ukraine: nikolaev/mykolaiv

Nikolaev is in southern Ukraine, not too far from Odessa. Nikolaev is the capital of an oblast, and this area of the country is mostly Russian speaking. Nikolaev is the Russian name of the city, locals sometimes use Niko for short; Mykolayiv is the Ukrainian name, but it isn't used much. I'm using Nikolaev since it is the lingua franca in this area. The name on the train station is the Ukrainian name, but that's because the official language of the country is Ukrainian.

This city was the capital of shipbuilding in the former soviet empire, though most of that industry has left now. 

My night train from kyiv arrived just at sunrise, on a very gray day. The front of the train station is different from other train stations I've seen in this country, it was much more Soviet, as opposed to grand and airy. 

Across the platz was a 'square' but as far as I could tell it was just an area in front of a large apartment building with trees and walking paths. I walked along the street and came to a traffic circle, (which I like to call a roundy round,) in the middle of which was the first soviet monument I would see in this town. Tall, giant communist star, labeled with CCCP. 

Somewhere after this traffic circle I realized I was cold, and really wished I didn't have to take my gloves off to take photos. 

At the second traffic circle I found a market. I've seen heaps of these all over the country, sometimes I want to walk through and other times I don't. This time I did, thinking it would be a quick walk through. Somehow I ended up wandering around for over 30 minutes! It was a lot bigger than I expected. Most of the women selling meat were women, they were also doing the butchering, at least from what I could see.

I have no idea how people spend the entire day basically outside and don't lose feeling in fingers or toes. At this time of year there is no concern about food borne illness in any of the meat.
I also found the dry goods, dairy, fresh produce, and pickled veggie sections. I bought kimchi, yum!!

Eventually I got to my hotel, which wanted almost 200 griven extra to check in early, eeeek. The room price was 375 griven, it didn't seem worth it to add 50% to check in four hours early. Instead I left my bag behind the front desk and walked out to explore more.

I found a cafe just down the street and warmed up for a bit with tea. 

I kept walking, and passed a church, and those always catch my eye, no matter how many of them I see. I found an open gate and wandered in. Pretty, and I enjoyed the atmosphere, as usual. There was a big fancy gold iconostasis, but not much else in terms of decor in the entire church. 

This church happened to be on one corner of a big intersection. On another corner was another big monument. This one was a soviet soldier. The monument was technically located on Lenin Street, and I took photos, despite the bad lighting. 

I turned and followed Lenin Street until coming to 'European Square.' It was really a square, it was more of a median between two sides of the street, and there was a monument to Nebecna Sotni, (the Heavenly Hundred, those who died during the Maidan protests in Kyiv,) complete with flowers and yellow and blue ribbons and cloth. 

Eventually this street dead ended, surrounded by big buildings. The building that looked most interesting to me had crossed anchors in front. 

I took photos, then turned left, following another main-ish street. Along the way I came to a big platz. Part of the platz was filled with a WW2 memorial, one side had the city administration building, another side had the oblast administration building, and a couple other memorials as well. There was also a small church along one edge. I took my photos and moved on.

Several blocks up that street I finally got to the main museum of the city, the museum of shipbuilding and fleet. It is a one story building, and some cannons and such on the grounds, and busts of admirals and such, just outside the surrounding fence on the sidewalk. 

Inside the museum, the descriptions of all the exhibits were in Russian and Ukrainian, with general room descriptions in English. Each room was dedicated to a specific time in history, some of it going way back, to areas of the world not connected to Ukraine or Russia. There were more drawings and such with earlier periods in history, more items for the latter dates. The exhibits were well done, with plenty of information and aesthetic appeal. 

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest rooms was all about the so called Cold War era. Propaganda posters, and heaps more. I could've stayed in there for quite a while. 

After the museum I continued on this street, until it deadended as well. There was a photogenic building that looked as if it had once been official, but was now abandoned. (I found it photogenic, but I suppose that is all in the eye of the beholder.) It could've been an office building, or something to do with the shipbuilding industry that isn't nearly as big as it used to be.

I walked back toward the center of town, and turned on what used to be called Sovietska Street. The name is different now, (I don't remember the 'new' name,) at least officially, but locals still use the Russian name. A good portion of the street is a pedestrian zone, with the regular vendors. Random souvenirs, art, kitschy stuff, etc... 

