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December 5th 2009
Published: December 5th 2009
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We don't understand this gameWe don't understand this gameWe don't understand this game

On this playground we saw a game that looked like tic-tac-toe. This game in Kiev looked different and it wasn't at all like the game we've played before

This summer vacation we went to Ukraine



Hi all you fans of our blog. We are still not finished with telling about all the travels we have done this year. We still have the big vacation in Ukraine to write about. That trip was so long and we saw so much that we have to divide it in two blog entries to fit in everything. So here comes the story from the first half of all our adventures in Ukraine this summer.

When we came to Ukraine we arrived in Kiev, the capital city. There mum and dad first took us to a playground. We are little toys and toys are usually what little children play with. But toys also like to play. So in reality when children play with us toys we are also playing with them. It sort of works both ways. They play with us and we play with them. Do you get it? Well, the bottom line is that we like to play and that we have a really good time when mum and dad take us to playgrounds.

On this playground we saw a game that looked like tic-tac-toe. We have played tic-tac-toe
What's this?What's this?What's this?

We think this animal is a polar bear but we are not sure
before and we know that game very well.

Emma: "I know it really good. I always beat Jean-Claude."
Jean-Claude: "I wonder how you do that."

But this game in Kiev looked different. It wasn't at all like the game we played last summer. The symbols on the game markers were different and there were more of them than in a normal game of tic-tac-toe. We tried to play it but got nowhere. We asked an animal, we think it was a polar bear but we are not sure, we met at the playground but he said he didn't know the game either so he wasn't of any help to us.

When we walked around Kiev we came to a bridge where there were padlocks hanging from the railing. This is the third time we come across this phenomenon. Before we have seen it in Rome in Italy and in Riga in Latvia. We once had a mission to go to Rome and set up the largest possible padlock on Ponte Milvio, the bridge in Rome where people hang padlocks. Then we thought of going to Riga and set up a huge padlock there too. But now that we have found a third bridge where people hang padlocks we
Padlock bridgePadlock bridgePadlock bridge

When we walked around Kiev we came to a bridge where there were padlocks hanging from the railing.
get exhausted just thinking about how much time it will take for us to put up padlocks on each and every one of these bridges. You know, we want to be remembered as the ones who put up the largest padlock on each bridge and it takes a lot of planning to build the largest padlock in the World. Building three of these takes three times more planning and we are not sure we are really able to do this by ourselves. We have to ask some of our toy friends if they can help us.

In the weeks we travelled around in Ukraine we noticed that there are many things in this country that reminds us of when we were in Russia. Some of the churches don't have spires at the top of the roof. Instead they have big balls there of the kind that dad calls onion domes. The balls actually look like onions so it is a fitting name.

When we published our blog entry on Russia we asked for an explanation why they have these onions on the top of the churches instead of spires. So far our investigations in the matter has not come further than
Church of the Holy Onion Church of the Holy Onion Church of the Holy Onion

Our theory is: The church is named Church of the Holy Onion and that they believe in onions instead of God?
our original theories. They are the following (in case you don't remember)

• Theory #1: When the church isn't used for traditional church activities they store onions there

• Theory #2: Growing onions is such an important business in Ukraine and that they by decorating the church with onions want to point out how important onions are for the region

• Theory #3: The church is named Church of the Holy Onion and that they believe in onions instead of a God

• Theory #4: Ukraine used to be in the Soviet Union. Maybe the Ukrainians are not very good at spelling and thought it was spelt Soviet Onion?

Now that we have seen several of these onion churches in Ukraine we have a chance of checking our previous theories. Theory #1 seems shaky. It doesn't make sense that so many churches are used for storing onions when there are no churches where they store potatoes, cucumbers or carrots. If there were such churches they would have big potatoes, cucumbers or carrots instead of spires on the roof. We didn't see any such churches anywhere in Ukraine so we think we have to ditch that
In the trainIn the trainIn the train

We took several train rides in Ukraine. Here we are on the one from Kiev to Donetsk
theory.

Jean-Claude: "It is true that we have never seen a church with a big carrot on the roof. But wouldn't we love to see one?"
Emma: "We would because that would look hilarious. Don't you think our rabbit friends Zakjekonijn and Joplin would absolutely love such a church?"
Jean-Claude: "Maybe they know of such a church. We have to ask them next time we meet."

Back to why they have onions on the roof. Theory #2 doesn't seem to work either. We didn't see a single onion field in all of Ukraine and we didn't eat onions more often than we do at home.

That leaves us theory #3 and theory #4. It's got to be one of those two. Either they say their prayers to the holy onion or they can't spell in former Soviet Union.

