ephesus (efes)

harbour road...from the harbour to the grand theatre

for the two people reading this, i hope you like history, because this is the first of several history lessons of turkey...as the crossroads of a number of civilizations, turkey has "been there, done that" when it comes to history...heaps of fighting, heaps of building...and a lot of it is still visible, right alongside modern turkey...
ephesus is only 3km down the road from selcuk...there is a walkway the entire way to ephesus, there is no danger of getting hit by traffic while walking...why would anyone take a taxi? i'm glad i was there during off season, i have a sneaking suspicion there would've been more pressure, and heaps more touts if i had visited during high season...i am also guessing i'd get really annoyed by all the people that must visit these ruins during high season...heat and bunches of people do not make me a happy camper...bring on off season traveling!

if you haven't figured out this is the grand theatre, then we need to talk

i arrived at the entrance gate by walking down the road vehicles use as an exit...not surprisingly, there are a bunch of souvenir stalls set up just outside the entrance/exit...in a brief check of postcard prices i quickly realized they're a whole lot more expensive in ephesus than in goreme...4x!!...
 according to early legends, ephesus was built where it was because the oracle at delphi told androclus this was the right place to build a city to protect his people (he was from ionia - i don't know where that is/was) from the constantly attacking dorians...apparently when he got to this area, it was already settled, but his people peacefully integrated with the "locals"...
ephesus became a busy port town...really really busy, and pretty wealthy...with heaps of money coming in, a nearby king got jealous, and mad, and attacked...the city was destroyed, and the citizens relocated just a bit inland...they ended up paying tribute to several ruling groups, all the while growing in importance...eventually ephesus became the capital of asia minor, with a population of over 250,000...st john allegedly lived there...the virgin mary lived there...st paul is even supposed to have stayed for 3 years...

the library

then nature intervened...the harbour silted up, and even though engineers tried to clear it, it silted up again...so the money coming in from the port started to dry up...and the influx of christians meant that the cult of diana wasn't so powerful so the tribute money to that cult dried up...basically, the income of the city dried up, and it faded in importance...by the 6th century AD, when emperor justinian was looking for a place to build a basilica for st john, he chose the top of a hill in selcuk instead...and that was it for ephesus...it's amazing how fast a city can go downhill when revenues aren't coming in...i guess that hasn't really changed in modern times...when highways are built away from towns, they shrink and die...i wonder how long ephesus held on?

the public bath surrounded by the public restrooms...ewww!!!

the first area i saw was the road that led from what had been the harbour to the grand theatre...it must've been a pretty grand road, you can still see some of the columns that lined the way...and you can get good photos because it's blocked off so if you get right up to the rope no one is in your way...i am such the geek when i want good photos...
from there i walked into the grand theatre...it's still really grand...i wonder if they ever use it for performances, because it looks as if a lot of people could fit in there...everyone in the audience would have a great view, as the seats go up vertically quite a bit...some of the upper levels are blocked up, but quite a bit of it is open, and the accoustics are great...if you stand in the middle of the stage and speak normally, pretty much everyone can hear you really well...they really knew engineering back then...i sat and watched a couple tour groups come through, entertaining myself with their antics when the guides told them about the perfect accoustics...

hadrian's gate

from there it gets a bit hazy...really...it started raining...ugh...when it comes to weather, there is only one type of weather i do not like...rain...i hate rain...it's sooooo not fun...and i only have a little travel umbrella (i've never owned a proper raincoat, though i've always told myself - especially in recent years - that i NEED to get one...it's one more thing to add to my shopping list for when i go back to the states...anyone out there have suggestions on brand names, or specifics on a rain jacket?) so the wind meant i still got wet...as did my shoes, pants, etc...ugh...UGH...but i kept going...i passed the library, which is probably the most recognizable building in the entire set of ruins...what it must have been was amazing...
i passed a few gates, numerous temples, the public bath (which was surrounded by the public toilets...ewww) and heaps more...the last thing i visited was mary's church...i wish i could remember the details, but i don't...it was pretty big though, of that i'm sure...walking the length of the whole thing really brought home how important religion was back then...even more so because back then it was the actual faith that was important...not the money of the church (well, that too) or the political power of the church (and that)...but it was the faith in something that motivated people back then...whether it be faith in a cult, faith in christianity, whateva...

mary's church

cappadocia

after a few days in istanbul, i decided it was time to see somewhere else in turkey...amanda showed me the way to the massive bus station in istanbul, from there it was easy to buy a ticket for an overnight bus...the destination on that ticket was nevsehir, which is a transport hub of cappadocia...cappadocia is the name of an area in middle turkey, it's just a tourist name...the actual name of the area is anatolia...from nevsehir there are connections to goreme, the tourist center of cappadocia...while i was waiting for one of those connections, one tour company applied massive pressure to get me to sign up for a tour, which was not appreciated...they didn't seem to understand when i said over and over again that i wouldn't be making any decisions about anything until i got to goreme...very annoying...