At one corner of this street I found a big menorah. Really big. A couple of the 'candles' were lit, as it was the middle of Hanukkah. Given the general anti Semitic views in Ukraine I was surprised to see this, but I liked it. 

Further along the street I came to the big monument to shipbuilders. One of the travel apps I use has this located in a completely different place, I was glad to see it in the pedestrian area. Shaped like a globe, with statues of people all around. 

Not long after, I headed to a restaurant for dinner, then went back to my hotel and officially checked in. 

The next morning I had breakfast in my hotel, since it was included in the price. Eventually I got around to packing up and checking out, and I left my bag for the day. 

I headed to the front of another museum, called the Staroflotski Barracks. Another soviet looking building. I took a photo, then kept walking. 

I used a travel app map to find a church, inside which I found a baby screaming during a baptism/christening ceremony. The parents seemed embarrassed, but the priest was taking it in stride. Very cute. 

I found another sight not correctly marked on the travel app map, the palace of culture and something else. The building exterior wasn't very good looking, though there was a monument to women in front. The 'palace' was across the street from another WW2 memorial, which had photos of soldiers, and red poppies. 

Not too far away I found St John's Catholic Church, a polish church. I loved the way the light streamed in through the stained glass windows, which created a warm, friendly feeling. 

I decided to cross the bridge I'd seen the day before. Just before the bridge I found a small corner park, complete with murals along the edges of the park, and a statue of Pushkin in the middle. 

The bridge was easy to cross, it had pedestrian walkways on both sides. As I crossed to the other side, I could see the name of the city spelled out on a hill not to far away, the letters look like the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. I remember wishing I'd had time to walk over to the letters/name, just to see it up close.

Across the bridge I crossed the road and found a park, with monuments and old tanks. One of the monuments was another CCCP monument, complete with big star. This park actually stretched over both sides of the highway, and is called Peremogy Park. There was an underpass to allow easy movement to both sides of the park, the walls of the underpass were painted with lovely murals. 

Eventually I went back across the bridge, and looked out at what remains of the old shipbuilding port. Another photogenic spot, at least for me. 

I went back to the barracks museum and this time I entered. After paying the entrance fee I found the souvenir shop, and bought postcards. This museum was two floors, with basically one or two giant rooms on each floor. It's a local history museum. It started with the geology and flora and fauna, but I skipped those sections, as they don't interest me so much. I prefer people history. My favorite display was of medals and buttons from the CCCP era. I also liked the displays of traditional and military clothing through the decades. 

I left the museum as the sun was setting and went to dinner. Then I picked up my bag from the hotel, and walked back to the train station. Goggle maps said it should take 86 minutes, I made it in an hour :)

belgium: brussels

I love the way various members of my extended family have lived in different countries. For this visit, my cousin Bryn was my host in Brussels, Belgium.

My flight left kyiv early in the morning, so there was no traffic to interfere with me getting to the airport on time. Yay! The line to checkin was long and slow, argh. Why doesn't Ukrainian Airlines do online checkin? The flight departed late, I never figured out why.

Upon arrival it was easy enough to take the train to the central train station (Gare Centrale) where cousin Bryn met me. We walked to his flat and caught up for a while before heading out again. 

We walked toward the city center, stopping in a church or two, and heaps of chocolate shops. Belgium is known for chocolate, for good reason. Pieces of chocolate, not bars of chocolate, though they were available as well. By the time the day was over if bought about 10 different pieces of chocolate. And this was just the first day :) I decided my goal was to find the best couer framboise.  Some stores were more expensive than others, sometimes that corresponded to taste, sometimes not.

The city centre is full of tourists, as well as small places to buy waffles and frites (French fries.) 

When we turned the corner into the Grande Place I was well and truly impressed. It's basically a giant platz. The buildings surrounding the platz are almost all big, and beautiful. I loved it. Definitely a good place for people watching. Photos didn't turn out as well as I thought the whole area looked, i hope that's because the sky was flat and grey.

After going through the Grande Place we followed another street or two, finding ourselves in front of Mannekin Pis. It's a lot smaller than I expected. Mannekin Pis is a statue of a little boy peeing, with water coming out of that part of his body. I don't get it, why is it famous? During this visit the statue had a costume covering most of him. How often does that happen? 

