kazakhstan: almaty

As soon as Anaya and her family moved to almaty, Kazakhstan, I knew I wanted to visit...
note: each time i refer to mom or dad in this post, i'm refering to anaya's mom or anaya's dad...
I was able to get flights that gave me five full days in almaty...it turns out to be a town not worth that much time, but it was great to catch up with friends...
My flight arrived at 0500 Thursday morning...not a great time, but it was a direct flight, and I got a full row of seats to myself, so I wasn't complaining...when I went to the airport ATM to take out money I realized I was able to withdraw US dollars as well as Kazakh tenge...($1~185tenge)...I withdrew some of both and decided to clean out my bank accounts when I left...(US dollars are quite difficult to get in Ukraine)...
I took a taxi to the Anaya's flat, her dad came out to greet me and help out with change, since the taxi driver didn't have any...

It was great to see friends again...I miss them in kyiv, and it turns out they miss life in kyiv too...Anaya woke up at some point, and I think it was a nice surprise for her to find me there 😀...
We chatted in the kitchen for hours, pausing only when the driver took dad and Anaya to drop Anaya off at school...
Sometime around noon mom and I went with dad to a mall to pick out gift baskets for all the women in his office...women's day was on Sunday, (8 march,) so gifts were handed out on Friday, and Monday is a day off work...it turns out there are a fair number of big malls in almaty, filled with expensive and foreign brands...I don't know what (if any) industry there is in Kazakhstan...

After buying gifts we went to lunch at a sushi place...they'd already described Kazakh food to me, it didn't sound good...(boiled horse and sheep meat anyone?!?)...the description made me think of Mongolian food...no thank you, especially when there are other, far better options available...
After lunch the driver took dad to work, and me home with mom...I got out of the car just before we got to their apartment complex, I wanted to go for a walk...
So I walked...I walked to a nearby Islamic center, at which I didn't stay long after a security guard asked why I was taking photos...(the buildings were pretty)...I told him I'm a tourist, I don't think he understood why someone would want to take photos of a non touristy place...further down the road was a mall, not as big as where we'd been earlier, but fancier...prada and the like, but the food court was not so high class: Burger King anyone?

I kept walking, and followed a dry waterway to its end, then went around the other side and walked back up the slight hill...back to the mall and back to the flat...I arrived not long before mom went with the driver to pick up Anaya from school...(I would've gone along, but I'd already felt motion sickness in the car at lunch and didn't want more of that)...
Dinner that night was yummy indian food at home...(have I mentioned this is an Indian family?)
The next morning I slept till 10, which is a lot later than normal for me...on the other hand, 10 in Kazakhstan is 6 in kyiv, which is when I normally wake up, so maybe I just didn't adjust...but I did sleep ten hours, almost solid, and that's rare...if only i could have long sleep nights like that more often on weekends instead of waking up at 6 or 7 saturday and sunday mornings...

Anywho, I had chai (YUM!!) for breakfast, I didn't need any food...around noon the driver picked up me and mom, and took us into the city center...we started at the post office, where mom had found out was a good place for me to buy sets of postcards of the city...it was a good place for that...
The next stop was the green market, or ziliony bazaar...it's a big market, with a lot of different sections: dairy, meat, (with various types of meat listed: horse, sheep, cow, etc,) as well as pickled food (I found kimchi!!!) and clothes and dry goods and more...it's easy to think you've seen everything, then find a whole different section...I ended up buying some kimchi, yogurt, and dried apricots...I didn't really want the dried apricots, but when I was taking photos of the market from a second floor the vendor at a particular stall kept saying I should come to his spot...why not? He gave us lots of tasting portions of different things he sold, some I liked, some not so much...

