Kharkiv #1 - Fun in the city

Daniel, a friend I studied Russian with in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan last year, was coming through Ukraine last week and came through Crimea.  He convinced me to accompany him on a short trip to the East of Ukraine, which began in our minds as  few days hitting all the highlights of the area, but in the end became a few days in Kharkiv.

Kharkiv's Shevchenko statue.  While searching Google for the Wikipedia link, I was surprised to find that Ukraine's famous footballer, Andriy Shevchenko, comes out on top of poor Taras...they have too much power I tell you...too much power. 

We stayed with Marina, a really awesome woman we met on couchsurfing.  Although she worked during the day, she made sure that both nights of our stay we had a good time.  We met with her friends and went on late night walks around the city.  She had so much to show us that it wasn't until right before we left that we had a chance to take her out to dinner, which we attempted to do from the first night.

Of course, the best thing to do in any city is walk around and get to know it with a local.  But other than that?  Here's my list for Kharkiv:

1.  The Kanatnaya Doroga - The winged road!  You'd think it spelled "Soviet Death Trap" as my aunt Grace once called this contraption, but that's what made it so cool.  It is actually not just for entertainment, but a real mode of transportation, taking you over forests and wetlands to another district of Kharkiv.  Click on the video for the sound effects.

2.  Take a look at the Blahoveshchensky Cathedral, which has some pretty cool looking red and cream stripes

3.  Walk around looking at the city's architecture, which is pretty sweet, with quite a few pre-Soviet buildings.

4.  A walk around the central market, but that's a given in any town.

Next up - the Kharkiv Metro, Gagarin fever and street art