Merry (Orthodox) Christmas!

Last night we went for a rainy walk downtown. M, a former colleague, had popped into Ukraine for a quick visit from the chaos and crammed metros of Russia's capital.

M and me

It was nice to finally be able to stroll through Freedom Square as it had been fenced off for so long. I'm sure they opened the square up well before New Year's Eve but with all the traveling we've done lately, this is the first time we'd been in the city center for weeks.

If you hadn't noticed from the billion horse-themed products everywhere, it's definitely year of the horse.

Despite it being Christmas Eve, even Santa stopped by for a quick visit to the ёлка (Christmas tree)!

Extreme illumination seems to be the trend this year.

Afterwards we had a very soggy walk through Park Shevchenko, where the figures lined up around the namesake statue seemed eerily real in the glow of the nearby lamps.

Before heading home we sought shelter (and dessert!) in this place-

The Gogol Café on Sumskaya Street

I'd tried to come here several times before but they were always closed. So glad it worked out this time because it was such a cute, cozy, and quiet little place. We warmed up with mulled wine, lemon cheesecake, and chocolate pie. If you're in town, be sure to check the Gogol Café out. It's at 21 Sumskaya street, not far from the Ballet and Opera theater. It's slightly underground- the windows are at street level. If you're walking up Sumskaya from the Historical Museum metro stop, stay on that side of the street and look for this-

It's sometimes also called the Gogol Mogol café and Gogol Mogol is indeed one of the desserts you can try here. Seriously, is there any dessert on the planet with a cooler name than "Gogol Mogol"? :p (Unfortunately I'm not really sure what exactly it is, but it was on the menu last night and I remember a Russian teacher raving about it years ago... something like eggnog maybe?)


Anyway, Merry Christmas one more time!! : )