Crowded Beach

Sunday we took the metro to Hedro Park, an Island in the Dnipro River. This was my first experience on the Metro. I have never taken it since it's either a far hike in one direction (far if your lugging Keenan around that is) or a bus ride in the wrong direction to get to the nearest stations.

We got to the beach in the middle of the afternoon and it was packed! Notice the healthy reddish brown hue of the water. We did not get in the... we've heard it's not the cleanest.

We first walked around a little to check it all out. We found sand soccer fields, a basketball court and an outdoor weight lifting area that is made from old railroad materials (?). I guess this is Kyiv's version of Venice Beach...complete with of course speedo's.

We finally found a but of shade under an umbrella and enjoyed a beer. It was another hot day out. We saw way WAY too many speedos and thong bikinis on people who should have been wearing a whole lot more. We also saw a few people, both men and women, just in their underwear and bras. I guess a bathing suit doesn't really cover any more...

Our view from where we enjoyed our beer looked over the river towards the Iron Maiden. I just wanted to show how high she towers into the skyline.We were better prepared this time. We took a backpack cooler full of snacks to munch on.

The metro station that we used was right by the Golden Gate (what used to be the entrance to the city and is now restored). Here's Keenan trying to push the doors open.

Keenan likes to hang from anything that he can hold on to. He's getting pretty strong.

Here's a statue in front of the Golden Gate. Soon as Keenan felt the statue he kept saying "hot hot hot"

Iron Maiden

This weekend Eric and I got a sitter and headed out to explore a little bit of the city by ourselves. We were trying to find a place to park close to a pedestrian bridge but in the process found a pretty park and what we think is a children's theater. I thought this fountain was neat. We walked around the park for a while. There were tours of a water treatment plant... we think.
We did find the pedestrian bridge and walked across it to one of the islands in the Dnipro river. It wasn't the island we were hoping for but walked around a bit just the same and ate lunch by the river. This was our view from our table.

Next we decided to see the Iron Maiden, protector of the Motherland, getting there was a little tricky. We first drove by it and ended up on the highway out of town that seemed to have no exits to get off on to turn around. Eric has a way better sense of direction that I do (I seem to have none) and managed to end up right at our destination with up close parking. She's huge! She sets up high on a hilltop where you can see her in certain parts of the city looming up in the sky.
There is a museum underneath her but it was closed on the day we went. The Iron Maiden sits on top of Memorial Complex which has other statues, tanks, planes... other World War II related stuff. It was pretty neat and had a great view overlooking part of the city.