she does NOT face most of Kiev. Legend has it that when the USSR fell, the Ukrainians flew up to her in a helicopter and chopped off the top of her sward so she would be shorter than the tallest cathedral in town.
The museum was very eye opening. It is a lot different to learn about WWII from a land where it actually occurred. There were "leather" gloves made of human skin and a bar of soap made from human fat.
Next we visited the Caves Monastery, or the Pecherska Lavra. Monks dug and lived in these caves starting in 1051 AD. Today, buried in glass coffins in the caves they have become mummified. We occasionally saw a hand or toe poking out!!
One of Jen's favorite places of the whole trip was on the Upper Lavre: The Museum of MicroMiniatures! (Check out the pics at this link!) The room had about 12 microscopes in it revealing things such as a chess set built on the head of a nail, a poppyseed cut in half and decorated inside, and a horseshoe on a flea! Our favorite was a piece of human hair that was drilled hollow, polished, and a rose was placed inside of it. The stem of the rose is 5 microns wide!!! How did he do that???
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