Ukraine in pictures

I know that in my last post there was a LOT of writing but no images to illustrate our trip, so today I got around transfering the pictures to the computer, resize and upload them here. 

Here is a pic in our bedroom at the Hyatt Regency, which is a great hotel by the way. I think for me, the highlight was the bathroom (I know, kind of lame). It had a tub and an awesome shower area. My first night, after the dinner with Astrid, I took a looooooonnnggg shower then hoped in the tub, then back to the shower. The shower had a removable shower head and a huge one fix head right above me. It was great! I've always love showering, maybe because I'm from the island. It has been a big deal for me to shower at the hotel because at home in Belgium, we've always had to watch for our water (and electricity and gas) consumption. Whereas in the island, at least in Tahiti, water is free. I remember being 7 months pregnant with Taiamani and Ilyah and being in Tahiti in 'summer' (which is extremely hot) and showering several times a day. Anyway, you got the point, I enjoyed the shower. 

Here is I think the St Andrew's Church. I loved the shape of the different churches there. 

Here's our hotel, 5-star Hyatt Regency. the only reason we were able to stay there is because Juri's boss paid for it. It's fairly luxurious hotel and people, mostly women, were very fashionable. The staff was very competent and their english was really good.

 Astrid and I at the Bohdan Khmelnytsky square.

The gate in front of the Famous St Sophia Cathedral. 

Vladimir of Kiev, who 'brought' Christianity to Ukraine. He pretty much force it on the people

The our legendary founders of the city of Kiev: 3 brothers, Kyi (from which the name Kyiv or 'Kiev' came from), Shchek, Khoryv and their sister Lybid'. There's that tradition in Ukraine and maybe eastern Europe where newlyweds take their pictures in front of historic monuments like here. There were like 3 wedding parties waiting for their turn.

The Rodina (the "Motherland")- a huge ( 102 meters high) statue overlooking the city of Kiev and turned towards Moscow, Russia. The Russians offered this statue to Ukraine. It is 9 meters taller than the Statued of Liberty.

A part of the city of Kiev

This is the scenery we woke up to on Saturday morning. It was snowing!

Saturday morning breakfast at the hotel. One of the rare pictures of both of us.

A beautiful Church right across St Sophia. Very beautiful monument too. At the bottom of the picture, is the group of lawyers we stayed with. We were all soaked that morning because it was wet snow and nobody was dressed up for such an excursion. Juri and I actually went back to the hotel right after this site because we wanted to dry off before taking the plane back to Brussels in a couple of hours.

The inside of the Church. It was a beautiful sight. 

Us in the hotel lobby before our departure.

Here's what we came back to in Brussels. Beautiful!