The next stop was 28 Panfilov heroes memorial park...(longest name ever for a park)...there was an Orthodox Church not far from one of the entrances...as we got close, the exterior decoration of the church made me think of candy land...the interior was very nice...frescoes on the ceilings, chandeliers, iconostasis...as always (to me anywho,) the interior didn't seem as big as it should be compared to how big it looked from the outside...
From the church we walked toward the memorial area...there are monuments to several wars in which Kazakh soldiers have fought...Afghanistan (remember the Soviet Union fought there for years and years) and what I know as WW2 and what I know as WW1, and more Im pretty sure...there were blocks of marble (I think) with names of cities in which big battles had taken place...many of those cities have different names now...

We played with the panoramic photo function on my iPhone for a while, and managed to get a photo with three of me in it...(can there ever be enough of me? 😃)
We exited the park through a different entrance and crossed the street to a cafe, to have drinks...but this place was out of tea, and my second choice as well...ARGH...so we found a different cafe...
After that, the driver picked up mom, she had to pick Anaya up from school...I decided to walk home, as the weather was nice, and I'd figured out it wasn't a complicated walk...I walked straight up Dostuk avenue, looking at a few different looking buildings along the way...as I was on the main street back to the flat, I heard someone yelling so I looked...whaddya know, it was mom and dad and Anaya, being driven by the driver...I could've walked the rest of the way home, but I hopped in the car instead...they told me later the driver had seen me and pointed me out...wow...

Dinner that night was more indian food...I don't think I can ever get enough...
The next morning (Saturday) I woke up feeling not so good, a feeling that didn't go away until that evening...so much for getting out and walking around more...
Sunday I still didn't feel great, but did feel better...more chai (I ended up having chai every few hours when I was in the flat😃) helped...
Sometime mid afternoon we all walked outside, then flagged down a local car to take us to a mall...(different from the two I've mentioned earlier in this post)...it turns out that flagging down a car is a normal way to get around...think of it as a mix of hitchhiking and unofficial taxi...

Since it was women's day, and Anaya is a girl, she basically got to have a day of celebration...she got to play in happylon (play area with games, climbing, jumping, etc) for 30 minutes, while us adults walked around...after that we went to a cafe for food and drinks...yum...the mall was packed, there were a lot of families out doing the same thing we were...the mall had a marching band (very small) walking around playing music, it was fun to listen...one little place handed out mini cupcakes to every woman who walked past...dad felt left out, as mom, Anaya, and I all got one😀...
We didn't eat dinner that night, we didn't need any food...i know i could've eaten, especially if it was homemade yummy indian food, but i wasn't anywhere close to hungry...

The next day the driver picked us up, I guess it wasn't a day off for him...our first stop was the central mosque, just because I wanted to see it...we ended up being there as people were arriving for midday prayers, so we didn't go in...nice building...it looks different than the photo on the postcards; now it has gold domes, the postcards show it with blue domes...
The next stop was Arbat street, a pedestrian area...not a long street, and not very busy, since it was not warm...art vendors had a number of paintings for sale, and there was a guy walking along selling balloons...Anaya got to have one...
The next stop was an indian restaurant...I guess it was mid afternoon by that point, it wasn't a busy time of day...great food, and I ate waaay too much...
We spent the rest of the day at home, not doing much of anything...I got my stuff ready, and relaxed...

The next morning I was up at 0330, the taxi came at 0400...I was sad to leave...I didn't get much sleep at all, and my flight was delayed 45 minutes...before checking in I emptied my bank accounts and exchanged leftover currency into dollars...:)
I got another row of seats to myself on the way back to kyiv, yay!!
I want to go back to Kazakhstan, I want to explore the natural beauty of the country...if only work didn't get in the way of traveling...

ukraine: nizhyn and sumy

Another weekend, another time to travel...domestically again this time...
It took me a bit to figure out which trains to take for this weekend, as I wasn't going far from kyiv, but there weren't many trains heading to the towns i wanted...as it turned out, the train i took friday afternoon ended up being the first bit of the train i took saturday evening...people living in some towns of the country have a harder time going home for a weekend just due to crazy train scheduling...
I departed Friday afternoon not long after 1500, and got to Nizhyn an hour and a half later...
Nizhyn was the first place I'd traveled to in Ukraine without any idea where I would sleep that night...despite looking at multiple sites online, I couldn't find a single hotel listed...nothing...but I figured there had to be something there...