once i got to goreme (despite being a tourist center, there wasn't a single tout meeting the bus...it really is off season) i got to have fun again with figuring out which way to turn the map...why am i having so much trouble in this country? once i figured that out, i quickly chose a place to stay, and life was good...a nap, then a walk...i asked in several tour company offices what they had available, it seems every company in the town has the same tours available...they even colour code them the same...the prices were all the same as well...while in one of the offices i talked to some folks who had just spent a few days, and didn't do any of the tours...they just hiked around on their own, and enjoyed it quite a bit...instead of the two tours i was thinking about, i opted to sign up for one tour, and hike around on my own another day...
then i started walking, since i still had an afternoon to wander around...goreme is the tourist center of the area, it's a small town, there isn't much to see in town...during the roman and byzantine periods cappadocia became an area in which christians gathered...during times the christians were persecuted, they built underground churches and dwellings, enabling them to hide from the people chasing after them...these churches, cities, etc are one of the reasons people come to this area of turkey...the other reason is the amazing topography of the area...over the millenia there have been major seismic upheavals, and you can see the results almost anywhere you go...the rock in the area is really soft, so you can see what has happened over the years...locals call them fairy chimneys...some tourists see more of a phallic shape...most of the tours go to one or more valleys to see these chimneys...you are also taken to places with panoramic lookouts...beautiful...

on my way to the goreme open air museum, i met a family from michigan...(first joint on the middle finger)...as they live overseas now (riga, latvia) it was fun to share experiences, and the common theme of "go blue"...
goreme open air museum was originally an important monastic settlement in byzantine times...then it was a pilgrimmage sight...now you get to see an interesting cluster of houses, churches, chapels and such...all of them cut from the rock...some of the churches have amazing frescoes on the walls...some of them have much simpler painting...apparently this area has good weather for wine making, because a number of the houses had not only wine "cellars" but tublike spots for stomping the grapes...(some of the summer tours include wine tasting)...there was snow on the ground, and i slipped and slid many times, much to my own amusement, and that of others around me...i'll take this winter weather over summer weather any day though...walking around this museum during summer must be difficult, because there is very little shade cover...

after leaving the museum, i followed a footpath off the road, just to see where it would go...it took me by a few more cave dwellings (no longer lived in) and to the ridge overlooking one of the valleys i mentioned earlier...stunning...after climbing around and exploring a bit, i realized it was getting dark, and made my way back to town...dinner was kofte sis at a random cafe...
the next day my tour picked me up at 0930, it was a mostly sunny day, which made me very happy...mostly sunny, but very cold...the cup of tea i had while waiting in the hotel lobby didn't keep me warm for long...

the first stop on the tour was the goreme lookout...they took us up the road a bit, to a spot that overlooks the town, and a wide area around it...according to our guide, the name goreme actually means "no see"...basically it means that you don't see goreme until you're almost there...it's down in valley, you can't see it from far away...it was a lovely view, albeit with a biting wind...
our next stop was one of the many underground cities (i think there are over 100 in the area, not all of them have been excavated, nor are there plans to do so)...the city we visited was called derinkuyu, and at one point is thought to have housed 10,000 people...it was originally built to hide the persecuted people, but in later years people kept living there just because they could...according to our guide, people would still be living there if the government hadn't closed the cities and turned them into tourist sights starting in the 1960s...obviously the people didn't stay underground all the time, but a lot of life could easily be lived down there...derinkuyu was built on 7 levels, and only about 25% has been excavated...the architects and engineers of the place were smart and the whole city was well ventilated with ventilation shafts, and communication tunnels...we saw the stables (for smaller animals, not horses) and kitchens and family rooms and meeting halls and churches, etc...pretty impressive...even a school room...it was hard to imagine living down there without furniture, and even harder to imagine how everyone kept all the tunnels straight in their heads...without our guide i think everyone in our group would've gotten lost very quickly...some of the tunnels are for very short people, and not wide...in other words, if you have issues with claustrophobia, these underground cities probably aren't the place for you...

next we drove to lunch...it was not impressive...at all...
after lunch we kept going to the ihlara valley...it's a valley where the rock just opened up, and now there is a river flowing through the middle of high walls...carved into these walls are more homes, and churches...for this part of the tour we walked a couple kilometers through the valley, just enjoying the scenery...we also looked in one of the churches...this particular church had a couple frescoes i remember well...one of three cocks, in reference to the bible story about st peter, who denied jesus...apparently, this sort of painting isn't common...
after the valley we were driven to the (former) monastery at selime...it was also a fortress and caravanseri...there is a chapel, a cathedral, a kitchen, and other rooms all carved into the rock...AMAZING...from several "windows" you can look out over the area, it's gorgeous...as our guide mentioned, if this were in the states, you would never be able to climb up and see it...there are heaps of spots where you could easily fall and end up killing yourself...none of the rooms have anything other than natural lighting, i wonder what they used back in the day...i walked through a couple tunnels just to see what was at the other end, and only had my feet and hands to tell me what was ahead...sooooo dark...

