kyiv: the fortress after a blizzard

friday it started snowing...and SNOWING...and snowing some more...it was windy the whole day, and i could hear the wind through my windows as i settled into my flat for the night...

i woke up saturday to continued snow and WIND...the snow was blowing sideways the entire day...
sunday i woke up to blue skies...no more snow, and just a little wind...i could see the snow was piled up from the 36 hours of snow, i wanted to get out and explore...

i made plans to meet up with camille and gregoire, we decided to go to the fortress and play in the snow...fortunately, the subway was working...i didn't know it at the time, but many of the buses/trolleys/marshrutkas weren't going due to the crazy snow accumulation...

the fortress was great fun...a lot of what camille and i had seen in the fall was completely covered by snow...i couldn't see walls or stairs, and ended up climbing up a wall of snow instead...ooops...SO MUCH FUN...

the wind picked up at various times, but for the most part our biggest problem was in figuring out how to get from one place to another in the fortress...because the snow had fallen in huge drifts, at some places it was past my waist...SO MUCH FUN...

i need to get proper snow/ski pants...my boots didn't let water/snow in, but since i didn't have a proper seal over my socks/ankles, plenty of snow got in that way, and later in the day i discovered my feet were quite cold and wet...almost purple...ooops...
SO MUCH FUN...

ukraine: ternopil, kremenets, pochayiv

camille enjoyed traveling to lviv enough that she was willing to travel with me again over a holiday weekend the next month...we had a three day weekend, and stupidly decided to wait until the last minute to buy train tickets...note to self, this is not a good idea, as there are few tickets left for any destination...i ended up picking some random city listed in the guidebook just because we wanted to go somewhere, and not be stuck in kyiv for a long, holiday weekend...
our night train took us to ternopil...as soon as we exited the train station in the morning, we took a taxi to the bus station...maybe we could've walked, but we had no map, and it was just barely daylight, and much colder than we'd expected...

we got to the bus station, and the ladies selling tickets were telling everyone they couldn't sell any tickets for the time being, as no buses were going anywhere due to the bad weather...since we didn't understand the reason, all we knew was that we were at a bus station in a small town, unable to go anywhere, which just annoyed us...
when we did figure out it was because of bad weather both of us wondered about that...this is ukraine, which gets more than its fair share of cold, crappy winter weather...eventually the storm hit us, and we understood...bits of hail, sleet, and general yuckiness...

eventually buses did start to leave, and we were able to get seats to a town called kremenets...its a small town in western ukraine...according to lonely planet, this town was never captured by the mongols when they came through this area in 1240-1241...
there is a fortress on top of a hill just outside town, and my original goal was for camille and i to hike up to the fortress...there isn't much left to the fortress, it's more a few ruins, a ring of walls, and a gate tower...howeva, as we got off the bus, we realized the hike was not going to happen...the wind was blowing, the snow was falling, and neither one of us was mentally prepared to deal with the messy weather while hiking...plus, we didn't know where to find the trail head...

at that point, our goal changed to finding food...we had been on the train all night, then on a bus, so we were hungry...we walked through more than half of kremenets before finding a place for food...it's a small town, there are not a lot of restaurants...my guess is that they don't get a lot of tourists, especially not foreigners...the place we ate was a bar of sorts...
we took a look at the jesuit collegium, which was built by the poles when they took control of kremenets (1731-1743)...we didn't go inside, but the outside of the buildings are pretty...plus they are slightly up a hill, so we could see over the town a bit...not stunning, but definitely nice...what breaks up the aesthetic beauty of the collegium is the war monument in front, built by the soviets to memorialize their triumph in WWII...the memorial looks decent, but couldn't they have put it in a different place?

