Ukraine - second half

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December 8th 2009

Published: December 16th 2009

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EmmaAndJeanClaude

Princess Leia

Princess Leia is prime minister of Ukraine.

Princess Leia is prime minister in Ukraine

On the second half of our trip in Ukraine we saw a poster with a picture of a person we know very well. It was Princess Leia on the poster and it said that she is now prime minister of Ukraine. We have been wondering what happened to her because after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi she disappeared and we were never able to figure out what happened to her. Now we know that she ended up in Ukraine and that she is now the leader of that country. Good that everything worked out well for her.

The next place we stopped at was a town called Kamianets-Podilskyi. We saw three things in that city that we thought were interesting enough to write about on the blog. First we saw a big castle. It was one of the most castle-like castles we have ever seen. It looked so much like a castle that we for a while thought we had been warped 500 years back in time right into the middle ages when the castles in Europe were all used for their original purpose.

Jean-Claude: “If I really was warped back in time I would want to be a

Castle in Kamianets-Podilskyi

One of the most castle-like castles we have ever seen

knight in shining armour. I would slay dragons and win wars.”
Emma: “And I would be a fair maiden, of course. The prince would come and rescue me because I am being held in prison by an evil landlord.”
Jean-Claude: “That sounds really boring. Just sit and wait until some dork come and save you? Wouldn’t it be more fun if you were a knight too? Then we could go together and fight the evil landlord.”
Emma: “You are right, Jean-Claude. It would be more fun to be a knight than a fair maiden. Knights see more action and action I like. I may be a girl toy but don't make the mistake to think that I can't take care of myself. I can slay a dragon or two if I have to”

The second thing we saw in Kamianets-Podilskyi that we found interesting was a church that belonged to Santa Claus. It was called St Nicholas Church and St Nicholas is also known as Santa Claus. It was a very small church. In fact it was so small that it hardly looked like a church at all. But since it belonged to Santa Claus we had to see

Santa's church

We hope Santa Claus took notice that we saw his church and awards us by giving us many Christmas gifts this year

it. We hope Santa Claus took notice that we were there and that he awards us for that by giving us many Christmas gifts this year.

In the old town of Kamianets-Podilskyi there is a tower named the Potter Tower. This tower is named after Harry Potter, the hero wizard from Hogwarts. We don’t know what reason the Ukrainians have to name a castle after a British wizard but so they have. We asked mum about it and she said that maybe “Potter” in this case has nothing to do with Harry Potter. We are getting worried that maybe mum is getting senile. How could “Potter” not have to do with Harry Potter?

After leaving Kamianets-Podilskyi mum and dad took us out in the wild mountains. There all four of us one day took a long walk right out in the wilderness to a nice waterfall. This waterfall had a lot of water in it, something the waterfall we went to see in the Crimea didn’t have. We stayed at this waterfall a while and after that we returned back to the hostel we stayed in.

The next day we went on another walk. This time it was a genuine mountain

The Potter Tower

This tower is named after Harry Potter

climb. We climbed to the top of the highest mountain in all of Ukraine. Well, mum and dad did most of the climbing. We mostly sat in dad’s bag enjoying the scenery. It was all very beautiful but when we came to the top it started to rain. That wasn’t so fun. We climbed deep down in the bag so we wouldn’t get wet. So on the way down we didn’t see very much.

After these days in the wild nature we all wanted to go back to the civilised world again - that is go to a city. Too much wildlife at a short period of time is not good for little toys. The first thing we saw when we came to the city made us wonder if we were going crazy. It was a super sized bumper car that looked like a bus. When we realised that it actually was a local bus powered by electricity though an electric wire from above, just like a bumper car in an amusement park, we started laughing. The Ukrainians are a funny people. They use bumper cars as busses.

Twice during our adventures in Ukraine we went to museums without

Waterfall

After a long walk right out in the wilderness we came to this nice waterfall

mum going with us. The first of these museums was a space museum. We are going to be Jedi knights one day so visiting a space museum is like going to school for us. The more we learn about space now the better prepared we are when we are accepted as students under master Yoda in Jedi school.

This museum in Ukraine unfortunately did not have any displays on Star Wars because it was all about the space exploration done by Soviet Union. In the museum there were a lot of things we could have a look at. There was a copy of Sputnik, the first satellite sent by humans into space, there was a copy of a Soviet probe sent to the moon and there was a genuine re-entry capsule. A re-entry capsule is a big ball that has been in space and come back.

We really liked the space museum. It was right up our alley. The other museum we went to without mum was a crazy one. It was labelled "a rocket museum". Dad said that we were going to see some weapons and a place where they used to have these weapons. We came

To the top of the highest mountain

This was a genuine mountain climb. We climbed to the top of the highest mountain in all of Ukraine.

there and looked around. After we had been there a few minutes we were sure it was all fake because nothing looked real. All they had was silly out of scale models of some rockets and a series of rooms set up for a film recording. There was one small rocket that looked quite silly. It was too big to be used in a battle and too small to send anyone into space. There was also a big rocket but that looked even sillier! It was bigger than a bus! No way a thing like that can fly. How on earth did they think we were going to believe that anything of this was real?

On the tour we also visited a room where the control panel for launching the rockets was. It was really easy to see that this was a fake too. It looked too much like it does in the movies. We were a bit impressed though because they had set up the room with the control panels underground to increase the sense of reality. We even had to take an elevator down to reach this room. The elevator was very small and not designed for

Rain on the walk

When we came to the top it started to rain

big people like our dad. He had to squeeze himself into the elevator. We, on the other hand, are of a perfect size for that elevator. We could walk in and out without any problems. Of course a real room for launching rockets would not look like in the movies so we could quickly see that this was fake too. We were laughing at the control panels and made silly jokes.