I got off the train and walked into town...not long after getting on a main street I saw a monument to pickles...yes, a monument to pickles...apparently the pickles of nizhyn are special in some way...of course I took a photo...it still makes me laugh: a monument to pickles? Surprisingly, it wasn't all that big...I'm used to big monuments in this country...i wish it had been in the city center, that would've made it even more awesome...
I got to the city center, and walked along several well lit streets, looking for a hotel...nothing to be seen...eventually, just as I was about to ask one of the taxi drivers to take me somewhere, I saw the sign: готел...yahoooo! It turned out to be the not so famous hotel nizhyn...a very soviet style hotel, but they had a room, and I didn't see other options in town...

the room I got was a 'standard' and had a bedroom, bathroom, eating area and table, as well as small entry area...wow...wouldn't it be awesome if more hotels had this as a 'standard' room...since this was probably the only hotel in town, i should've taken the chance to look at other rooms, just to see what they had, out of curiosity...alas, i never think of these things when the timing is right...
i slept early and slept well that night...i think part of it was in being relieved that i had a place to stay...it's one thing to show up in a town with a lonely planet list of places to stay, or to know there is a tourist area with plenty of hotels/hostels...it's another thing completely to know there is nothing listed online, and to know you're in a nontouristy town...as easy as it is now to get your establishment listed, i'm surprised hotel nizhyn hasn't done so...

The next morning I was up early (as usual) and went for a walk...I headed toward a monastery in what trip advisor says is a suburb of nizhyn...how can a town that size have suburbs you can walk to? It didn't take me long to get there...the monastery was small, and recently painted...white on the outside of all the buildings...not exciting...the inside of the church was small, and typical...I stayed for a few minutes, then went out...
On the way back, I saw a small shop of the type that sometimes has postcards...success! The lady was probably surprised I bought so many...
I turned and walked further, along a road is walked the night before in the dark...this time I saw the river, which isn't big, or notable in any way...
I found a university, and the big WW2 memorial and park in front...pretty...

I found several churches, two of which looked abandoned...(one was maybe under renovation, the other truly looked empty, but it was the prettier of the two)...
I found the Saturday morning weekly market and wandered through there for a while...it was fun to people watch, though I needed an wanted nothin of what I saw...except cookies, I did buy some of those...is it ever possible to have enough generic type molasses kind of cookies? the ones i bought were supposed to have two different flavours, but they all tasted and looked the same to me...
Back at my hotel I cleaned up and packed up, then checked out...i love noon check out times...(i doubt there were heaps of rooms to be cleaned)...

I walked again...basically just following roads to see where they went...I found more churches...(there were a lot of churches, and relatively close together for a town this size)...I found a park too, but it wasn't big or pretty...by this time the market was all packed up and gone for the week...
I found a restaurant and ordered sushi...free wifi, a plug, and food, what else could I want?
After an hour or so, I headed back to the train station...since I knew where I was going this time, it went faster...but I was still moving quickly, as I had underestimated how long it would take me to get to the station...I arrived only a few minutes before my train...(which was long enough to get myself a hot chocolate for the whopping price of 4griven: 20cents in the states!)

The train ride was 3 hours, my next destination was Sumy, a capital of an oblast...
While on the train I decided I wanted to take a taxi to my hotel, but when I asked a bunch of taxis outside the station they were already booked for specific people so I had to walk...even though it was only 3km, I really don't like walking after dark by myself...especially when I'm not sure of where I'm going, and going through snow and slush...yuck...
Anywho, I got to my hotel, the room was huge, and there was a bathtub in the bathroom!! Yahoo!!
The next morning I was up early (story of my life) so I went for a walk...the area I started in is definitely not a grid system of streets...i'm always a bit afraid of getting lost, which happens a whole lot more easily when streets are twisty turny and you have to take a lot of different streets to get from one area to another...