after the monastery we stopped at one last lookout before driving back to goreme...beautiful, though we were all freezing, after having been comfortable in the van...that night i ended up having dinner with two of the guys from the tour group...terence, who works in television in south africa, and dong hee, a korean university student...we loved our four course meal!
my last day in goreme was the day i'd opted for self guided hiking in the area...and i'm sooo glad i did...i hiked all the way around one of the valleys...rose valley, or maybe it was red valley...STUNNING views...with the snow, of course i fell a few times, but that's part of the fun, right? not long after i started out, a dog joined me...i don't know why, or what her name really is, but i called her sweetie...she stayed with me the whole time...part of the trail went through holes carved by water in the rocks...i could see where the ceilings of some of these 'tunnels' had collapsed, i was a bit worried it would happen while i was going through...part of the trail was on a frozen creek...part of the trail went past cafes closed for the winter...the photos i took that day just don't do the area justice...AMAZING...

dinner was chicken sis...basically chicken kebabs, with rice, a pepper, a full basket of bread, and grilled tomatoes...dessert was chocolate pudding (another reason to love this country) and hot chocolate...i was a happy camper...
that night i hopped on another night bus...i love that turkey has a relatively well developed bus system...it's really convenient for folks like me who don't want to fly everywhere...

not constantinople

i took a taxi to the airport with cloe straight from school...her flight back to france left a lot earlier than mine, so i wasn't in any hurry, and could've taken the subway and a bus...but the convenience of a taxi is always desireable, especially when you share the cost with someone else...when i first looked at flights, mine wasn't listed...as it turned out, i departed from a different terminal than cloe, even though we were both flying internationally...
my flight to istanbul was easy, and smooth...though i was rather disappointed in my meal...when given the option while reserving flights, i always choose a different meal...why go with the normal food when you can choose something else...this time i chose raw vegetarian...i ended up with fruit...and a roll...hmmm...not at all satisfying...not really a meal...and the roll definitely didn't qualify as raw...i'm not expecting anything different on the way back to ukraine...
amanda met me at the airport, she's a mate from rugby in korea...we took a bus to the center of town, an area called taxim...then a taxi from there...as i learned later, we could've taken the subway and walked to her flat, but at that point, the taxi was very much desired...especially because it was windy and rainy...i wasn't thrilled when she said that had been the weather for several days...i hate rain...we had a late dinner that night, caught up with each of our lives, then crashed...i gave her the ham she'd requested...turkey is politically secular, but in reality the dictates of islam determine a lot of daily life...which means finding pork/ham is difficult...ukraine doesn't have that problem...

i slept like a rock, though i woke up at my normal time...amanda said her saturday habit was poached eggs and coffee...i joined in for poached eggs, but had tea instead...i've got to try making poached eggs by adding vinegar to the water, she said that keeps the eggs together...in the past when i've tried poached eggs it's always really messy...
after hanging out too long, we made our way to a grocery store...i know i've said it in previous posts, but i love grocery stores, in any country...based on the grocery store alone, i'm already in love with turkey...a huge section for spices, tons of yogurt...how could i not like a country that sells yogurt by the gallon??!?!

after the grocery store we headed downtown to meet up with one of amanda's coworkers and her husband...we met at a fancy shmancy hotel called pera palace...jill said one of the papers had written that liam neeson was staying there while filming...hmmm...anywho, we all met for high tea, and it was fabulous...every employee was super deferential, i can't remember ever being treated that way by staff anywhere...i guess that's what four stars gets you:)...this was high tea properly done...tea served in silver, heaps of desserts to choose from...(over and over again, of course:)...it was a great way to relax and do something a little different...after stuffing ourselves for three hours, amanda and i walked up and down the main street nearby (called istiklal)...it was crowded as, and i can see why amanda doesn't particularly like the area...there are plenty of shops, but as it turns out, the turkish government taxes imported goods like nobody's business...why bother looking when you don't have any intention of paying twice what you would in the states? it was a great time for people watching...it was windy, snowy and cold though, so not good for just standing around...we found a few bookstores, and i bought a guidebook for turkey...i am nothing without a guidebook...lol...when i leave the country i'll leave the guidebook with amanda, she'll be able to get some use from it, as she has misplaced her guidebook...

christmas morning we again had poached eggs...this time with ham...amanda tried to do a hollandaise sauce, but apparently it didn't work out...i didn't see it...and salad, and grapes...YUM...
that afternoon we went into town again, and this time made our way to a hamam...a turkish bath...sooooooo relaxing...more expensive than korea, but still great...being in there really made me miss the saunas (jim-jil-bangs) of korea...i loved the scrub and massage, and just wish they'd been a little harder...i'm not a wimpy foreigner!! when we left i was cozy and warm, and didn't want to leave at all...lol...
after the hamam we headed toward the grand bazaar...it's always mentioned as a must see sight in the city, and amanda needed a new wallet...unfortunately, by the time we got there, most of the stalls had closed up shop for the day...oh well, another time...dinner on the way back to a tram stop was a chicken doner roll...oh how i love the food of this country...
after dinner we made our way to dan and kathleen's flat, in the crowded area of town i mentioned earlier in this post...amanda used to work with these two, they were hosting a christmas party...we didn't stay long, but we did meet a few people...fun...amanda said she would recommend that school as a place to work, if anyone who reads this is so inclined...shockingly, they treat their employees well...who woulda thought that was possible in the world of ESL?