famous violinist isaac stern was born in kremenets in 1920...there were jewish communities here for centuries, until the nazis massacred 15000 people they'd hearded into a ghetto in 1942...(these communities, like so many others around ukraine, have essentially disappeared now)...
after walking through a park, looking in a couple churches, and eating, we walked back to the bus "station" (and by station i mean parking lot) and boarded a marshrutka bound for pochayiv...
pochayiv is another small town, mentioned in the guidebook for only just one reason...pochayiv monastery is "a beacon of ukrainian orthodoxy - moscow patriarchate - on the edge of a largely ukrainian catholic region" according to lonely planet...you can see the monastery as soon as you get off the bus...

the monastery is the second largest orthodox complex in the country, after the lavra in kyiv, and was founded by monks fleeing the mongols in 1240...as it is so big, there are a lot of visitors, but they are almost all pilgrims, not tourists...somehow, you can sense the difference in atmosphere from what i've felt in kyiv...
to get into the monastery complex, visitors (women) who aren't already wearing a skirt and headscarf must go in a small room and borrow (with a deposit) these articles of clothing...at first we didn't know the money was just a deposit, we thought it was a rental fee, and were disappointed by the price...

wandering around the monastery was awesome...except for when an old lady in one of the churches started yelling at us, and we weren't able to figure out why...at first we thought she was indicating something about us not being allowed to take photos, except that we werent taking photos!! (there were very clear signs upon church entry that said no photos)...then she started pulling at our pants, maybe she was saying we shouldn't be wearing those? except that we had on the borrowed skirts over our pants, and we certainly weren't the only people with this particular fashion statement...maybe she was just crazy? camille and i never did figure this out...

after exploring the monastery and wandering the town (the town walk took about 10 minutes) we found a place to catch a bus back to ternopil...this ride was a true adventure on roads not in particularly good shape...winter weather in ukraine must make it VERY DIFFICULT for road engineers to keep anything in good shape...lots of potholes and bumps...
we got to the hotel easily enough in ternopil, they had our reservation...one of the reasons i'd chosen this hotel was their listing of having a sauna...it turned out to be part of a complex called aqua world...or something along those lines...after me arguing a bit, we were able to pay for just the turkish hamam (we weren't going to spend any time in the pool, and had no desire to pay for that)...an hour of steam room time alternating with dips in the cold pool and the dry sauna, and we both felt amazing...i'd go back to ternopil just to go to that sauna:)
our hotel had room service, we both ordered pizzas for dinner...nothing outstanding, but we didn't care...

the next morning we had breakfast in our room, packed up and checked out...we didn't have much of a map, so wandering around was a challenge...we found a big street market that covered both sides of a road...normal stuff available: fruits and veggies, tires, mops, bread, etc...
we found a park along a river, that was lovely and peaceful...there was snow on the ground, and it wasn't completely dry so we had to watch where we went...
in town i was taking a picture of a statue with flowers laid at the bottom when a congregation came to the statue and sang hymns...i was not able to figure out what was happening...but when i thought about it, it was a holiday weekend, so that probably meant something...
we found a park along a lake...there was an island in the middle of the lake, with a very picturesque bridge leading to an area looking out to the island...the lake was frozen at the time, which made everything that much more picturesque...awesome...i was not very patient in waiting for people to get out of my photos...(usually i can wait for a long time, but i was very impatient that day)
the train station ended up being quite close, we timed our arrival so we didn't have to wait long for our train...the train ride back to kyiv was nice, mostly during daylight:)

praha

After living and working in the states for a long time, my mom recently moved back to czech republic, her home country...since i'm in ukraine, on the same continent, it seemed like a good idea to go visit her:)
this was my first time flying out of terminal D in kyiv's borispil airport...this terminal was built quite recently, as an update to infrastructure to help accomodate visitors when ukraine and poland cohosted the euro 2012 tournament...the building itself is quite modern, but getting through emigration/passport control was slow, and there is almost no food available after you go through security...are any plans in the works to change that?

