The Great Patriotic War Museum

Well, after a nightmarish day like yesterday (1/17), we were due for a good day. And we had one, though the boys still were challenging.

Yuri took us to a museum commemorating the Great Patriotic War (aka WW II). The museum has both indoor and outdoor displays.

The outdoor stuff includes static displays of tanks, helicopters, airplanes, and even an SS missile.

The boys were able to climb into the cockpit of a helicopter from the Afghanistan War of the 1970s as well as the cockpit of a transport plane. I think the woman there said it was a DC-3, which seems odd. Not sure when that sale would have been made. I must have misunderstood her.

These were a huge hit with the boys even though it was c-o-o-l-d outside.

The museum is at the foot of a huge statue representing the Rodina (the homeland). It is roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty, or slightly higher.

The helicopter was the biggest hit. Especially since it has gun sound effects attached to the pilot’s trigger.

The boys were relatively good, though in their excitement they kept running behind the displays which was not allowed. One of the guards made a big angry display to get them to follow the rules (though it was an act. He was irritated, but pretended to be much more to scare the boys).

But running around outside was very good for them. The interior portion of the museum was more challenging. As usual, Ruslan was pretty good though not perfect. Valik was loud, defiant, and kept running away.

Still, we were able to take in a good bit about the battles against the Nazis in Kyiv. We were not able to go up into the statue as it was closed since there had been a few suicides there.

The boys, as well as Nancy and I, enjoyed climbing on the tanks of love, or whatever they call it. Colin was disgusted that hippies had apparently invaded Ukraine, though in a way he was glad to see they are not only in the US.

We had a very cold walk back up the hill to make a brief visit to a very old (~1000 years) Orthodox church. The boys bought a candle and put it in their display (I don’t know the terms, as I don’t know anything about rituals). Nancy and I bought 2 hand-painted icons (of Jesus and Mary). They were painted by the local monks. We got them for about $25, which is less than the frames would have cost back home.

After, we wanted to tour more, but given the cold, we felt it best to head back home.

We had intended to go to the TGI Fridays nearby to get some American food. But we decided it would be too late to get the boys to bed. Instead, we cooked some food and watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with the boys. They liked the way we sang along with all the songs and hummed along as if they knew the tunes.

We are beginning to see that these boys need activity to burn off lots of energy. It’s amazing the amount of energy Valik has given that the boy does not eat.

All in all, a good day, and an answer to prayer after the previous day’s nightmare.