despite already having eaten dinner, we still ate cherry cobbler when we got home...YUM...then went to bed early, as amanda had to work the next day...
fortunately, i didn't have to work...the joys of being on holiday:)...i got myself out the door of the flat before 1030, for which i was quite proud of myself...i'm quite often a very late starter when by myself...(though when i'm traveling with others i'm usually ready to go really early...why is that?)...i walked/took the subway/rode the tram back to the historical area of the city...and that's where my adventure started...
for the first time in a while, i wasn't able to orient myself easily...that is, even though i had two maps, i couldn't figure out which way i was facing...it didn't help that i could see two huge mosques, and couldn't figure out which was which...(the blue mosque and aya sofia)...i ended up at the blue mosque, though just as i was ready to go inside, it closed to tourists for prayertime...oh well...since i'd finally figured out where i was, i knew where i wanted to go next...

topkapi palace is another place always listed on must see lists for istanbul...the queue for tickets was crazy long, and this is off season...i can't begin to imagine what it's like during high season...yuck...fortunately, the queue moved quickly...inside the palace there were queues as well for the more interesting sections, though they moved quickly as well...i enjoyed the displays in the treasury and the privy (a private chamber for a high ranking person, as opposed to a privy during pioneer days in the US, which is an outhouse)...i also liked the harem area a lot...heaps and heaps of palace intrigue and gossip ruled the day back then!

i made my way to the grand bazaar, this time early enough that everything was still open...i've traveled a lot, so i wasn't super keen to see this particular market any more than i have been to see any other well known market...this is the world's largest market under one roof...something like 4000 vendors in all...just about anything you could want...i didn't want any of it, so i just wandered for a while...it's amazing how many guys want you to look in their store...do i look as though i want a carpet? or a hookah? i did exchange money though, they had good rates in the bazaar...not surprisinly, i got lost in there, and ended up exiting on the other side of the bazaar...whoops...fortunately it was easy enough to circle around outside and get back to the side i wanted...

after the bazaar i finally got to see the inside of the blue mosque...for all that it's famous, i wasn't supremely impressed...i liked it, but i wasn't overly impressed...i liked the mosques of malaysia better...i've always loved the light and airy feeling of mosques...
then it was time to head back to amanda's flat, and be there before she came home from work...we went to a doner place nearby for dinner, and i loved it...YUM...again, both of us crashed early...
the next day i was slower about getting going for the day, but i didn't have the problem with orientation, so my real start time on visiting sights was about the same...i started with the aya sofia, and absolutely loved it...now that's a place i can understand being on all the must see lists...it was a church, then a mosque...now it's a museum...you can see all the influences of both religions, it's amazing...turkey has a long and complicated religious history...the frescoes and mosaics are fabulous...watching all the people was fun too...

from there i walked to the spice bazaar...i meant to stop at the post office along the way, but i missed that turn...whoops...i did get there on the way home though...the spice bazaar sells more than just spices, not surprisingly...and i'm pretty sure the prices are higher than they should be...but it was fun to see what is available, should i decide to bring stuff back to ukraine...i miss spicy food there, so paprika might be in my future:)
from there i walked to yet another mosque...it starts with an S, and is located near a university...near the spice bazaar...i liked this mosque the best of what i've seen so far in turkey...i was there during prayertime, something i haven't experienced previously...one of the things i like about islam is that it is practiced several times each day...not just once a week...part of being muslim is daily prayer...you can go to the mosque for each prayer time, but most people only go on fridays at noon...this was a midweek, midafternoon prayertime, so there weren't too many people there...
that night amanda put me on a bus to the massive bus station, i was off to my next destination!

RIP DLJ

my uncle, dean johnson passed away this week...and the world is a lesser place without him

Dean L. Johnson

after a long fight, uncle dean passed away...it's a relief for his body, but for those of us still here, it is a heavy feeling
he was a role model for people everywhere

He followed his heart

gappers in town

after ben and bo spent a couple days in lviv, they took a day train back to kyiv...i picked them up at the train station, and first things first, of course we had to find something to eat...the boys hadn't really eaten anything all day, except for a few rolls from a stranger on the friend, and a couple beers...they were famished, and i can always eat:)
after food, the next item on the list was to find a hostel for ben...we found the one he'd picked out in the guidebook...but it was full...argh...howeva, the chick who owned the hostel said a few people were going out to a bar, and said that there was another hostel very close to the bar, and that they'd take ben along...a quick subway ride and walk home, i went to sleep fast...
the next day i went to work, ben and bo met up in the city center...they told me later that they had trouble figuring out where to go to follow the walking tour suggested by lonely planet...ben is HORRIBLE when it comes to reading maps...after all the traveling he's done (he makes me look as though i've never left my sofa) you'd think he'd be able to read a map...but he can't...he's constantly getting lost...granted, some of my best travel adventures have happened because i get lost, but ben does it all the time...even when he's already gotten somewhere once w/out getting lost...anywho...it was pretty chilly that day, the boys told me they kept finding places to duck inside and warm up for a few minutes...i don't blame them...
the boys picked me up at work, we went home and dropped off my stuff, then headed to the grocery store...one of my requests of bo for staying with me was that he cook a meal for us...(he's a chef, this isn't a crazy request)...ben had come up with the idea that bo cook thanksgiving for us...i liked the idea, and cloe and her mom were keen, as they'd never experienced an american thanksgiving...bo knew what he needed from the grocery store, ben and i were there mostly just because...and, we knew it would be a little while before the food was ready, so we also picked up snacks...(hanging out with these two means nearly nonstop eating...not good for my waistline!)...

