russia: chernyakhovsk

Chernyakhovsk ended up on my list of places to go because I saw a picture of it on social media. Since I'd been to Kaliningrad (city) previously, I was happy to have a day trip to another city in the oblast.

Chernyakhovsk used to be called Insterburg, when it was part of Prussia. Like the rest of the oblast, the city name changed in 1946, when it became part of the Soviet Union. As of 2017 the city had a population of a little over 35,000. Chernyakhovsk is named after Ivan Chernyakhovsky, a WW2 army general who led the group that first entered East Prussia in 1944.

Insterburg (the city,) was founded in 1336, on the sight of a former Prussian fort. Like everyplace else in what is now western Russia, this area has had a lot of fighting throughout history, and has been part of a number of different empires; these include Prussia, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Though I don't think Poland was ever in control, there were Polish troops there a few times, as well as a secret Polish arms trafficking group at one point. Wikipedia makes this group sound pretty intense, even if Poland itself wasn't controlling the area. 

After the Soviet Union took over in 1946 they deported pretty much everyone, and brought in Russians instead. Traveling around the area makes it obvious that culture and history don't really go that far back, since only two or three generations of Russians have lived here.

When I booked train tickets to and from Chernyakhovsk, I knew I'd only be there a day. I wanted to go as cheaply as possible, which usually means an elektrichka train, unfortunately there was only one each day going each way, and they were at the wrong time of day. I did not want to be going to Chernyakhovsk in the evening, and returning in the morning. 

I ended up booking spaces on a regular train, I ended up with an entire train car to myself on the way there. Fun. The lady working my particular car was fascinated by me setting up my tripod and taking photos, since I was all by myself. 

Arriving in Chernyakhovsk was almost creepy, as the train station was completely empty. I've been through a few stations without many people, but I didn't see anyone at all! Off to one side of the train station a couple old locomotives on display. They're listed as two separate sights, as they're different types, but they're next to each other, and both painted black, so it was just one sight to me.

100 meters after leaving the station I saw my first statue, naturally it was the guy after whom the town is named, General Ivan Chernyakhovsky.

Next up was a Catholic church. As this used to be part of East Prussia, which was Catholic, those churches still stand. Since Russians were moved in during the years the Soviet Union wasn't big on religion, I don't think many Orthodox churches have been built in the oblast in general. The church of St Bruno was built at the very beginning of the 20^th century, from 1902-1904.

I was walking on Lenin street, so I wasn't surprised when I came upon a bust of the main man himself. He was tucked into a small platz, kindof hidden from the street by a couple trees. Until far later in the day I thought this was the only Lenin in the city. Yandex maps doesn't show this Lenin, it only shows one other.

The main sight in Chernyakhovsk is Insterburg Castle. It is falling into ruin, meaning it is really photogenic. When I walked through the gate there were a couple informational signs, and ropes blocking off the most ruined areas. I'm not sure if there is a plan of any kind to renovate or rebuild any of the castle.

Lonely Planet says an eccentric artist watches over the place, which seems to be true. He seems to have taken over a couple rooms, somehow keeping them heated enough to sleep there and create various pieces of art.

After looking around the entire property I kept going, finding my way to what used to be Villa Brandes. It was originally built for the guy in charge of the city back in Prussian days. After the Soviets took over it was an orphanage. Now it's a kindergarten. The tower on one side is really photogenic.

Next to the kindergarten I noticed a street sign pointing to a tower of some kind. I found the tower, but I have no idea what kind of tower it is supposed to be. Not a water tower, it kinda looks like a guard tower, but I don't think that's right either.

From there I came back toward the city center, this is when I found the main Lenin statue in town. A full size statue, not just a bust. He stood close to a monument to soldiers, a tired out soldier is resting while sitting on what looks kindof like a stump? It looked rather awkward to me, but I'm sure there was a point to whoeva made it.

