I have not posted in a long while. However, I did just come across this set of photos:
http://life.time.com/history/world-war-ii-color-photos-from-nazi-occupied-poland-1939-1940/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1
They are from Kutno, Poland, during the Nazi occupation, and a few from Warsaw. These caught my interest because my paternal grandmother's family came from Kutno, although thankfully they emigrated long before the war.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Friday, April 8, 2011
You might be interested to see this...
I found a nice set of photos of Poland and Ukraine from Harvard professor of psychology, Steven Pinker. He's written a great deal about language and brain development. He's also got a much better eye for taking photos than I do. Some of his pictures cover similar territory - Warsaw, L'viv, rural life in contemporary Galicia, etc. Also notable are his amazing photographs of the synagogue in Zamosc, Poland, a former shtetl very near the Ukrainian border. Check out his great work HERE.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Day 8 - Last day/flight home
восьмий день - суботy, 16 жовтня (8th day - Saturday, October 16)
On our last day before leaving for home, I had a few things I wanted to see. We had an afternoon flight to Warsaw (2 hour layover) before heading back to New York. The first thing on my agenda was to climb the city hall clock tower and take some panoramic photos of the city. It was foggy, but I wanted to go anyway. So after breakfast, we walked over to City Hall to climb the 300+ steps up to the observation deck.
The photos didn't turn out so well on account of the overcast conditions, but it was a nice view nonetheless. I also tried to take photos of the clock mechanism, but the light was bad and it was behind a glass window, so the photos didn't come out at all. I'm not posting them.
Next, we checked out the Museum of Ethnography and Crafts, which is located in a beautiful building next to the Grand Hotel. They had a nice collection of 19th and early 20th century artifacts and housewares, and some Secessionist-style furniture. There was also a special exhibit of posters by Czech Art Nouveau master Alfons Mucha.
At 12:30, we met up with our driver Oleh and headed to the airport for the short flight to Warsaw. I bought a souvenir bottle of horilka at the duty-free shop and put it in my carry on (since we'd already checked our bags), but the security officer in Warsaw tossed it. It somehow didn't occur to me that we'd have to go through security and customs again.
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I wrote the draft of this journal entry while waiting at Chopin airport during our layover, hoping to reflect back on the trip in general. But I was pretty excited to get home, so I will have a final entry. I do hope to return again someday, but until then, I must say "Прощання з України."
On our last day before leaving for home, I had a few things I wanted to see. We had an afternoon flight to Warsaw (2 hour layover) before heading back to New York. The first thing on my agenda was to climb the city hall clock tower and take some panoramic photos of the city. It was foggy, but I wanted to go anyway. So after breakfast, we walked over to City Hall to climb the 300+ steps up to the observation deck.
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| Lion statue outside of City Hall |
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| Leaning on a lion |
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| Entrance to City Hall |
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| Dad in front of a stained glass window inside of City Hall |
The photos didn't turn out so well on account of the overcast conditions, but it was a nice view nonetheless. I also tried to take photos of the clock mechanism, but the light was bad and it was behind a glass window, so the photos didn't come out at all. I'm not posting them.
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| View from the tower |
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| Market Square houses |
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| graffiti on the railing |
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| Entrance sign leading to the tower staircase |
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| Poster advertising the Mucha exhibit |
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| Museum of Ethnography and Crafts |
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I wrote the draft of this journal entry while waiting at Chopin airport during our layover, hoping to reflect back on the trip in general. But I was pretty excited to get home, so I will have a final entry. I do hope to return again someday, but until then, I must say "Прощання з України."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Day 7 - L'viv afternoon/evening
I don't really know why I stopped updating this blog after the last morning in Ukraine, so I am going to finish up my journal, and then add some final thoughts...
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After driving back to L'viv from Zhovkva, we bid farewell to our guide Alex, and thanked him for his excellent, professional, and thoughtful services, and his fascinating wealth of information about Ukrainian history. If you ever visit L'viv, let me know and I will forward you his contact information. You couldn't ask for a better guide!
It was lunchtime, and Dad was craving cheese blintzes, so we set off to Puzata Khata ("Пузата хата," which means "paunchy hut"), a cafeteria-style fast food restaurant chain found all over Ukraine, serving great, cheap Ukrainian specialties.
After filling up, we walked across town to check out the train station. I'd read that it was a beautiful example of Art Nouveau architecture, and wanted to see it before leaving the country. Along the way, we passed an amazing cathedral, so we decided to have a look around.
After taking some photos around St. Yuri's, we continued on to the train station, and took some more photos. If you've seen the film "Everything is Illuminated," you might remember this building.
We headed back into town, and Dad was upset that we didn't take a trolley... I was worried about getting on the wrong line and ending up lost, so we walked back and had some coffee at Restoran Praha and did some souvenir shopping before dinner.
After coffee, we did some more sightseeing around the old market.
