UFO and Cupcake: Saturday- May 28

Since we don't have a coffee maker we started the day off at a coffee shop, plus that's where we map out our day and upload the blog. Today we wanted to explore the contemporary art scene in Kiev with a few other stops along the way. We walked down to St Volodymyrs Cathedral. I (Lilya) have fond memories visiting the cathedral during my childhood, the mesmerizing scent of incense and wax candles.

We snapped a few shots inside, before being directed toward a corner where we can pay for permission to take pictures as well as a prayer.

There is not much graffiti, what we've seen is definitely not anything good. Mostly there are sprayed scribbles and tags, so the Einstein atom bomb cloud stood out.

Walking through the park across from Kiev's University of Taras Shevchenko we stopped and got a nice glass of kvas that was on tap. It is by far the best kvas we've had yet.

At the M17 Contemporary Art Center was a show of Italian art, Transavanguardia; the work that stood out was a few pastel drawings by Francesco Clemente. Not a very exciting show overall but the space is nice. We were the only visitors there and were closely followed by the guard, so pictures were out of question.

Walking back up Krasnoarm'ska St towards Besarabsky rinak (market), there seems to be kiosks on every corner, an equivalent of a small convenience store but some are more specialized. Art Ukraine is a local art magazine that David spotted at one kiosk. So we decided to look at it over pizza.

The restaurant Mafia specialized in Italian food and sushi. Sushi is very popular here but we went for pizza, we ordered 4-cheese, it had a very thin crust but not crispy, very little sauce and grapes. It was an experiment for us and by far a very odd item.

Our next destination greeted us with a line we didn't expect at PinchukArtCentre. We planned to attend a talk about Olafur Eliasson's work, who's show "Your emotional future" recently opened at the center, and apparently is extremely well received based on a half an hour line we waited in. As time came close to the talk, Lilya asked if we can go in, and were let in a bit ahead of the line. There are metal detectors at the entrance, no photography allowed, so we had to (very hesitantly) check in our camera bag and all the gallery attendants look like personal body guards. The talk was just an introduction of the show to the public attended by maybe 25 ppl. It introduced the concept of contemporary public art without the monument such as Eliasson's work and his intent for this show. The viewers were invited to experience it as a walk through the garden. The top floor showcased part of a permanent collection, which were all blue chip artists (Hirst, Koons, Murakami) and few Ukrainian artists.

Then we walked over to Besarabsky rinak, an indoor market, where vendors sell meats, produce, and other. We bought: red currant, baklava and salo.

Then we've spent an evening on Kheshatic St, a main street in Kiev that was closed to car traffic, with thousands of people out enjoying themselves, so we people watched. Purses for men are extremely popular, most have small shoulder bags that look like camera bags.

Parking is pretty much anywhere your car can fit. Mostly on the sidewalks, at least partially on, is how everyone parks. Backing up to parallel park is non existent it seems.