I found trinity cathedral, the outsides of the domes were being repaired...there are doors on four sides, but only one of them is open...I have no idea if the others are ever open...there are stairs on the outside of all four doors, so maybe...
I made my way to a more central area, starting at one end of a pedestrian street...have I mentioned it was snowing a bit at this point? I'm so tired of snow and wind...there was a pretty church nearby, complete with a separate bell tower...I wish it was easier to go up more of the bell towers I see, the views are probably awesome...it's definitely possible, but those doors aren't usually open for tourists/visitors...
Walking down the pedestrian street I found another church in the middle of a service...it looked pretty big from the outside, but when I went inside there was a larger than normal entry area, so the actual sanctuary area wasn't nearly as big as I expected...

I walked the rest of the length of the pedestrian street, there wasn't much happening...
I went back to the hotel, took a bath (yahooo!) packed up and checked out...there was another american checking out at the same time...I told him I was surprised to hear the accent, I didn't think I'd hear it in sumy 😀
My first stop after leaving the hotel was a supermarket for snacks for the day...I opted for a chain I know well from kyiv...
Back into the city center, I walked along a lot more streets...(it's on much more of a grid, so I was able to weave along the streets without getting too lost)...there are a few cafes and such, but not many...it had stopped snowing, but it was cold and generally wasn't nice so there weren't many people outside...

During all of my walking I looked for postcards, but had a hard time finding them...I was finally able to buy 7...not nearly enough but that's all she had!
I meandered through some residential areas...they looked very soviet, with huge apartment blocks...come to think of it, the whole town felt soviet, as I also saw huge office buildings  in several places...in one smaller platz I saw kids playing on a HUGE pile of snow...super cute...
I found a cafe with strudel...YUM...I took a break and had fruit strudel and tea and warmed up for a while...I ended up spending longer than intended in there, it was almost dark when I left...oops...
At this point I walked just to kill time and burn calories...eventually, I returned to the strudel cafe, because I liked the atmosphere and food...the waiter who served me previously laughed when he saw I was back...I stayed until they closed...

After dinner at the cafe I walked to the train station, along the edge of a park at one point...I could see little statues, even a castle...it was a park for kids! Across the street I saw a giant Easter egg and chicken...I really need to come back so I can see this stuff in daylight...
I arrived at the train station early enough to get a chair...2 hours of waiting while cold, as the wind rushed through everytime someone came in...the way the doors were set up it probably provides great circulation in summer, but it doesn't feel good in winter...
My train back to kyiv was not a sleeper train, we were all in seats...a 5 hour ride, I didn't sleep much...the next day back at work was tough...

I wouldn't mind going back to sumy, but I think I've seen all of nizhyn 

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!

lithuania: vilnius

I don't know when we first talked about it, but during some conversation or another ken and I decided it would be fun to meet up in vilnius...I was excited to see my second baltic capital, the first was Riga, three years ago...
My flight was 30 minutes late arriving in vilnius, Lithuania, but Ken's flight arrived around the same time, so it didn't matter...we took a taxi to our hotel, the ride wasn't long...
We checked in, but instead of going to the room we left our bags at the front desk and went next door to get pizza...traveling makes us hungry...
When we got back to the hotel we asked a couple questions of the front desk lady, including how to say thank you in Lithuanian...it sounds like achoo...(accented to be A-choo)...how fun is that?

The next morning we enjoyed the hotel breakfast, a big buffet...I probably ate too much, but isn't that the whole point of buffets? There was a variety of food, from fresh produce to oatmeal to fried eggs, etc...
Eventually we left the hotel, and made our way down the street to the KGB museum...it used to be a KGB prison...the building in which it was located was very nondescript, which was probably the whole point...bCk in the day I'm sure everyone who lived around there knew who/what was in that building, but there is/was no visual way to know...
We paid our entry fees (only two euro each!) and collected a couple brochures...the ground/first floor had rooms on each side of the hall dedicated to various aspects of life during the years in which the KGB operated...the people who were deported and where they went, 'normal' life in Lithuania, numbers of people deported, etc...a lot of information was presented in a small area, it would've been overwhelming if I'd read everything...it's intense, and you can't help but think 'I'm so lucky I never had to live through that'...one of the rooms was set up to look like a listening station, as that happened to all sorts of regular people...during those days you could never be too sure...you had to be careful, all the time, about what you said and who you said it to...