Another thing in Ukraine that reminded us of Russia were all the Lennon statues. No statues over Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Ringo Starr, just a lot of statues of John Lennon. Lennon must have been very big in Ukraine and we can't figure out why.

Also we saw one or two memorialsover the least famous of
The cannon looks a bit plasticThe cannon looks a bit plasticThe cannon looks a bit plastic

We usually like to play with cannon and guns and stuff when we find them. But the one in Donetsk wasn't fun. It didn't feel like it was real.
the Marx Brothers - Karl Marx. The other brothers, Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx and Harpo Marx are super famous Hollywood stars. But why do the Ukrainians like the least famous brother, Karl Marx, so much?

The second place in Ukraine we came to was Donetsk in western Ukraine.

There we saw a big cannon. We usually like to play with cannon and guns and stuff when we find them. But the one in Donetsk just wasn't fun. It didn't feel like it was real. It was big and impressive but it looked like it was made from plastic. Later on this trip we saw some other weapons that we liked much better. Those we saw in the end of the trip so you have to wait until we publish the second blog entry on Ukraine before you can read about that.

The reason we went to Donetsk was that dad wanted to pay tribute to a pole vaulter named Sergey Bubka. Well, Sergey Bubka doesn't live there as far as we know but there is a statue of him there. Mum wasn't all that happy about going all the way to Donetsk only to see a statue but she agreed because she
Sergey BubkaSergey BubkaSergey Bubka

A tribute to a pole vaulter named Sergey Bubka
loves dad so much. To us it doesn't matter much if we go to Donetsk or not. We like to travel and visiting Donetsk is just as fun as vising another place.

After we had seen the statue of Bubka mum took dad to Mariupol - a place that she wanted to visit but dad didn't. Mariupol is deep in the southeast of Ukraine and there are beaches there where you can swim in the Black Sea. Mum didn't tell us that we were going to Mariupol to visit a beach and to have a swim. If she had we would have refused to go with her. Dad went with her of course. He couldn't refuse now that mum was kind enough to go with him to Donetsk.

We were not at all happy with going to the beach. We tried to hide in dad's bag the entire time in hope that we wouldn't have to get near neither the sand nor the water. Our tactics failed miserably. As soon as we got there dad opened his bag and took us out "to feel the soft sand and enjoy the sun and the scenery". The sand is not
Uh oh! Sand againUh oh! Sand againUh oh! Sand again

We were not at all happy with going to the beach. We tried to hide in dad's bag the entire time in hope that we wouldn't have to get near neither the sand nor the water
soft, it's itchy, and when the scenery involves sand and water we'd rather not see it at all. It is bad enough to know there is sand there. To see it only increase the unpleasantness of it all.

After this brief visit in eastern Ukraine we went to the deep south to the Crimea. The first place we went to there is called Swallows Nest. It is a small castle built on the edge of a cliff. The architects who built that castle must have been pretty stupid to build it right there - it can fall into the ocean at any time. We didn't dare to enter that castle because it looked quite dangerous.

Later the same day we went to another palace - Livadia Palace. That palace looked safe enough so we even dared to go inside and have a look. They had a few exhibitions there but they were not very interesting. Instead we found something interesting in the palace garden - a winged beast. We tried to talk to him but he refused to answer. It seemed like he was some kind of guard there and maybe he wasn't allowed to talk to foreigners
Swallow's nestSwallow's nestSwallow's nest

The architects who built that castle must have been pretty stupid to build it right there - it can fall into the ocean at any time.
when he was on duty. We met a similar looking beast when we were in Riga. We would have liked to know if they were related or something. We have never seen this kind of animal before so we guess that since they are so rare they were relatives. But since he didn't answer we will probably never know.

The next day we took a tour of the mountains. We then stopped at a waterfall that we were told was the best waterfall in all of Crimea. But we came to the waterfall we couldn't find any water. It didn't make sense to us. We thought all waterfalls were supposed to have water in them. We have seen waterfalls before. In fact we have seen the highest waterfall in the World - the Han Solo falls in Venezuela. That waterfall is over 900 meters high. But that is still nothing compared to the waterfalls that can be found on the planet Dagobah where Luke Skywalker first met Yoda in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. There are waterfalls there 10 times higher than the HAn Solo Falls in Venezuela. One day we will travel to all the famous places in Star Wars, but for now we will have to stick
Livadia PalaceLivadia PalaceLivadia Palace

Later the same day we went to another palace - Livadia Palace. That palace looked safe enough so we even dared to go inside and have a look.
to planet Earth.

We asked mum and dad about the lack of water in the waterfall in Crimea. We asked them if this is the way things are supposed to be in this country. They didn't answer us but the way they both laughed when they saw the waterfall tells us that they too didn't expect it to be like this.