thanksgiving dinner was great...chicken, homemade stuffing, salad, pumpkin/carrot something, and mashed potatoes...YUM...we all ate too much, everyone else drank wine...none of us ate nearly the amount i remember eating when i had thanksgiving as a kid, but it was still too much...some how or another, i was the only one not drinking, and i was the only one who woke up the next morning with a headache...NOT FAIR... oh well, such is life...
i only had to teach the next morning, i was able to meet up with the boys just after noon...we took the subway and walked a bit to the lavra, one of the two UNESCO sites in kyiv...on the way to the lavra, we stopped by two memorials...one is to the soldies who fought in WWII...the other is to victims of the famine in 1932-1933...this was a man made famine, and millions of people died...there was enough food, but stalin made some decisions, and people starved as a result...it was pretty sobering to see the memorial, even more sobering to think that it shouldn't have happened at all...

there are two areas in the lavra site, the upper and lower...in the upper, the bell tower and one of the churches currently have scaffolding around them...darnit...the bell tower was covered the last time i was there as well, i'm hoping to see it without scaffolding at some point while i live here...i think there is a joke out there that it's not really a UNESCO site unless some part of it is covered by scaffolding? we still had fun taking photos...ben and i had fun making a wedding congratulations video for one of his friends in taiwan...between the upper and lower sections, we each had a snack...bo and i had snickers, ben went with hot tea...we also visited the lower area, mainly to see the caves...the caves aren't really "caves" as one would normally think of them, but that's the name they've ended up with...it's actually a set of tunnels under a church, where monks went to meditate, live, and eventually die...there are sarcophagi in the tunnels, they're glass...the bodies are covered, but a few of them have hands sticking out...as the bodies are mummified, the hands are dark and dry, and a bit creepy...eeeeee...i didn't notice this when i visited these caves before, i don't know why...

on the way from the lavra back to the subway, we stopped to eat...i ate too much, ben and bo both outdid me, and still had room for waffles afterward...the subway took us back to the center of town, and we headed toward st sophia, the other UNESCO site in town...ben and bo had already seen the inside of a number of churches, and didn't feel the need to see another, which saved us the biggest part of the entry fee to the site...instead we walked around the outside of the church, and climbed up the bell tower...i'd done that before, but the view is completely different at night, of course...

then came dinner...as always, my eyes were bigger than my tummy, but i was impressed in my resistance to eating what i ordered...bo ate most of it instead...note to self: do not eat lunch and dinner less than two hours apart...from dinner we decided to do something not very intelligent: follow ben to a bar...remember what i said earlier about ben not being able to read a map? thank goodness none of us minded the extra walking...the bar is a student bar, and the prices are redic cheap...$1 vodka shots...$1.25 beer...our total bill had 4 beers, 2 vodka shots, and two sprites, and was less than $10 total...woo hoo!! ben and bo said goodbye as we left, and the next morning i put bo in a taxi to the airport...it's always sad to say a temporary goodbye to a gapper...we always assume there will be a 'next time,' which makes goodbye a whole lot better...:)

 ben moved in the next day...ever since he's been hanging out at the flat, occasionally getting out and seeing the city...mostly though he's been figuring out what comes next in his life...where he'll go, how he'll get there, and what he might see along the way to whereva he goes next...how long he'll be there, what he'll do there, etc...ben has also been working on his blog, i've written a couple posts for him:)...we've shown him the yumminess of ready made food from the closest grocery store, attempted to go bowling, etc...he and cloe have had fun with nightly glasses of wine, i've stuck with juice...(it isn't the same...even non alcoholic wine or beer isn't the same)...it's been nice to have a friend around, someone i've known for a long time...

odessa (одесса)

Since Bo (a friend from when I lived in garmisch, germany) had mentioned coming to Ukraine to visit, he’d also mentioned wanting to see a couple other towns in the country, other than Kyiv…then, not too long after Bo said he wanted to visit, another gapper friend, Ben, said he wanted to visit…yippee!!! It’s always fun when ex gappers get together around the world…

Bo arrived in Kyiv on a Thursday evening (thanks to a strike by Italian air traffic controllers his flight was four hours late) and crashed at my flat while I went to work Friday…Friday evening he and I went to the other airport in Kyiv and flew down to Odessa, a city down on the black sea…the city was really really important to the soviets during the days of the USSR, and the area is still very pro Russia…russian is definitely the language of choice there…these days Odessa is still a huge port, but is also known for crazy partying on the beach, particularly during the summer…

Bo and I flew in late Friday, and took a taxi straight to a hotel…normally I hate doing that, but I also hate arriving somewhere in the dark and cold…our hotel was once grand and elegant, now it’s just faded…really high ceilings in every room, which was great, and we had a great view…but the paint was peeling, and the walls/doors had about an inch of paint on them…if anyone ever wanted to fix up the hotel they’d have to gut it…I’m not sure it would be possible to update it, but I’m sure there are fixer upper people out there who would see it differently…we enjoyed the feeling of elegance, even if it was completely outdated…