For dinner, we ate at an Austrian brew-pub called Kumpol' for some hearty food, which was so packed we had to sit outside under blankets and heat lamps, and then we had some coffee and pastries at a Viennese cafe, Cafe Veronika (apparently, there's also a very popular restaurant downstairs, but we just had our delicious coffee and desert in the upstairs cafe). It was lightly raining, the first rain we'd experiences during the whole trip. We had a celebratory shot of horilka (Ukrainian for vodka) at the hotel's bar, then packed our bags before turning in.
________
After driving back to L'viv from Zhovkva, we bid farewell to our guide Alex, and thanked him for his excellent, professional, and thoughtful services, and his fascinating wealth of information about Ukrainian history. If you ever visit L'viv, let me know and I will forward you his contact information. You couldn't ask for a better guide!
It was lunchtime, and Dad was craving cheese blintzes, so we set off to Puzata Khata ("Пузата хата," which means "paunchy hut"), a cafeteria-style fast food restaurant chain found all over Ukraine, serving great, cheap Ukrainian specialties.
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| There's always a line outside of Puzata Khata! |
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| St. Yuri's Cathedral |
After taking some photos around St. Yuri's, we continued on to the train station, and took some more photos. If you've seen the film "Everything is Illuminated," you might remember this building.
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| Trolleys going to/from the train station |
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| Approaching the train station |
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| funny round building across the street from the train station |
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| main entrance |
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| Dad standing outside Prague Restaurant |
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| Greek Catholic church |
For dinner, we ate at an Austrian brew-pub called Kumpol' for some hearty food, which was so packed we had to sit outside under blankets and heat lamps, and then we had some coffee and pastries at a Viennese cafe, Cafe Veronika (apparently, there's also a very popular restaurant downstairs, but we just had our delicious coffee and desert in the upstairs cafe). It was lightly raining, the first rain we'd experiences during the whole trip. We had a celebratory shot of horilka (Ukrainian for vodka) at the hotel's bar, then packed our bags before turning in.
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| Sausage, cabbage, spätzle... just a little light meal |
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Day 7 - Zhovkva
сьомий день - п'ятницю, 15 Жовтня (7th day - Friday, October 15th)
Today was our last full day in Ukraine. We'd originally booked Alex through Thursday, but since we didn't get to see all of the sites on our itinerary in that time, he gave us an extra day. In the morning, Alex and our trusty driver Oleh took us about 30 km north to the cool little town of Zhovkva. Zhovkva was founded in the middle ages by a Polish nobleman who is kind of a national hero in Poland. He and his family are buried in a cathedral in town just of the main square, and it is a popular place for Polish tourists to visit. The tow was also an important trading center in medieval times, and many of the buildings were designed to allow merchants' carts to drive up under covered porticoes to unload their goods. The ploschcha (square) was rather beautiful and open (i.e., no city hall building in the center). At one end was was a fortress with a set of gates on either side. The town also once had a thriving Jewish community, and the primary purpose was to see the medieval synagogue. Built in the so-called "fortress style," it has incredibly thick walls - so thick, in fact, that the Nazis were unable to blow it up. The inside was gutted, though. Like Drohobych, this synagogue was in a period of restoration and it was surrounded by scaffolding. Apparently, there are plans to turn it into a museum of Jewish history, but I don't see this happening anytime soon. Also, there was a wooden church that was open & didn't restrict photography, so I took a few shots.
Today was our last full day in Ukraine. We'd originally booked Alex through Thursday, but since we didn't get to see all of the sites on our itinerary in that time, he gave us an extra day. In the morning, Alex and our trusty driver Oleh took us about 30 km north to the cool little town of Zhovkva. Zhovkva was founded in the middle ages by a Polish nobleman who is kind of a national hero in Poland. He and his family are buried in a cathedral in town just of the main square, and it is a popular place for Polish tourists to visit. The tow was also an important trading center in medieval times, and many of the buildings were designed to allow merchants' carts to drive up under covered porticoes to unload their goods. The ploschcha (square) was rather beautiful and open (i.e., no city hall building in the center). At one end was was a fortress with a set of gates on either side. The town also once had a thriving Jewish community, and the primary purpose was to see the medieval synagogue. Built in the so-called "fortress style," it has incredibly thick walls - so thick, in fact, that the Nazis were unable to blow it up. The inside was gutted, though. Like Drohobych, this synagogue was in a period of restoration and it was surrounded by scaffolding. Apparently, there are plans to turn it into a museum of Jewish history, but I don't see this happening anytime soon. Also, there was a wooden church that was open & didn't restrict photography, so I took a few shots.
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| Zhovkva Castle, with flanking gates |
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| Me, taking a photo |
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| Wooden church exterior |
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| Wooden church interior - chandelier and iconostasis |
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| Zhovkva synagogue |
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| perimeter of the town square |
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| Cathedral |
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| gate |
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| another perimeter shot |
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| historic buildings, public spaces |
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| main gate, Zhovkva Castle |
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| peering inside to the courtyard of the castle... |
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| castle wall |
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| historic commercial buildings around the town square |
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| Dad in front of a shop |
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