We said things like: "Maybe we can buy one of those big rockets and aim it towards Norway and say 'Give us all your oil or we fire this rocket at you.'" and "Say 'Hello!' to my little friend" and "Let's push this button and blow away England. It only rains there anyway so who cares?".

But then dad got a bit annoyed with us. He told us to sit down and he explained to us that everything in the museum is real. The big rocket really is a rocket. It is not fake, not a joke and none of the things in the museum are film props or toys. The big rocket used to hold nuclear bombs that easily could have killed a million people. It

Bumper car

A super sized bumper car that looked like a bus

could not blow away entire England but it sure could turn London with suburbs into smoking ruins in a few seconds.

Before it dawned to us that this was real we thought the visit to the rocket museum was really fun. After we knew the truth it was not so fun anymore. We explained to dad that this all must be a joke. We told him that the big rocket is so ridiculously large that it can't be real. Dad shook his head and said that it is real and that the size of it is a good indicator of how dangerous it really was. To kill one million people in one 'go' you need a big bomb and to transport a big bomb you need a big rocket. But the control room looked just like the ones in movies, we said knowing that we probably had misjudged that one too. Some film makers are good at making the film set look like it does in real life, dad replied. It makes the film more realistic.

The rest of the tour to the rocket museum we spent on actually taking in as much of it as possible. This

Model of Sputnik

A model of Sputnik, the first satellite sent by humans into space

once was a real genuine rocket launch site. A facility designed to wipe out entire cities and kill millions of people. It is very hard for little toys like us to understand why anyone would want to create a place like this. What is the point with destroying cities and kill people? If these rockets can kill millions of people it can probably kill toys too? That's even harder to understand? Who in their right mind wants to kill toys? You can understand why we are very happy that it today is a museum and not anymore used for its original purpose.

In the end of our visit to Ukraine mum and dad had a nasty surprise for us. On the very last day they wanted us to go on a tour to a part on Ukraine where there is a destroyed nuclear reactor. This place is called Chernobyl and it is so dangerous there that nobody can live anywhere near the place. In fact it is so dangerous around Chernobyl that even in a part of the neighbouring country Belarus is it impossible to live. Sometimes mum and dad do not seem to understand that some places in

A space museum

This is a model of a probe that has been to the moon

the World are dangerous. We like adventure but going to Chernobyl is not adventure. It is just plain stupid! There is radiation in Chernobyl and if we go there we get radiated and that will make us die.
"We do not want to go to Chernobyl because there is dangerous radiation there and we do not want to die" we said to mum and dad in a feeble attempt to make them change their mind about the tour to Chernobyl.
"There is no need to worry. Toys can not die from radiation because radiation only cause damage to cells not to stuffing and and other artificial materials." dad said smiling.
"But humans can die from radiation because humans are made from cells. If you visit Chernobyl you will get radiated and you will die. If you die we will become orphans and we might end up in an orphanage and we do not want that." we tried.
"There is nothing to worry about. During a visit to Chernobyl you are exposed to less radiation than during a flight to New York City. We have all been to New York City and we are all still alive, aren we?" mum said

Reentry capsule

A re-entry capsule is a big ball that has been in space and come back

with her most soothing voice.
"I promise that neither you nor we will not die from visiting Chernobyl. Just look at the tour guide. He has been to Chernobyl more than 100 times and it has not killed him. There is no reason to believe that it will do us any harm either." dad said.
We now realised there was nothing we could say or do to prevent this tour to Chernobyl. All we could do was hope for a miracle. A miracle could be that they had decided to turn off the radiation during our visit or that The Force is strong enough in us that it will protect us from the radiation.

In Chernobyl we visited a few different places. First we came to the city Chernobyl. There we stopped for some information about the tour and some safety instructions.

After that we went to the damaged reactor. In 1986 they had an accident there that destroyed the reactor and the entire building that the reactor was kept in. This is where the nasty part of this place come in. Inside a nuclear reactor there is radiation, much radiation. So much in fact that it can kill

Another onion church

This onion church is even nicer than the one we saw in Kiev

people, and possibly little toys too, in seconds. When the building and the reactor was damaged the radiation started to escape and get into the environment. So today this radiation is on the ground, on the buildings, on the trees and in the air and just about everywhere when you get near the reactor. Well mum and dad call it "the reactor". We call it "the gateway to Hell".

At one time on the tour we got really near the reactor. We were as close as 100 meters away from it. The radiation was so strong there that is was like a strong wind. Mum said it was not the radiation we felt. She said it was the wind. But we do not believe her. That was no ordianary wind, that was nuclear wind and it came straight from the reactor!

We also went to a city called Pripyat. Nobody lives there today because of the radiation. They cleared out the entire city for safety reasons after the accident in 1986. You know, there is a reason why they closed down Pripyat and moved all the people elsewhere. The place is dangerous! Why can not mum and dad

A small rocket

There was one small rocket that looked quite silly.

get that into their thick heads? All they kept saying was things like "This is so fascinating!", "I have never been to a place like this!" and "There is no other place in the World like this". Well, it is a relief that there at least is only one place like this in the World. If there had been three more we bet mum and dad would want to visit them too.

After we left Chernobyl we had to pass through a machine that checks if you are dying from the radiation or not. The machine gave us a green light which is supposed to mean that we are not going to die. So we think we are going to live a while longer. We just hope that mum and dad do not take us to any more such dangerous places like Chernobyl.

This was all we had to tell from our adventures in Ukraine.

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