i flew friday, late afternoon, landing after dark in praha, mom met me at the airport...she is retired, so she gets to use all public transport in the city for free...how awesome is that? she'd already bought me a ticket to use for the evening, so we hopped right on a bus, which took us to a subway line...her flat isn't far from a subway stop, it's a great location...
as i love to do, we stopped at a grocery store on the way to her flat...i found the yogurt section, mom said the yogurt she'd grown up eating was still sold, i figured i should try it...and i'm sooooo glad i did...AWESOME...BEST YOGURT EVER...really thick...probably loaded with calories, but i loved it...it's probably a good thing i've never seen this particular yogurt in another country, as i would be eating it constantly...
we stayed up fairly late that night, just talking...getting caught up with each other, what has happened with each of us since we last saw each other in september at my sister's wedding...she told me ideas of how i could spend my time during this visit, and she told me a bit about the people she hangs out with on a regular basis...

i woke up before mom the next morning, which did not surprise me at all...she's retired, she doesn't have a reason to get up early every morning...plus, my body thought it was an hour later, since kyiv is one time zone to the east of prague...
another jar (did i mention that this fabulous yogurt comes in a glass jar, i love it!!) of yogurt for breakfast, and my version of milk tea...after i dumped out the tea leaves mom wondered what they were, she hadn't seen them sitting in a sink like that before...(yes, i know, i should've dumped them straight into the trash, and i did do so after i finished drinking my tea)

after a while we left the flat, and bought me a 24 hour ticket for the metro/tram/bus...since mom is retired, she gets a card that entitles her to free public transport all over the city...how awesome is that??? after the metro we hopped on a tram, which took us into the center of the historical area of the city, the area most tourists visit...immediately upon alighting (how's that for a fancy word??) she pointed out a coffee shop, and mentioned that her dad used to go there every day for a coffee...sadly, this particular shop is now a starbucks...if i'd been able to take a photo that would've meant something, i would've done so...but it doesn't look the same or have the same atmosphere as it did when deda was alive...

at that point, mom showed me where i would want to go as a tourist...we both recognized that since she lives in the city, and grew up there, she didn't need to visit tourist sights, especially those that haven't changed in the past 100 years...i started by walking into a big baroque church...i loved the decoration, even if i found it all to feel a bit 'busy'...one of the aspects of this church that i enjoyed most was the chance to go up stairs, to the gallery...looking down into a big church is such a different perspective...i was disappointed to see a lot of names had been scratched into the wooden railings...why do people do that?

i followed a few tourists (early march is not heavy tourist season, but i don't think the city is ever empty of tourists) up the hill toward the castle area...of course i took a photo with the guards...i wonder what goes through their heads all day as gbillions of people pose next to them all day...
i walked all the way through st vitus' cathedral, which is stunning...i was frozen by the time i came out, as a stone church is never particularly warm...the stained glass all through the church is beautiful, and i love the color that these windows provide to the rest of the church...there are quite a few smaller chapels arranged around the main altar, each is very different...the outside of this church is beautiful too...
i made my way down the hill (on a different street from how i'd walked up) while checking postcard prices in every shop i passed along the way...
i walked along the river for a while, it was absolutely lovely...then i walked across the charles bridge...arguably one of the most famous bridges in europe...there are statues at regular points along the bridge, and vendors set up every couple of feet...it's a great place for people watching, if a bit crowded...

i continued following people into another area of the city, eventually stopping when i saw the crowd gathered around the famous clock tower...as a new hour comes close, the crowd gets to be quite large; the 'show' put on by the clock each hour is neat to see...it's a beautiful clock, a very old clock...it's been working for hundreds of years...
that clock is right next to a large square, another great place for people watching...i stayed there for a while, then tried to make my way to another square (wenceslas square) to get home...i took a wrong street at some point, thankfully i figured out that mistake sooner rather than later :)...from wenceslas square i hopped on the metro and went home to mom...