The basement floor had cells that had been redone to look as they did in the  days of the functioning prison...you can go into the intake cell, where people were put before processing was complete...ken went in, I closed the door behind him...the door doesn't let in any light, and the space is very small; people were in there for three to four hours...it did not look like fun...ken came out after 10 seconds max...
We got to see a water cell, where a prisoner stood in waist deep water for I don't know how long...you couldn't sleep in there (obviously) and standing in cold water like that brings on hypothermia and madness after a while, especially when it's dark...we got to peer into the padded cell, into which went sane people, out of which came crazy people...the padding provided soundproofing and it was dark, leading to disorientation and craziness...'regular' cells didn't look too bad, but I'm sure they were no cakewalk...

We saw the exercise yards, they were very small...there was a boardwalk of sorts up high, so the guard (and dog) would patrol the prisoners in the yards from above...ugh...I'm glad I saw the museum, and I'm glad I never experienced it for real...
We walked back down the street in the opposite direction, toward the old city...at the end of the street we saw vilnius Cathdral...it's big, you can't miss it...we walked around to the side and found an entrance...the inside was big and airy, neither super decorated nor plain...
From there we walked into the old city...it's not a big area, filled with small streets, and smaller alleys...it's a pretty area...very picturesque...now it's totally touristy, filled with souvenir/amber shops, cafes and restaurants...

After a little bit of wandering ken was 'hangry' (hungry + angry from being hungry) so we asked a storelady where we should go for Lithuanian food...she showed us a place not too far down the street...the menu was big, both of us had plenty of options...we both ordered what I thought of as giant dumplings filled with meat and boiled...different sauces for each of us...I had soup as an appetizer, he had pickled fish...as soon as I finished the soup I realized I didn't need any more food, but it was too late to cancel by then...so I ate, I stuffed myself...
We kept walking after eating, going around more of the old city...got out Google maps a couple times to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go...we had dessert in a random cafe, and in yet another cafe a bit later I had a chai latte (steamed milk and flavoring powder...definitely not the 'right' way)...we made our way out of the old city, and at the bottom of a hill found a church...it was quite picturesque lit mostly by street light...

from there we went back to the hotel, we both fell asleep early...
In the middle of the night I woke up not feeling well at all...an hour later I raced to the bathroom (the one closest to the bed...have I mentioned we had a junior suite? Two full bathrooms, a sitting room, and a bedroom!) and threw up...eventually I crawled back in bed, and slept until 0700...then I got up and puked again...I didn't fall asleep agin even though I tried...
eventually ken woke up, we went to breakfast again...this time I didn't eat so much, the smell of meat was not a good smell...I had a banana and oatmeal, yogurt and tea...I just wanted to keep food down...
Ken asked me what I wanted to do, I knew I needed to get out and walk a bit, even though I still felt awful...so we went for a walk...

Along the river and crossed a bridge, into a church just before the Sunday morning service started...beautiful views along the river from the front portico of the church...we walked along the river for a bit, trying to stay warm...it was partly sunny and quite windy...
This led us to a street that went in front of the Cathdral, so we followed it...at the cathedral I went in and bought postcards...if been looking at prices, and the cards in the cathedral were half the price id seen anywhere else...30euro cents vs 60euro cents...not cheap!
We went through the old town again, through a few alleys we hadn't walked the day before...we wound down to the church from the night before, it looked quite similar in daylight...(brick always looks like brick)...
Back up the hill in the old town we stopped in a cafe...I decided to risk hot chocolate and ice cream...(I love dairy!!!)...it was nice to warm up too...