It turned out ben arrived Friday night as well, by bus from Chisenau, Moldova…he arrived a few hours earlier than we did, but didn’t find a place to sleep until the same time we got to our hotel…not being able to read Ukrainian or Russian made it difficult to find anything…plus, ben had a few adventures with police demanding bribes…as we found out, there are laws prohibiting any sort of signage on the street for hostels in Odessa, and much of Kyiv…which means that trying to find a hostel in the dark is pretty much impossible, especially when nearly all the hostels listed are only seasonally open, but you don’t know that ahead of time…ben ended up finding a room at the train station that night, after hours of wandering around in the dark and cold…

The next morning, bo and I ate the breakfast included with our hotel, (not a great breakfast at all, but better than nothing) then went walking…we made it about 10 minutes, then ben called me…thank goodness for skype, that was the only  way of us contacting each other…we arranged to meet in front of an irish pub 30 minutes later…on the way to the pub, bo and I found the 12^th chair in the city park…the 12^th chair comes from a russian/Ukrainian story, which takes place all over the country…I don’t know if any of the other chairs from the story have been built in any other cities in the country…we took photos, which seems to be expected…according to lonely planet, in the summer you’ll see heaps of people taking photos around this chair…

We found ben, and he told us his story…at this point he was completely annoyed with traveling, and it’s inconveniences…not being able to read or understand the local language is frustrating, to say the least…(especially when it results in being asked for two bribes in 2 countries less than 5 hours apart)…we went searching for a hostel, which ended up being a lot of walking, getting slightly lost, 2 missed hostels and then finally finding a hostel…(which turned out to be for sale, and ben is considering buying it)…

After dropping off ben’s stuff, our next project was food…bo and I had eaten breakfast, but he’s a chef, and can always eat…we ended up at a place mentioned in the guidebook, the food was decent…and they had pastries…woo hoo!! Ben doesn’t eat sweets much, but that changed a bit after a couple days with bo and I, who pretty much mainline sugar…ben’s first experience with Ukrainian food, bo’s second…lunch included split pea soup (which wasn’t the green stuff I grew up eating) and borsch and vareniky (think polish pierogis – sp? – or Korean mandu)…and pastries to go, of course…

Then the walking around town started…after all the walking to find ben a hostel, we knew a couple streets really well…those turned out to be streets we walked again and again getting to the places that sounded interesting…we saw the outside of the opera house, (which is apparently a common backdrop for wedding photos) and city hall, and the statue of Catherine the great…we also saw the Potemkin steps, which were once the gateway to the city from the port…ben can tell you about the optical illusions built into the stairs…I didn’t think they were all that…how interesting can stairs be? The stairs are featured prominently in the movie “battleship Potemkin”…

It gets dark early now, night falls by 1630 or so…as the sun was going down, we started making our way to the train station, so ben and bo could get train tickets to lviv…on our way to the train station we got distracted by a march…at first we thought it was supporters of a football (soccer) team, but later on I figured it was actually a march in favour of the recently imprisoned former opposition leader, yulia tymoshenko (sp?)…lots of orange smoke everywhere…

A nap, then dinner, which ended up being at a milk bar/cafeteria…it’s a great, cheap way to taste lots of different traditional Ukrainian food…ben being the social butterfly that he is convinced us to go out to a bar for a beer…bo was keen, I didn’t care one way or the other…I ended up with some fruity drink…it was a whiskey bar, plenty smoky…

The next day ben was late meeting up…he said he got distracted boiling eggs, I think he slept in…he also says he was talking to the hostel owner about buying the hostel…but we all know ben is more likely to continue exploring the world rather than make such a large monetary and time commitment…since Odessa is known for it’s beach scene during the summer, we decided to go visit…

Finding the tram to the beach turned out to be pretty easy…and cheap…who doesn’t love an 18cent tram ride? From the spot where you get off the tram all the way to the beach are little stalls selling stuff, or bars, or carnival type games…a few of them were going, but at this time of year most everything is closed…but there were still plenty of people there…as many people as are there now, I can’t imagine how crazy crowded it is in summer…walking along the beach we saw heaps of bars/discoes/clubs…it must be nonstop drinking, sunning, and playing during the summer…we got cold and somewhat bored after a little while, and hopped the tram back into town…

At that point, it wasn’t much longer until the boys needed to get back to the hostel to pick up there stuff, and I had to make my way to the airport…on the way back to the hostel, we stopped at a café that served the most wonderful hot chocolate…very thick, it was almost the consistency of chocolate pudding…YUM…and the pastries were good tooJ…it was our second time in the café, we’d stopped there the evening before as well…

From there the trip ended pretty quickly…the boys got details of a hostel in lviv, the hostel owner called a taxi for me…I wished the boys good luck, and they started walking to the train station…my taxi took me to the airport, and I flew back to Kyiv…after two days of nonstop talking with great friends, it felt weird to be by myself again…

chernihiv (чернигив)

Our second trip outside Kyiv! Cloe and I had originally thought we’d be going to Chernihiv in mid October, but those plans changed, and we ended up doing the trip in early November. Travel plans are always changing, neither one of us really cared. We were just excited to see another place in Ukraine.  This trip was with our friend Violetta.  We used to work with Violetta, but the school didn’t treat her well at all, and still expected her to give everything, so she quit.  We miss having her at school.  Anywho, she found out the information we needed on transportation, cloe and I were in charge of figuring out what to see when we were in the city. 