I only visited one museum in Chernyakhovsk, the city history museum. Entry was only 100 rubles, with a very small photo fee. The museum was two big rooms, on two floors. It was more set up as a display of small collections of different items, rather than a description of the history of the city. There were a bunch of telephones, a bunch of different uniforms, a bunch of dolls. There were radios, military medals, helmets, and documents, etc... In the middle of the first floor was a 'soldier' next to a jeep.

It seemed to be fair game to touch things, which was pretty neat. I loved seeing so many items not hidden behind a glass display case. There was also a city art museum, I did not visit that one. 

Following the museum I visited another church. The front of the church looked very similar to the first one I'd seen, with a very tall bell tower, and a red brick exterior. The inside was much more interesting though, as there were frescoes everywhere, and stained glass windows too.

After this church I felt as though I'd seen everything I wanted to see. Chernyakhovsk isn't that big. (With only 35,000 people it was never going to be big, or take all that long to see most sights.)

There was one more fortress/castle on the list of sights, but it was a bit further out, and I wasn't in the mood to go that far. 

Next time maybe? 

I stopped in a cafe, as I hadn't eaten real food yet, whoops. After the cafe it was an easy walk back to the train station, where I didn't have to wait long for my train back to Kaliningrad.

ukraine: drohobych and lviv

I booked my train tickets to/from lviv rather last minute, only the Monday before I traveled...I was supposed to meet a friend there, but that didn't end up happening 😞...funny how travel plans can happen in a hurry...
My train arrived around 0600 or so, I walked into the city center as I always do, taking a few new streets along the way...lviv always has something new for me...as the sun came up I saw it was going to be a beautiful day, total sunshine...
I spent some time in my favourite cafe on the square, starting my day with chocolate cake and mint tea...yum, even if not the healthiest option...
When cloe and I visited lviv in February 2012, one of the first things we had done was go to the top of the tower in the ratusha, the city hall...on a clear day the views all around are great...I decided to do it again...

I'm pretty sure the entry fee hadn't changed, it was only 10griven...(at today's exchange rate, that's less than 50cents of an American dollar)...how awesome is that? It's always windy up there, but I love the views...
After wandering through more streets, I made my way to my hotel, they let me check in early...yippee! I warmed up and charged my phone for an hour or so before heading back to the train station...
Before coming to lviv this time id looked at trip advisor, seeing if there were any nearby towns that might be worth a day trip...Drohobych was on the list...I bought a ticket, and 90 minutes later arrived in drohobych, Ukraine...a very modern, express train...
Drohobych is not a big town...I don't think it gets many visitors, and few, if any foreigners...the train station is on the edge of town, it was an easy walk to the city center...

Just on the other side of the city centre are the two reasons most people come to drohobych...two wooden churches...they're both small, and old, but still beautiful...the wood is very faded, but I loved it...one is called st George's, I don't remember the other name...
On the way back to the city center I passed another church, I decided to peek in...by doing so I stumbled into a wedding...yay! Ukrainian weddings aren't the same as what you often see in the states...a small group of people attends the service in ukraine, I'm thinking immediate family and one or two people to stand up for the two getting married...I didn't stay long, but I always love seeing people on such an important day of their lives...
I walked around the square in the middle of which is city hall complete with a tower...(I couldn't figure out which entrance would've taken me to where I could climb up the tower)...

I walked to a park, on one side of which was another church...I saw a couple having wedding photos taken in the area...very pretty...
I followed the street until I came to the end, about 200m down the perpendicular street on the other side was something you see in every ukrainian town...a WW2 memorial...as usual, it was big...I followed a different street back toward the center, getting slightly lost...after figuring out where I was, I walked through a small market, finally locating a place to buy postcards...I bought three sets, her entire stock 😀...
I made my way toward a synagogue, which unfortunately was closed, a gate was locked in front...I don't know if it was being renovated or it was just closed...pretty from the outside though...i wonder if it will ever be open to visitors...i hope so...