after the cafe, we walked back in the direction of the hotel, following a street we hadn't yet walked...we came across a flag change ceremony...very very cool...three flags: lithuania, nato, and eu...representatives from the army, air force, and navy were the flag folks...
On the way back to the hotel we stopped in a supermarket, ken wanted water and other food or the rest of the day...(he wasn't leaving when I was)...while we were in there I started feeling bad again, so I took the key and hurried back to the hotel...sure enough, everything in my stomach came up...ugh...
I took advantage of the bathtub in one of the bathrooms, and drew a hot bath...it felt great, I wish I could've soaked for longer...not long after I got out, I puked again...
I packed up, and the front desk called a taxi for me...a short ride later I was back at the airport and on my way back to kyiv...
I wish I'd had longer in Vilnius, and I wish I hadn't gotten so sick...(I ended up being sick for the next couple weeks, off and on, ugh)

ukraine: Epiphany (Крещение)

Крещение is Epiphany.  According to the Orthodox calendar, Christmas is 7 January, and Крещение is 19 January.  The 12th day of Christmas. The tradition here in Kyiv is to take a dip in the Dnieper River.  Something about washing away the old, and starting the new year all clean and shiny. This year the air temperature was 1C, and the water was probably the same.  I saw a few chunks of ice in the water, as it had been colder a couple weeks ago, and some areas of water were still frozen. Last year the air temperature was -8C, ice was forming at the edges of the water.
Some years the weather gets cold well before this holiday, so the river freezes. When that happens, a hole has to be cut in the ice! I'm not sure I have the guts to jump in that kind of water. 
This year I found someone to make a video with my smartphone, so I walked into the water, went all the way under three times (the tradition) and came back out.  Then I discovered the guy hadn't done the video right, so I ended up doing it all over again! EEEEK. The water was COLD!!! It was hard to hold my breath each time I went under. Most of my body felt fine as soon as I was out of the water.
Except for my toes, which took several hours to warm up to normal. SO COLD!!
After my swim, I put on several layers of warm clothes, after taking off my wet swimsuit. I had two towels with me, as well as a scarf and hat. If only there was something I could do with clothes for my toes!!

italy: sorrento

the first time i saw sorrento was in july, 2014...but that wasn't a proper visit, it was just a drive through...we drove through the city on the way to one of its ports, to rent boats and be out on the water all day...i knew back then that i wanted to see more of the city...
sorrento is basically the capital of the amalfi coast, a UNESCO listed area of italy...the coast is full of small, beautiful towns...sorrento is the starting point to get to many of them...sorrento isn't as well known as the rest of the coast, or as picturesque, but i still wanted to see what i could...

i took public transport all the way...it's an easy trip; pozzuoli to plaza garibaldi in naples, then plaza garibaldi to sorrento on the circumvesuviana line...(the circumvesuviana line also goes by pompei and herculaneum)...
i exited the train station and walked down to the closest street and turned right...immediately i noticed the city was still decorated for the holidays, even though it was already 8 january...(i wonder when it is all taken down)...a snowman, a couple bears, each made from strings of lights...lights at intervals across streets at traffic light height...

after less than a kilometer of walking down the street, i realized i was going the wrong way...there was nothing of interest (for me anywho)...so i turned around and walked back, on the other side of the street...
going the other way quickly brought me to a cute area of town...a plaza (i prefer the german word platz, but this is italy, so i suppose i should use plaza) with a couple churches, several cafes, and entrances to several smaller streets...i walked past a number of shops clearly aimed at visitors, as well as restaurants, etc...i've long been aware there are a lot of different types of pasta, but it's still interesting to see so many available in one place...

at this point i realized i'd gotten going a couple hours too late in the morning...i'd arrived just after noon, when just about everything was closing down for the afternoon siesta...i found a small cafe for a quick lunch, but not much else was open at that point...even the churches were closed for this siesta...how annoying!! italy has heaps of economic problems, and every time i visit i get frustrated by this afternoon siesta...i know it's part of the culture, but couldn't money, services, and just about everything else be generated during these 2-3 hours?
everything being closed meant i had to kill time...i wandered a couple streets, then heard a couple speaking english...i said hello, and meant to keep going, but ended up being drawn into an hour long conversation! they were traveling for a couple weeks, originally from minnesota...

