Exhaustion

I have just been showing my parents round Kyiv. They gamely came out here for a long weekend after celebrating my father's 84th birthday. They wanted to see everything and they have left me quite exhausted.

Clearly they were fearing the worst - but they ended their trip absolutely delighted. It wan't just the sights - the Sophia Cathedral, the Andriyivsky Descent, the streets of Podil - though these of course went down well. Nor was it just the excellence of the concert at the Philharmonia or the opera (L'Elisir d'Amore with a world-class young local tenor, Dmitro Popov, as Nemorino). It was the overall atmosphere; compared, they said, to Krakow or St. Petersburg, the people were warm and friendly, the youngsters looked happy, they saw no signs of anti-social behaviour and the city, if in places a bit dilapidated, was generally clean. Above all they loved the architecture - the streets of late 19th century buildings with elaborate details, the amazing procession of Stalinist Gothic along the Khreshchatyk, the extraordinary creations of the architect Gorodetsky, the ensemble of (and the views from) the Pecherskaya Lavra. And whilst the weather was hot throughout, we also caught a spectacular thunderstorm,areal Kyiv special. Now if they could only improve the restaurants, and instal a few decent mid-price hotels, this could become one of the great destinations....despite the ongoing political and economic crises.