I followed another street back to the train station...I thought about taking a marshrutka back to lviv, but when I looked in, all the seats were already taken...booo...
so I bought a ticket for the next train available...the ticket was so cheap I thought I'd made a mistake of some kind! (Only 11griven!)...it turned out to be an electric train that goes back and forth all day...2.5 hours (and many stops) later I was back in lviv...
Dinner was a random cafe on the way back to my hotel...I was tired and it was dark and cold, I didn't want slow or fancy...
The next morning I went for a walk before breakfast...(when I checked in I chose which breakfast I wanted, and when I wanted it served)...nothing special, jut more walking, finding streets, courtyards, and other areas new to me...

 Breakfast was good...bread, cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, juice, and tea...afterward I relaxed in my room for a bit, packed up, and checked out...the hotel let me leave my bag, I love that...
The rest of the day I spent wandering more...new neighborhoods, new cafes, etc...new churches, new streets, etc...there are heaps of hidden courtyards, i love to peek into them...unlike kyiv, there are no really tall and huge apartment buildings...i love it...i also love trying to peek behind fences, to see what is being hidden from me...in some cases it looks like ruins are being dug up, but i doubt that's what it actually is...
Eventually I went back to the hotel, picked up my bag, then went to dinner at puzata hata, a cafeteria chain...basic food, basic prices...from there I went back to the train station, then back to kyiv...
i finally visited the boyim family chapel during this visit...it's small, but absolutely beautiful...it's in the city centre, i'm not sure why i haven't visited it previously...the ceiling inside and everything else is made of wood, the carving is absolutely amazing...a photo just doesn't do it justice...
I'm sure this won't be my last visit to Lviv and around 😃...i always wonder what else the city has to offer :)

boyim family chapel ceiling...all carved from wood i think!

poland: warsaw

When I was in the middle of planning my winter holidays, the original plan was to do New Years in Berlin...the cheapest way for me to get there was take a flight to Warsaw, then a train to Berlin...so I ended up with a day to wander around Warsaw...
I've visited the city twice previously, but this was the first time since 2009...it was fun to wander around and see what I remembered...
Warsaw is on the Far East of its time zone, which means the sun goes down EARLY in winter...it was dark at 1530, ARGH...

add that to a temperature of -7C that felt like -12C, I wasn't as happy as I could've been...everytime I've visited Warsaw it has been late fall or winter, I should come back in another season!
My flight arrived on time at Warsaw Chopin airport, I managed to be one of the first people through passport control...they put the entry stamp on an almost full page, yippee! (I'm trying to fill pages before stamping new pages...
You can take a train or bus to the central train station, I opted for the train...it took a bit to figure out the ticket machine, I think I was having an idiot day...once on the train i validated the ticket and the train took off soon after...

Once in the central train station I found a place to store my pack for the day, thank goodness...
And from there, I started walking...the first building I saw upon exiting the train station was a GIANT building called the palace of culture...it was a gift from the soviets, to their brothers...I still remember the first time I saw it, not long after I'd visited Moscow...it immediately reminded me of the so called 'seven sisters' in Moscow...and whaddya know, this was supposed to be just like those buildings...it catches your attention, whether you like the style or not...it is now surrounded by modern sky scrapers...(well, maybe not quite surrounded, but there are plenty of modern skyscrapers nearby)...i think dad and i went inside the 'palace' but i remember thinking the inside wasn't nearly as impressive as the outside...funny how those things dont always match up...(it's the same with churches)

I kept walking down the street, crossing a few intersections by going under the streets...not too far along, I got to an intersection with a palm tree in the middle...I'm sure someone out there knows, how long has this tree been there? Obviously, it isn't real, as I'm pretty sure you don't find Palm trees in places that have really cold temperatures and snow and ice...still, it doesn't look too terribly fake...
From there I turned left, and walked down a street that was still decked out in holiday stuff...lights and trees and such...

Poland has been a catholic country for a long time, the soviets were never able to stamp it out, despite repeated attempts...Christmas and Easter are big here...
This street has a name I don't know how to pronounce, there are way too many vowels...it was the street kings traveled to get to the old city...since I was in the street, does that make me royalty too? I would totally marry a prince :)
I passed the apartment building where dad lived for a semester, I passed the university of Warsaw, I passed A LOT of coffee shops, I passed stores galore...