we talked about all sorts of topics, from family, to travel plans, to thoughts about world economies, etc...i love these types of conversations :)
after ending that conversation i kept walking, this time out what i think is the south end of the city...the road goes up a hill, around a headland...from a whole bunch of points along this road, there are fantastic views up the coast...(when i was buying postcards later i was doubly glad i'd walked this road, as many of the postcards have this same view)

the reason i walked this way was to see a specific sight i'd found listed on tripadvisor (but not listed in lonely planet!!)...called bagni della regina giovanna...a beach of sorts...i found the path to get me there after a bit of searching, as the signs weren't terribly clear...as sorrento is on the coast, it's subject to the whims of the water...nature has taken it's course to make a beautiful spot of this 'beach'...
it's actually a hole that has been whittled out of the rock, all done through an archway in one side of the rock...(this probably doesn't make sense, but i can't figure out the right words to describe what i saw)...

there is a tiny little beach, which i didn't get to walk on because the tide was up...the water that comes in this 'lagoon' is blue and beautiful...since it was winter, there was no one swimming in the water...i'm curious how strong the currents are during summer, does anyone ever get sucked through the arch in the stone?
i first walked around the edges of the area, looking out over the water...awesome...then i found the path and stairs to get down into the 'lagoon'...the steps are steep, and very irregular, i liked them though i couldn't say why exactly...

as it had rained recently and the whole area was damp, the steps were quite slippery and i slipped more than once...thank goodness i didn't fall or i would've fallen the whole way down and ended up with big bruises...i made it down to the rocks on the beach, and climbed around those in search of a nice photo...(almost fell off those as well!)
after enjoying the incredible beauty of the bagni, i walked back into the city centre, in time for the churches to be open...they were pretty, but not stunning...still, i'm glad i saw them...
after the churches i headed back to the train station, and caught the next train back to naples...

italy: pozzuoli for new years

i've never been a big fan of new years eve...i don't really know why, but that's the way it is...in order to avoid the holiday, i've traveled over new years eve for the last bunch of years...i think the last time i was in the states for new years was 2009/2010...years before then, and since then have involved a whole heap of countries...this year, i started out thinking i would be in berlin, but i ended up in pozzuoli...(right next to naples)...
i'd told ken i had never been wowed by the holiday, that i wasn't a big fan, so of course he determined to change the way i think...i dont know if what i saw is typical of all over italy, but it's definitely normal for southern italy/naples...i assume there are fire codes, and laws regarding the use/purchase of fireworks, but none of them were observed...none...
EVERYONE SETS OFF FIREWORKS...ken's flat is up on a hill, so i got to see everything...
starting about 5 minutes before midnight, fireworks started exploding...ALL OVER THE CITY...i could turn more than 180 degrees and see fireworks exploding everywhere...it was awesome...i don't know if my video really shows it, but i was very impressed :)
some of the fireworks are small...but more often, they were big...really big...
these videos are only a bit over a minute, but it all went on for around 45 minutes!!

germany: berlin

After sleeping off and on during my five hour train from Warsaw, I arrived in Berlin mid morning. My train arrived at the main train station, and I immediately felt at home. (I feel that way every time I am in Germany.)
The train station is big, with a lot of tracks, entries/exits, and stores/food spots. My first task was to find an ATM, then find a bakery. (I adore German bakeries. As far as I'm concerned, it's not possible to spend too much time in a bakery. Or eat too much from a bakery.) Or think too much about going back to a bakery for more treats.

