Blogs from Ukraine, Europe - page 44

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Europe » Ukraine » Lviv July 5th 2005

little more on my mind than to be on my way, I called a friend of mine in Lviv to inform him of my arrival the next morning. For the past few days, we had been exchanging mails; each time he reminded me that he was waiting for me to call and let him know when I would be in town. I called him from the post office in Odessa, the only place phones are consistently reliable, and all was in place. The advantage of train number twenty-six is that, while it arrives in Lviv at first light, is that it pulls out of Odessa around 6 p.m. This affords me to peer out the window and absorb some of the scenery, people, and landscape of Ukraine. Between intermittent stoppages, the train sped north, splitting bountiful ... read more
Home decor
Lviv Opera House
Are You Kidding Me?

Europe » Ukraine » Odessa July 1st 2005

It becomes very clear that second-class train travel in Ukraine is worlds apart from being hauled around the country in plaztkart (плацкарть), or third class. The wagons’ hallway windows are decked with burgundy drapes and embroidered valences reading the city of origin, L’viv (Лъвïв), however framed with cheap plastic flowers. In spite of a torn radio knob blasting the latest Ukrainian hip-hop, I managed to turn the “music” off and discovered the reading lights work wonderfully on each of the four couchettes in my private compartment. Mrs. Doubtfire’s evil twin runs the car like a drill sergeant, dishing out tea and separating passengers such as myself from the local currency to satisfy some mysterious supplement not paid up at the ticket window before departure. Toilets are certainly an improvement; the escaping foul odor is only half ... read more
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Odessa...
Happiness

Europe » Ukraine June 30th 2005

At first glance, it is easy to observe a sharp disconnect between Ukrainians’ understanding of the world and the means by which they live. Their comprehension of history, geography, and particularly technology, does not correspond to their inferior surroundings. Ukrainians are seemingly denied the chance to prosper in a society lacking in the basic ease in which Western Europeans thrive. Electrical engineers accept jobs as taxi drivers. Mechanics toil daily on unwanted second hand vehicles from Germany dating back to the days of Brezhnev. High-level skills abound, but there is nowhere nearby to apply them usefully. A walk around the neighborhood unveils the state of disrepair in which ordinary people carve out a living. Suburban residences consist of mammoth, nine story rectangular eyesores, the first floor of which in some areas serves as a modest (read: ... read more
Pochaiev
Where's the bathro--
Shower

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv June 29th 2005

No one ever cares for stories about transfers in neo-modern, faceless terminals, which beer I had for breakfast after deplaning, or the various looped repeats of BBC World I had to endure before boarding for Kyiv. However, my proverbial five minutes while connecting in Finland did indeed reveal a few points of interest. I used to think Dutch to be an utterly useless language. I always claimed that in its written form in was the result of a fat woman sitting on a typewriter. I still feel this way. Now I have been exposed to Finnish. Envision the Swedish Chef tripping on LSD while walking over a bed of fire blown chards of glass, and then explain how to cook the chicken. That’s Finnish, unintelligible both spoken and written. Any language whose words attack the reader ... read more
McDonald's

Europe » Ukraine » Kyiv June 28th 2005

A great number of people choose to travel where bad news is a rare occurrence: Las Vegas, Yellowstone National Park, South Beach, and San Francisco. When was the last time you read about a tourist-induced riot on The Strip or a coup d’état on Hilton Head Island? Others make for those destinations so obscure from where only bad news escapes. How long has it been since you read an in-depth exposé about the new opera house in Sierra Leone? Or the brand new species of orchid discovered in Rwanda? Ukraine, other former Soviet republics, and the emerging countries of Eastern Europe, pertain to neither category. Rather, they belong to an unfamiliar abyss from which practically no news reaches the pages of The Times of London or The Boston Globe. Recent political change aside for the moment, ... read more

Europe » Ukraine June 1st 2005

Geo: 48.3794, 31.1656... read more

Europe » Ukraine March 1st 2005

Snowed constantly for the last two days covering everything with fresh powder. Yalta was given a small taste of what the rest of the country has been living with all Winter. Very unusual to see snow on palm trees. ... read more
Snow on Palm Trees
Lenin Statue

Europe » Ukraine » Lviv August 11th 2004

Didn’t really notice what time we departed, but it was just after 2pm when they fed us – lots to eat, Tony had beef stroganoff & I grilled chicken. They gave us an English magazine about the Ukraine to read, which had lots of articles in it. The pilot had announced during take-off that we would be landing in Baku, Azerbaijan, before heading to Kiev. 5:20pm saw us landing on the tarmac at Baku, following a small jeep that the words “FOLLOW ME” written on the back (!). We had flown over the Caspian Sea & seen many many oil rigs, as many as 15 in one spot – oil had spilled over the water in some areas, creating an ecological eyesore. Flying over Azerbaijan was not much better, a barren, desolate area with hundreds of ... read more
St Michael Cathedral
St Michael Cathedral
Sophia Cathedral

Europe » Ukraine » Odessa July 30th 2004

Geo: 46.4693, 30.7356... read more

Europe » Ukraine June 30th 2004

Geo: 44.6, 33.53... read more




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