Eventually I made it to the platz everyone recognizes as the start of the old city...somehow, the old city was not destroyed during all the bombing of WW2...(the rest of the city was flattened)...there is a wide open area, with pretty coloured buildings along 3 sides...
Then I noticed a tower, with a sign pointing 'this way' to the viewing tower...I had never been up the tower, I figured why not? My legs were burning by the time I climbed up, I need to get fit! The views over the city were lovely...I wish I could've stayed up there longer, but the wind was blowing, and I was COLD...i knew it would be cold in warsaw, but i figured i could deal with it since i was only going to be in the city for a day, but it wasn't as easy as i thought it would be...

There was a Christmas market set up along the old city walls, some of the stuff looked quite nice...I walked through the entire market, and entered the old city from a direction new to me...I made a few turns, enjoying the aesthetic appeal of the old buildings, eventually finding the platz in the middle of the old city...
In the middle of the platz was an ice rink, plenty of people practicing their skills...I'm all for outdoor skating, but not in biting wind!
I wandered into two different churches, one of which had awesome  front doors...it was nice to be inside again, even for a short time...some of the shaded areas of the streets in that area were COLD, my fingers and toes were not happy...

I made my way back to the entry platz, took a couple more photos, and started walking back up the street I'd come from earlier...I ducked into a cafe and warmed up for a couple hours (you know when you're cold and just can't seem to shake it? That was me)...by the time I left the cafe it was dark...
I got back to a building belonging to the university (I think) with a statue of Copernicus in front...lit up nicely at night :) ...also lit up were the holiday decorations on the street...did I mention the giant pressies (presents) lit up in various places along the street? Pretty...
Not too long before the palm tree intersection I found an indian restaurant...they didn't have the first dish I wanted, but my second choice ended up being pretty good...spicy too :)

At the Palm tree intersection I Jew to turn right...it seemed as if I was in front of the palace of culture again really quickly...its lit up at night, of course I took photos...colour and black and white :)
I spent the night in the train station...so not a whole lot of sleep...but it wasn't worth getting a room here and having to figure out a way to get to the train station in time for a 0555 departure...
Note to self: visit Warsaw in late spring or summer!!!

san marino

The next morning i was up early so i could start making my way to another town (and country!) ...my first train left meran at 0602...it left on time, thank goodness...it was a tiny little regional train that runs pretty regularly to the closest 'big' city, of bolzano (known as bolzen in german)...from there a train to bologne, then a train to rimini, a city on the coast...

i dropped my bags at the information office close to the train station, and asked questions...they told me how to get to san marino, which was my real goal for the day...

san marino is the world's oldest republic...according to lonely planet it has a very high GDP (over $50,000 i think)...san marino is the only former citystate that didn't get swallowed up by the formation of modern italy...how it survived as independent and the others didn't, i don't know...if i didn't actually KNOW i was in san marino, there was nothing to give it away as being somewhere different from italy...they speak italian, and use the euro as currency...

anywho, there are a few small towns within the borders of san marino, but there is only one place people actually visit...it's the area on top of a hill...to get there you take a bus from rimini, and its putting it mildly to say the road is not straight...i was quite motion sick when i finally got off the bus...the chance to walk the rest of the way up the hill was a welcome way to get rid of that feeling...there are tours offered on a little train, i was very keen to walk...

i was a bit disappointed when it seemed that almost everything i could see was geared toward tourists...there were plenty of shops, but nothing 'local'...lots of electronics, or souvenirs, or things along those lines...there were heaps of restaurants, and hotels for those who want to say they slept in such a tiny country...one thing i did like was there were no touts trying to get me into shops or tours or restaurants...

i'm shallow enough to admit that the biggest reason i came to san marino was to get another passport stamp...and to add another country to my list...

it's hard to get stamps from countries in the schengen zone...it says in the guidebook that you can get the san marino stamp by going to the information office and paying for the stamp...i did so, cheesy as that is...i've been to a fair number of countries, but getting a new passport stamp never gets old...i don't think it ever will...