At that point both of us were hungry, we decided to be tourists sortof. We each ordered frites at a random place. I chose mustard as my sauce, you could have ketchup and mayonnaise and a few others as well. Mayonnaise is the typical sauce, I'm so not a fan. 

After that, I decided I wanted a waffle too. (Obviously, a healthy diet was not going to happen.) I chose one covered in whip cream and strawberries, Bryn had Nutella. By the time I finished eating I was stuffed, I had no room for 'real' food! Oops! As often as I talk about eating healthy, this was an epic fail, but so worth it!

The next morning the first thing Bryn did was show me how to get to a nearby large supermarket. (This was useful the next day when Bryn had to go to work, but I had a few more hours to explore.)

From there we continued walking. We crossed another platz, this one set up with a farmers market of some kind. I found the stalls with baked goods of course :) I didn't buy any of those items, but I did buy when I found the hot chocolate stall. Yum. They had three different types: milk, white, and dark. Why don't all places that sell hot chocolate have these choices? 

Eventually we made it to a BIG park. I think the name of the park is Cinquantenaire. There is a giant 'gate' in the middle of the park. On this particular day the park was the start and end point for a running festival. The main race was a 20km. (Why not a half marathon distance of 21.1km?) there were people everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Bryn and I have both run multiple marathons, though he takes running and training in general a whole lot more seriously than I do. I'm just happy to finish any race I run, he has actual goals. Seeing all these people made me think I should run the event next year.

We walked out another exit of the park, making our way to the area of town where the EU commission buildings are located. All I have to say about them is that they're not architecturally appealing. At all. 

Those buildings were yucky, so we decided to walk through the gardens close to the royal palace. The gardens are pretty. A few statues, walking paths, old trees, etc... We got to the palace itself, and due to the crappy weather there weren't many people out in front. Yay for photos without people. I wonder if it's ever possible to go inside the palace. It's big, but not super impressive outside; is the interior the same?

From there we walked to a monument which I think was an eternal flame. I'm not sure though. As we got there the wind picked up, as did the rain. YUCK. I know I've mentioned previously how I feel about rain. YUCK. Wind and rain make picture taking more difficult as well. 

The main Cathedral was close. It was big, and the front facade was quite nice. The interior wasn't nearly as impressive. Or maybe I'm just churched out. 

It continued being windy, and raining from time to time. To get out of the crappy weather we stepped into a cafe with a lovely display in the window. It ended up being a great choice. I had a slice of a raspberry tart, YUM. 

More time in the city center, including another church. This one was much more appealing to me. Smaller, much more friendly. 

I got another waffle, saw flavors as before. Again, YUM. At this point I realized it's a good thing I don't live in Brussels, I'd be HUGE! Between the chocolates and waffles, eeek.  When I ordered this waffle I had an entertaining conversation with the guy who worked there, in French. I love being able to speak a little of another language. 

I bought more chocolates. I think I ended up buying chocolates from all the main brands in Brussels. Except Godiva, I've had that brand plenty of times in other countries.

I wasn't hungry, but I realized I needed 'real' food, as I hadn't had any in a couple days. Bryn knew of a nearby street with several good choices, I ended up choosing a pita. Protein and veggies, I needed those. Since I wasn't full I didn't enjoy it as much as I could've, but I'm still glad I ate. Of course by the time I was done I wasn't feeling so good, I had way too much food in me.

The next morning I packed up, and walked Bryn to work. It was still a holiday for me, but not for Bryn. Then I made my way to the supermarket. I wanted to bring back chocolates for everyone at work, I figured I could find a box or several for cheaper than the stores in the city centre. I think I ended up buying three boxes :) 

Then I made my way to a metro stop, and figured out how to get to the atomium. It's a big, um, thing. Several of the molecules are part of a science oriented museum. That didn't interest me, I just enjoyed looking at the exterior. The atomium is in the middle of a park, I enjoyed strolling around and watching people.