Our day started with an early wakeup, too early we thought.  Who wants to wake up at 0600 on a Sunday morning? Not us.  But that’s when we had to wake up in order to leave the flat by 0700, in order to meet Violetta at the subway station at 0800.  We basically rode the subway across the entire city to get to Violetta.  She found the correct marshutka (which is basically a minibus) to get us to Chernihiv, and we climbed aboard.  There is no set schedule of departure times, the marshrutka leaves when it is full.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long.  Only about 30 minutes.  The ride was easy, only 2 hours, and quite smooth.

The marshrutka dropped us off in what appeared to be the center of the city.  Lonely planet doesn’t have a city map for it’s entry on Chernihiv, so I’d printed something from google maps.  The first thing we did was duck into a cafeteria so cloe could get some coffee.  While there we figured out where we were on the map, and cloe asked someone how to get to the place we wanted to start our walking tour.  It turned out not to be far away. 

It is called red square…before arriving, I’m not sure exactly what we expected, but I guess I thought there would be something more defined…something more majestic…instead, it was just a wide open huge traffic circle…I can see how it would be used as a gathering place for citizens of the town, especially when those sorts of gatherings happened regularly during soviet days…but it was boring…I’m not sure where the name came from, as we didn’t see any red…perhaps from the way the colour is associated with communism? I don’t know…cloe and I had fun running through the pigeons, and making them all take flight…one local lady told us something, though I’m not sure what…it seemed as though we weren’t supposed to be running around? Hmmm…

We kept walking, into the middle sidewalk of a park…I think violetta mentioned the walk of heroes, something like that? There were statues (busts) of various soviet/Ukrainian heroes along each side of where we were walking…needless to say, I didn’t know any of them…neither did cloe…in the middle of these was a memorial to Chernobyl, which had (and continues to have) a big impact on this country…after then end of this park, we crossed the street and were able to see our first church in the city…it was white, and orthodox…we peeked inside, a service was going on; so we didn’t stay long…plus, I didn’t have a scarf with which to cover my head, so I felt a bit uncomfortable…by now, I should know to bring a scarf everywhere I go…I ought to just keep a scarf in my purse, just in cases…that way I’d have it handy, in case I want to explore a church anywhere in this country…they don’t seem to be as particular about making women wear skirts…the local women all wear skirts, but it isn’t such a big deal if tourists are not doing so…I don’t know how anyone wears a skirt in this weather!

From there we could see several other churches, and since lonely planet hadn’t given us a map, we figured we would check out one of them, then try to figure out the rest of the walking tour lonely planet suggested…that first church wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before, but I still enjoy looking around…I think a service had just finished, as there were quite a few people coming out of the church…from there we opted to follow the street signs directing us toward a monastery and caves…both were mentioned in the guidebook, the caves in particular being a place we really wanted to see…

We got to the caves, these are somewhat like the caves I saw with cousin bryn in Kyiv…in that, they’re not really caves…merely tunnels hewn out of the rock under the church, and off those tunnels were little rooms in which monks meditated and were sometimes buried…since the weather conditions in chernihiv are different from Kyiv (it’s generally drier and warmer in Kyiv) so there were no mummies in chernihiv…the caves in chernihiv are different in that tourists/pilgrims are able to explore the entire area, not just 2 main hallways…

We came out of the caves/tunnels/whateva you want to call them, and headed to another church on a hill…I think it was part of the same complex, but I’m not entirely sure…this church had a bell tower, which you could climb for the whopping fee of 25cents…before climbing the tower, we went in the church, and got to watch most of a traditional Ukrainian wedding…the bride looked to be a few months along, I don’t think that’s very traditional…the bridesmaid was wearing a very short dress…for at least 10 minutes of the ceremony, the bridesmaid and groomsman held crowns over the heads of the bride and groom…that had to hurt after a few minutes! As we were leaving the church, we saw another wedding party waiting in the back…I wonder how many people get married there each weekend?

Climbing the bell tower was fun…and very very windy…we were able to see quite a ways, and take a few photos…on the way back down we noticed some of the priests (they looked young) ringing the bells…cloe wanted to take a photo, but we missed that opportunity…argh…

After asking a few people which direction we needed to go (and getting different answers from each of them) we hopped on a tram back to the center of town…I was keen to walk, violetta wanted to ride, and I don’t think cloe cared one way or the other…it wasn’t a long ride, and in searching for a particular restaurant for lunch we ended up walking quite a bit anywho…oh well…the restaurant seemed to be more about dessert, so we had that, and tea, then went out walking again…the dessert was a slice of apple tort, and a slice of pear torte…yum! The walking included more churches, another park, and 12 cannons…each cannon was different, I’m presuming they were used in different time periods?

