Kiev

May 26–28, 2008

The modern architecture is horrendous.

The Three Graces.

Storm drains at sidewalk level—now that’s an invention.

A baffling traffic pattern.

A traffic sign novelty.

Ukrainians are several years ahead of Russia when it comes to road infrastructure. Traffic light countdown timers, reversible lanes, right turns on red—all this has long been implemented here. Oh, and here’s parking you can pay for with your cell phone.

Kievtransparkservice. Zone 1 Lot #A1013. Pay by telephone 516. Rate 7 hrn. for 1 hour.

The traffic light masts are getting prettier by the day.

And the highway to the airport puts even Europe to shame.

In the metro, if you’re traveling from Lukianivska to Zoloti Vorota and look left, you’ll see a lifelong dream fulfilled: a video advertisement on the tunnel wall whose animation effect is achieved exclusively thanks to the train’s movement speed. It shows cute dolphins and antelopes, and concludes with the logo of Life, a local mobile network operator. Pretty neat.

The ground transportation is less sophisticated. Here’s a coffinized GAZelle.

And here’s a presumably locally made freak of nature. The entire city is chock full of these quasi-buses. And that’s fantastic, because you can actually stand up fully in these Ukrainian fixed-run taxis, rather than having to bend yourself into a pretzel to climb into the back.

Ukrainians also love the colors of their flag. Everything imaginable is painted yellow and blue.

I guess it’s just a very natural combination.

But generally speaking, of course, the city is completely Russian. I definitely intend to come and live here for a couple of months at the end of the year.

“Armored doors, gates. Cleaning. Dry cleaning. National Life Saving Society of the Ukrainian SSR. NLSS Kiev City Council.”