At some point I realized I needed to hop back on the metro and get back to the airport. So I did. I got there later than I wanted, but being late meant there was almost no queue left at checkin. Thank goodness for not having to  check a bag! 

ukraine: poltava

continuing my plans to visit everywhere in Ukraine, Susannah and I booked tickets to a town called Poltava, 3 hrs from Kyiv...our train left Saturday morning at 0559, which meant I was up waaaaay too early for a Saturday...the train was one of the fancy shmancy new trains, I think it was made in korea...a nice, smooth ride, dropping us in Poltava at 0900 or so...
we found a market with old babushkas and random stuff right outside the train station...I wonder if that happens every day?
Susannah does not like dogs, so she wasn't thrilled to see wild dogs barking as we walked toward the city center from the train station...
our walk to the city centre took us across a bridge, up a hill, and showed us parks, a view across the valley to a church, and a couple monuments...Poltava is a pretty town...

we found a big park in the city center, and followed a pedestrian street from there to a random café for breakfast...along the way I found a place that had postcards available, I figured I would go back after we'd actually seen some of the sights...
just after we finished eating, the guy from whom we'd booked a flat called, so we met up with him and he directed us to the flat...it's sooo much better to rent flats while traveling in ukraine than book a hotel...
after getting settled in, we walked back to the main pedestrian area, and walked the entire length...

we stumbled upon a gathering of people, it took us a while to figure out what the gathering was for...after realizing the date, susannah figured out it was to remember the Holodomor...
in the early 1930s there was a famine in Ukraine, several million people died...there is some debate as to the cause of the famine, but most anyone outside of Russia agrees that the famine was man made, (by the policies of Stalin) and generally avoidable...yes, the weather was bad, but sealing the borders of the country so people couldn't escape is uncalled for...i don't see the issue ever being totally settled...

anywho, the Holodomor is remembered toward the end of each November in Ukraine...it's a solemn occasion, to say the least...i haven't seen the events in Kyiv, I was 'happy' to participate in Poltava...after listening for a while (not that either of us understood anything) we continued walking along the pedestrian area...
we saw a small church, it was very cozy...
at the end of the pedestrian area, we crossed into a park/landscaped grounds...there was a big church in the middle of it all, and a separate bell tower...just outside the bell tower and entrance to the church were a few candles, we didn't think too much of it at the time...inside was a memorial to the dead and the living, (one on each side of the room) so susannah and i each lit two candles...

the inside of this church was being renovated, we didn't much like what we could see had been finished so far...oh well...it felt too modern...
we came back out to find more candles on the ground...
walking further into the park, looking for a specific monument...a GIANT bowl of dumplings...we got there just a bit too late in the day, the lighting was terrible for photos :( ...definitely one of the most unique monuments i've seen...i wouldn't mind coming back just to take photos of this monument again...i don't know if it was making a statement?

as we turned around and went back toward the church, thinking of heading back to the flat, we saw a procession approaching the church...quite a large procession, led by priests with flags...a truck playing somber music was there as well...the procession stopped just outside the church, and many of the people added candles to those already on the ground...a beautiful display of memory for what happened...
we ended up leaving because we were cold and hungry...dinner was at a restaurant that had traditional dumplings...they were huge!

the next morning when the apartment guy came to collect the key, he called a taxi for us, which took us just a bit outside of town to old battlefields...what the fields once were is not obvious now, of course...
back in the 1700s (i think? or was it 1600s?) sweden was a power in europe...sorta hard to imagine now...they sent soldiers to several areas, including ukraine...unfortunately for sweden, they lost the battle of poltava...we walked through the small museum, and chatted briefly with one of the docents...not only were we foreigners, we were traveling in the off season to a place not even many ukrainians visit...

across the street was a lovely church with a memorial hill behind it...
then we walked down the street to find a couple more memorials to the battles...one of these memorials wasn't easy to find, as it was very simple, and a bit off the road with no obvious path to get there, even though we knew where it was...these memorials were in modern farm fields!
a taxi back to town took us back to the central park, we both wanted lunch...we ended up going to the same place at which we'd eaten yesterday...

after what we thought was a quick lunch, we walked quickly to the train station...only to realize at the last moment that it wasn't the right train station...ooops...i felt like an idiot for not having checked the tickets more carefully, as i think the clerk who sold me the tickets told me we would come into one station, and go out of the other...fortunately we were able to buy tickets for a train later that evening...
since we had later tickets, we had 5.5 hours to kill, mostly in the dark...booo...since it was dark, we wandered back into town, then spent a couple hours (at least) at a cafe for dinner...
not quite the ending we wanted, but it was a nice weekend :)