there are a few castles/fortresses/protective towers on this hill, all of them have entrance fees...i paid to go in just one, since they all seemed the same...not a lot to see, but the views over the surrounding area were pretty awesome...

the changing of the guard takes place in front of the justice building (i think) every 30 minutes...(geared toward tourists obviously)...the guards are willing to have their photos taken, but i'm guessing they don't love the russian tourists who go for sexy poses next to them...it looks tacky...i wonder if these guards have physical requirements for the job just like other well known guards do around the world...

the bus ride back to rimini wasn't great either, but i made it through :)

there isn't much to say about san marino...if i had a car, i would go back so i could stop in one or two of the other towns, just to see what 'real' people live like...i have no idea what you call someone from san marino...are they san marinese?

italy:verona

the next morning, i took a train from milano to verona...it was a single train ride, and only supposed to be 90 minutes...somehow it was 30 minutes late, argh...bo met me at the train station in verona, he'd driven down from his home up north...

we dropped my bags in his car, since it was still too early to check into our guesthouse...we turned around and started walking...both of us had been to verona before, we used it mostly as a convenient place to meet up...

we started with a morning snack: italians would call it breakfast, but both of us had already eaten breakfast...croissants and a drink...there are little cafes all over every italian city so everyone gets an easy breakfast...

we walked along the river, then across one of the many bridges...soooo many tourists, eeek...even though i'd seen them all in milan the day before, i was still overwhelmed...since i live in ukraine and travel to small towns most of the time, i'm really not used to crowds...i'd totally forgotten how popular italy is as a travel destination, and verona is full of sights...we wandered a bit, figuring out where we might go later in the day, if we felt like paying entry fees...

around 1300 we walked back to the guesthouse and checked in, then had lunch at another nearby cafe...pasta, of course...mine was supposed to be spicy, but wasn't...at all...

walking back into the city centre, we found the roman arena...every summer this arena hosts the 2 month long verona opera festival...it's a fantastic venue, and nothing matches watching an opera under the stars with 30,000 of your best friends...we took a look at the schedule and saw that aida was scheduled for that night, so we bought the cheap tickets...there are super cheap tickets, then they get really expensive really fast...some people pay more than 200 euro for a single ticket! those expensive tickets don't get you anything super special, just a better viewpoint from the folding chair!

Our next stop was a coffee machine, which had a darn good hot chocolate for .50 euro...yay...

from there we walked further down a street, and into the castle...we opted not to buy tickets for any of the museums, we didn't care enough to learn anything...hee hee...

since we had tickets for the opera which started at 2100, we headed back to the guesthouse to rest and clean up...(verona was a lot hotter than kyiv, i wasn't dealing very well with the heat)...we had dinner at a random cafe, which allowed us to arrive at the arena at 1945...

when we bought our tickets we were told that the arena opened at 1930 for people like us who had unreserved seating, we knew we needed to arrive early...we arrived just 15 minutes after the doors opened, but already many of our possible seats were taken...great fun to watch people as they arrived; fun to see what people were wearing, and how they behaved...we chatted with our neighbors, as you tend to do in these situations...mostly, or probably all, tourists (at our level anywho, probably a few locals in more expensive seats)...

the rain started at 2045...ugh...i had an umbrella, we tried to avoid getting too wet...(it didn't work, as water collected on the rows and soaked into our clothes...some people took cover in hallways, some people pulled out ponchos or umbrellas...nearly everyone who had one of the expensive seats went to the hallways, those of us in the nosebleed seats stayed out in the rain...there was one row of people in the expensive seats who didn't move...they all had blue ponchos, bo and i referred to them as the smurfs :)...

the announcement came over the loudspeakers almost immediately, that the performance would be delayed as the rain would injure the instruments...it stopped raining after 30 minutes or so, everyone cheered and the people with squeejies came out to clean off the stage...just as they finished, the rain started again...everyone started cheering again, we joined in, laughing...

the rain finally stopped for good, more cheering of course...the performance ended up starting about 45 minutes late but time moved slowly, so it didn't feel that late...

