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 |
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