After seeing all that, we’d seen everything there is to see in chernihiv…so we walked back to the center of town, looking for real food…and we found it…after a cheap, quick meal from a cafeteria, we found the spot to catch the bus back to Kyiv…it left around 1700, we arrived back around 1900, and cloe and I were home an hour later…a great day trip 

a break

a tourist visa to ukraine is available on entry (meaning you just get the normal stamp in your passport - for people of many nations, but not all) and good for 90 days...i knew i'd have a guest when my 90 days were up, and due to a special schedule for a week in school, the last weekend in october turned out to be perfect for me to make a visa run...so off i went to stuttgart, germany for a long weekend...
i flew to a small airport semi close to munich late wednesday night...i wasn't keen about the arrival time, nor was my host, but my other option was to wait until friday night, and that seemed silly...i love the german autobahn system...you get to drive fast, and signage is pretty good...obviously, i didn't get to see any scenery...we arrived at the home of my host, i got the tour, and went to bed...

my host is in the US air force, and is originally from michigan, so there were heaps of directions relating to the university of michigan, which i dearly loved...as always seems to happen, military members posted overseas often have great housing, and this was no exception...i felt like i was in a palace:)
the next morning, my host went to work, and i slept until past 10...that's the latest i've slept in ages, apparently i needed it...i caught up on email and generally lounged around...i skipped trying to figure out the tv, as i'm not technologically inclined...hee hee...sometime in the afternoon i walked into the center of town, and just enjoyed being out and about...the weather was 10 degrees warmer than what i left in kyiv, and the leaves in stuttgart were still in a lovely rainbow...i love red leaves, and there aren't so many of those in kyiv...my host lives on the side of a valley around the city, so walking into the city center meant going down heaps of steps...my only thought was that i'd have to go back up all those stairs:)...fortunately, i'm used to it since kyiv is built on hills...i had hot chocolate from starbucks, and moseyed through a couple parks...i really like stuttgart...dinner that night was at home, steak!! i fell asleep as we watched "hoosiers"...one of the best movies ever:)

the next day i spent in the same way...lolligagging around in the morning, not doing much of anything...in the afternoon i went out, then met up with my host and another american...this time, instead of spending the evening at home, we drove (meaning, my host drove) to burg frankenstein...traffic wasn't great, and there was more than one stau...that's one thing i don't miss about the german highway system...
at halloween time the castle is turned into a haunted house, open to the public for a whopping 20euro entry fee...there isn't much parking near the burg, so there is a good shuttle bus system set up...there were heaps of people at the castle, and we wandered all over...we watched one couple as they were 'tortured'...(meaning that they tied up the lady and tickled her a bit...the man was tied to a table, and they ended up putting ice down his pants)...humorous for everyone watching, and all in good fun...

the whole thing was done really well...good costumes, good music, etc...at one point we watched a short dance performance with vampires...i kept waiting for michael jackson's thriller to be used in the soundtrack, but they didn't use it...another michael jackson song though, (not that i can remember the name right now, argh)...the drive home was heaps faster, my host said the spedometer showed 200km/hr for a little while...
the next day was saturday, and ended up being one my favourite day of the trip...another slow wakeup, and a trip to two of the military bases in the area to run errands, including grocery shopping...to most people this probably doesn't sound like anything special, but this was the first time i'd been in an american grocery store in over a year and a half...soooooo many foods i'd forgotten existed...some foods i never knew existed...there were plenty of things i wanted to buy, but i stuck with two boxes of hohos, a pint of ben + jerry's chocolate fudge brownie (not surprisingly, the commissary didn't sell the latest ben + jerry's flavour) and a bottle of gatorade...i was a happy camper, to say the least...i don't usually miss american things, but i loved going through the grocery store...good times...

from there we went home, and my host showed me how slingbox works...well,  i got to see it, but i still don't really understand...all i got was that the tv in stuttgart was somehow connected (through internet i think?) to a tv in the states, and through that connection we were able to watch american tv...what that meant for us is that we could watch american college level football...I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL...i grew up watching it nearly every fall saturday afternoon, and it's something i really miss...we got to watch the michigan game, yahoo!! if i lived in stuttgart, i'd be parked on that sofa every saturday afternoon...hee hee...a dinner out with the friend who'd joined us at the haunted castle, then back home to watch the florida/georgia game...the friend is a georgia fan, but my host and i met through a florida fan...since it was an SEC game, i didn't really care who won, i was just happy to watch...though i did fall asleep at a couple points, i'm not used to staying up late...hee hee...

the next morning was me waking up, packing up, and making my way to the frankfurt airport...not long after i queued up to check in, they closed and cleared an entire area of check in...are you kidding me? there was no information being given out, so no one knew what was going on...a dog was brought in, and sniffed the area, and apparently everything was cleared, as we were let back in...i queued up again, closer to the front of the queue this time...since i didn't have a bag to check, and it was just me, checking in took no time at all...getting through passport control and security took longer, as it was slammed with all the folks who'd been waiting with me for the dog to finish sniffing...i was rather concerned about missing my flight, as were plenty of others...howeva my flight left late, so it ended up not being an issue...
arriving back in kyiv, in the cold, was not so fun...but the weekend was great!! i needed that break:)