it was a modern interpretation of aida, with great costumes and scenery...the voices were strong, choreography smooth, etc...neither bo nor i could remember the synopsis, so we were a bit lost...since the interpretation was modern, we kept thinking aliens had come from another planet and decided to sing a few songs...we got home quite late...

the chocolate croissant i had the next morning had waaay too much chocolate inside...(not something i ever thought i would say)...maybe i felt that way because of the giant slice of nutella covered pizza dough i'd had on the way home from the opera the night before...

our first sight of the day was 'juliette's house'...juliette of romeo and juliette...even though the story was made up, this house has been decided to be juliette's house...there is a small courtyard inside, with a small balcony where people come out to have their photo taken...there are a lot of people, it's difficult to get a decent photo...

i decided to go up the tower, bo decided to wait...the entry fee was 8euro!!! crazy...the view over the city was nifty though, i was glad to do it once...in an effort to burn a few calories i took the stairs going up and down, my legs were burning...

we opted not to pay to go in the duomo, we could see most of the ceiling from the door and that was supposed to be the greatest part of it...i was already getting really tired of the idea of having to pay to go in every church we walked past...argh...

we had lunch at yet another random cafe, nearby which was a shop where i bought postcards...before heading back to the guesthouse we stopped by the drink machine again, i wanted more hot chocolate :)...from there we collected bo's car, then made our way out of the city...

MACAU, SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

i took the first weekend in september to visit my friend esther in macau...i met esther while she still lived in seoul...she's a philippina, she married a korean, and now they have two sons...both her sons speak tagalog, korean, as well as a fair amount of english...esther is a lawyer, and her work is somewhat transportable...anywho, her husband was offered what seemed like a good job, so the family moved not too long ago...
macau is making itself out to be the vegas of asia...there are quite a few large casinos there already, and they're constantly building more...macau is similar to hong kong in that until not very long ago it was administered by another country, not china...macau received it's "independence" from portugal in 1999, two years after hong kong...so now the official languages are chinese and portuguese...but you don't see much portuguese, you see and hear mostly chinese with a bit of english...signage is in all three languages...most of the people who live there now are of chinese descent...
i got to the seoul airport before anything was open, which meant i was starving for a while...i wasn't planning to check any baggage, but it turned out my toothpaste was too big, so i made a stink and they let me go back through to the check in counters and i was able to check my bag...the security lady who said it was too big seemed surprised that i wanted to check my bag...did she think i was going to put the toothaste in a ziploc bag and check just that? anywho...
esther picked me up at the airport, and i could immediately tell the difference in weather...macau is a lot warmer and a lot more humid at this time of year than seoul is...(and seoul is plenty warm and humid right now)...she took me to her flat, which is how pretty much everyone in macau lives...it's like hong kong in that the population density is really high...i got to meet her kids, johann and joseph...then we took the bus to hac sa beach, and walked around for a while...it's a black sand beach, and we visited at high tide...there are lots of picnic tables around, it was nice to see families out enjoying themselves...we took the bus back to the main square, where you can still see a lot of portuguese architecture...the ruins of st paul are particularly picturesque, though it's only the front of the church that's there anymore...it was originally a church, but has also been used as army barracks...we ate dinner at a portuguese restaurant, and that night got a little dressed up to go to the venetian casino...it has the same themes as it's sister casino in vegas, but it's bigger...in fact, it's the biggest casino in the world, and had opened just a few days before i arrived...it's not completed yet, i have no idea when it will be completely done...i didn't do any gambling myself, but it was fun to wander around and watch people...i've never been in a proper casino before...esther's flat is only a 15 minute walk from the venetian!
the next day we took a bus to the border with china...on the chinese side of the border is a free economic zone, which means CHEAP shopping...we explored the area with esther's friend joe, and ate lunch in a revolving restaurant...fun...after coming back we explored another area of macau, the waterfront...there is a statue there, i can't remember the name of who it is...a goddess of something...the macau tower is also right there, and you can jump off it, (safety precautions are taken, of course) and we did see one person jump...
i went to the airport late that night, and got back to korea, though a few hours later than i had anticipated, and was late to work as a result...oh well...