khreshchatik

This is Khreshchatik, Kyiv's main drag. They close the main streets off to traffic on the weekends, which is really pleasant, especially after inhaling exhaust fumes and dodging speeding cars all week. The street was completely destroyed in WWII--as the Germans approached in 1941, the Soviets blew up blocks at a time (with the hapless inhabitants still inside)--but it was reconstructed immediately following the war on the basis of historical architectural models by German POWs .

I've been expecting some nice fall colors, but as you see here, the leaves simply seem to be dying and falling off the trees.
I nearly collapsed of exhaustion last night--the first time here that everything really got to me. But after sleeping for twelve hours, which I apparently needed, I have my energy back! I spent most of the day walking around with Gena, Iryna's friend. He's a journalist, but he was trained as a historian of ancient Kyiv, so we spent four hours climbing hills where really old (pre-Mongol) ramparts once stood. Lots of fun, since I know nothing about that earlier period.