Third, I needed to find a map for the S-bahn/U-bahn system.
I figured out where I needed to go, hopped on the train, and soon after arrived at my stop. My hotel was quite close to the S-bahn stop, yippee! I took a chance and asked if they had a room ready for me to check in early, unfortunately my room wasn't yet clean. The front desk clerk said they could hold my bag, which was perfect.
I started walking back to the S-bahn stop, not very thrilled with the weather. It was dumping snow. And cold. (A side note: I generally love winter/snow/cold, but I wasn't ready mentally or with proper clothes.) Just down the block from the hotel I found a decently priced small restaurant, I decided to have lunch. It was nice to warm up for a little while. (My train wasn't warm, neither was the hauptbahnhof or S-bahn stations, and I wasn't inside my hotel for long.)

After lunch I headed to the S-bahn station when I saw spires and an interesting looking roof not far away.
I made my way toward the roofs, and found the New Synagogue. It is no longer a functioning synagogue, it's now a museum. You can't thank the evil government and WW2 for that. There were some nice displays, including items involved in daily Jewish life. There were historical displays and descriptions of modern day life. After looking through the museum, I climbed up into one of the cupolas, it was nice to see the view over this part of the city.

After the synagogue, I hopped back on the S-bahn, riding it only one stop. Friedrichstraße is a big station, a number of S-bahn lines come together at this station. U-bahn lines too. I walked out one end of the station and walked down friedrichstraße.
Before arriving in Berlin I'd looked at a list of sights, knowing I would only have one afternoon in the city. I'd picked out two sights that were close to each other, both of historical importance.
My walk was only a kilometer or two. It was a straight walk down the street, I walked straight into checkpoint Charlie.

You've probably heard of it.
This was one of the checkpoints set up during the days of the Berlin Wall. This particular checkpoint controlled entrance and exit to the American sector of the city. There is very little left of the checkpoint now, and the area is a major tourist trap. There are several museums there, as well as heaps of souvenirs shops/stalls. HEAPS. The advantage to having so many places selling postcards all together was that the prices were lower than any other area of the city :) Of course I took advantage.
You can also pay money to have your photo taken with a guy dressed in the style of the American soldiers way back when. Another way to spend money is to have some of the 'visa' stamps stamped in your passport. There are stamps for the British sector, the soviet sector, the American sector, and the French sector. Plus two others, I forget what they were for.
Also in this area are the shack that houses the border guards, and the signs (you are now entering the American sector, you are now exiting the American sector...both in four languages) that are so famous.
There is one small section of the wall on display, everyone wants their photo taken with the wall. For whateva reason, I skipped that. Too many people around I think. If I'd been there in early morning with fewer people were around, I would've had my photo taken. There is another area in the city with more sections of the wall to see, I want to go back and see more, and spend more time absorbing the history.

I walked back up the street until I came to a major street called unter den linden. Again I saw an interesting looking roof, so I walked in that direction. Eventually I got to the building, it was the Berlin Cathedral. A very big cathedral. I wanted to go inside, but the entry fee was 7€, I had no desire to pay that much to see the inside of a church, no matter how nice it is. Part of me sees how many people pay that fee and does basic math, the number comes out to be pretty big; I end up wondering how all the money is spent.
On the way back in the other direction on unter den linden I walked across a platz, called lust platz...I kid you not...it's right next to the church!!!
A couple kilometers down the road I came to my other sight of the day...the Brandenburg gate...the Berlin Wall once went right by this gate, it wasn't possible to cross through the gate. The first Berlin marathon course after the fall of the wall specifically went through the gate because it represented more than just a marathon course. (For that and other reasons, I'd like to run the Berlin Marathon one day.)

This is where the city hosts it's new year celebrations. Not surprisingly, there were heaps of people wandering around, including workers setting up for the festivities the next evening. Because of all this, there was no way to get a full, good picture of the gate. Maybe next time!
I walked back to friedrichstraße station, and visited the supermarket in the station, picking up one of my favourite foods: a rather large glass jar of German yoghurt. YUM. That yoghurt ended up being my dinner in my hotel room, not long after. It didn't take long to get back to my hotel, where I checked in and stayed inside for the night.
I flew out of the easyjet terminal the next morning, I loved the German efficiency of the place 😃