she made me a traditional czech food for dinner, a salad made with celery root...yum:)
i didn't sleep all the way through the night, argh...oh well...
mom had made lunch plans for us the next day...we got out the door a bit earlier, so mom was able to show me a bit more of the city...we walked through palladium mall, which is a fully modern mall, filled with all the brand names westerners know and love...for mom, it's still crazy to see a mall like this, as it never would've existed while she grew up in the city...
we walked under the powder tower into the last square i'd visited the day before, stopping along the way so i could buy postcards...we also looked into two churches...in some ways it's amazing so many old churches still exist here, since the communist regime that ruled for so long did not permit religious expression and gatherings...in many countries who used to be ruled by the communists, churches and religious buildings were completely destroyed...

we met mom's childhood friend for lunch...they grew up in the same building, and went to the same schools...we ate at a restaurant in the municipal building, the menu is traditional czech food...the decoration is art deco, and there is art on many of the walls throughout the buildings...
after lunch, the three of us took the metro and tram to the neighborhood in which the two of them grew up...for both of them it's interesting to return to this area of the city...neither one of them lives there now...the building in which they grew up still stands, they pointed it out to me...howeva, the inside of the building has been completely renovated, the apartments in which they each spent years no longer exist...or rather, they do, but smaller flats have been combined to make larger flats, so it isn't the same...the building is about a block away from their first school...

there is a large park on a hill at the other end of the street, mom said she and her dad sometimes went for a walk there...
we rode the tram again to malostranska, this is the same route mom rode thousands of times when she was younger, heading to university, or for another reason to go into the city centre...'experiencing' history is awesome...
as we arrived i discovered the jewish quarter sights were already closed for the day, so i put those off for another time...we walked around for a while, talking about everything and nothing...i was thrilled to see a milk frother in the window of one store, so i went in and bought one...i'd been looking for a milk frother for ages, i haven't found one in ukraine...(strange purchase, i know)

that night we attended a ballet performance at the national theatre...the exterior of the theatre is amazing, even though it's under renovation at the moment...the inside is fantastic as well...the ballet was a modern performance, (an adaptation of an old serbian legend,) definitely not the style i normally prefer, but i still enjoyed the performance...the dancers were great, everything was really well done...
walking across the street from the theatre i was able to take a photo of the castle all lit up at night...beautiful...i'm sure that's one of the most commonly taken photos in the city:)

the next morning we headed to the rudolfium...another theatre/performance hall...the prague philharmonic orchestra has a full season of performances, i learned they also have a full season of rehearsal performances...each month (or maybe bi-weekly? i don't remember exactly) people are able to buy tickets for dress rehearsal performances...the choir and musicians were all in casual dress, but the music was still incredible...proper theatre etiquette was observed by everyone in the audience, which i loved...i sat separately from mom, who normally attends these performances with a group of friends from her university days...i hope i get to see another of these performances, it was awesome!!

after the performance, mom went with her friends to lunch, i decided to explore the jewish quarter of the city...there is an entrance fee, it struck me as rather steep...visitors are able to go into several synagogues, each of which is totally different...each synagogue is a small museum as well, different bits of history are presented...you can also walk through an old jewish cemetary...
my lunch was the traditional czech food called halushky...
i tried to walk back to the main river through the city, and eventually found it after getting a bit lost along the way...i went back to mom's flat...

mom lives across the street from a cemetary...we went for a walk through the cemetary, she translated some of the gravestones for me...we saw the tomb of the first mayor of prague, as well as that of the first czech consul to the US...some of the graves were really old, and haven't been cared for in quite some time...the cemetary is quite large, we only walked through a small area...
that was the last time i walked around outside in the city...the next morning mom and i hung out in her flat before she came with me to the aiport...prague airport has free wifi:)
the security line i went through moved VERY slowly, as they seemed to be looking at all cosmetics in particular...i changed planes in munich, which has a terminal almost exclusively for lufthansa...free tea, coffee, and newspapers available for lufthansa customers...how awesome is that???