Before we left Crimea we visited two more places. The first one was a cave in which the Ukrainians used to have submarines before. There were no submarines there now but there were some other interesting things. We really liked a huge door that was in the cave. Dad called it a blast door and he said that it was so big only because it was designed to withstand a nuclear explosion. We don't know what a nuclear explosion is but it must be something big because this door was so big that we could not move it.

The last place on Crimea we visited was the city Simferopol. The city itself was not very interesting but we found a street we liked very much - Gagarin Street. Gagarin Street has that name because it is
Winged beastWinged beastWinged beast

We tried to talk to him but he refused to answer. It seemed like he was some kind of guard and maybe he isn't allowed to talk to foreigners when he is on duty
owned by the spaceman Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin is famous because he was the first man in space. We have not been in space yet but we hope that we soon will become the first toys in space. Yuri Gagarin is a true hero of the space race and we are proud to have walked a street he owns. Dad says that Gagarin doesn't really own the street, it is only named after him. We don't believe him. Of course Yuri Gagarin also owns the street. Why would he let them use his name for the street if he doesn't also own it? Yuri Gagarin is a hero, not a sell-out!

After Crimea we went to the city Odessa. There we saw three interesting statues.

The first one was really odd because it was only a chair. Everybody was taking photos of it so we took a photo of it too. We liked the statue just because it was so strange. We have never seen a chair statue before. You know, it was permitted to sit on it. Most statues we see we are not permitted to sit on at all. We sometimes sit on them anyway when we take
Is this a joke?Is this a joke?Is this a joke?

But isn't there supposed to be water in a waterfall?
photos of them, you can see that on the photos of the other two statues we saw in Odessa for instance. But we usually have to make sure that nobody sees us when we do this because otherwise people can get angry with us. But this statue was of a chair and the point with the statue seemed to be that people could sit on it.

The other statue we saw in Odessa was of a man throwing a paper plane. That was another odd statue. Throwing a paper plane is something children do. But the man in the statue who is throwing the plane is clearly in his twenties. How can they come up with such crazy ideas for statues in Odessa?

The third statue in Odessa we saw that we found to be interesting was a statue of a lion holding a brass ring in his mouth. The lion let us sit on the ring and have a photo of him. That was really nice of him.

The last thing we would like to mention in this blog entry is our visit to the Potemkin Stairs. We have seen the Potemkin Stairs in the movie The
Blast doorBlast doorBlast door

This is a blast door so big that it can withstand a nuclear explosion. We don't know what a nuclear explosion is but it must be something big because the door is so big
Battleship Potemkin and we really wanted to act out the famous baby buggy scene now that we were there. Sadly we could not find a single baby buggy so for a while we thought that we wouldn't be able to do it at all. But then we came up with the great idea that we could create something that looks like a baby buggy so we could take a photo of us. We used dad's camera bag and two lens covers. It was perfect! It really looks like a baby buggy.

This was all we had to say from the first part of our vacation in Ukraine. The second half comes in the next entry on this blog.


Additional photos below
Photos: 26, Displayed: 26


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Gagarin StreetGagarin Street
Gagarin Street

We found a street named Gagarin Street. Gagarin Street has that name because it is owned by the spaceman Yuri Gagarin.
The chairThe chair
The chair

The point with the statue seemed to be that people could sit on it.
Statue of a man throwing a paper planeStatue of a man throwing a paper plane
Statue of a man throwing a paper plane

Statue of a man throwing a paper plane. Throwing a paper plane is something children do, not men in their twenties.
LionLion
Lion

Statue of a lion holding a brass ring in his mouth
The Potemkin StairsThe Potemkin Stairs
The Potemkin Stairs

Behind us are the Potemkin Stairs
The Potemkin StairsThe Potemkin Stairs
The Potemkin Stairs

Here we are sitting on the Potemkin Stairs
Doing the baby buggy sceneDoing the baby buggy scene
Doing the baby buggy scene

We created something that looked like a baby buggy so we could do the baby buggy scene
Lennon statueLennon statue
Lennon statue

One thing in Ukraine that reminded us of Russia were all the Lennon statues.
Lennon statueLennon statue
Lennon statue

Another Lennon statue
Lennon memorial on the wallLennon memorial on the wall
Lennon memorial on the wall

On this wall was a plaque with Lennon on it
The least famous Marx BrotherThe least famous Marx Brother
The least famous Marx Brother

But why do they like the least famous Marx brother, Karl Marx, so much when Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx and Harpo Marx are so much funnier
Lennon Street Lennon Street
Lennon Street

Even a street was named after Lennon
Lennon statueLennon statue
Lennon statue

There were Lennon statues in almost every city


27th January 2011
Blast door

Uuuum. I hope your kidding about not knowing what a nuclear explosion is!!

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