ukraine: bila tserkva

Early in the week, my friend marina sent a message asking if I had any interest in going to a town called bila Tserkva...I'd never been there, so I thought it sounded like fun...we set up when and where to meet, which was easy...
Bila Tserkva is just over an hour from kyiv...we took a marshrutka to get there, which wasn't super comfortable, but it was direct, and easy...it dropped us off in the 'city centre' which didn't feel at all like a city centre...there was no platz in that area, it was just a spot on the street...we did see a couple places from which to catch local transport...

Marina gave me a quick lesson on the town, of which I remember two major facts...one, there are approximately 300,000 people in the city, and two, it is the largest city in the kyiv region (except for kyiv, of course)...I'm pretty sure she told me who founded the city, and when, as well, but I only remembered those facts after looking them up upon returning home...
We walked toward the closest church, which seemed to be hosting a wedding as we got close...marina translated the sign on the door, which made me laugh...turn off your mobile, women should cover their hair, and no lipstick should be worn...(the first time I've ever seen that instruction on a sign!!)

We looked around, then walked down the street toward another church...we thought this was the 'white church' from which the modern town name came...it is now a museum with a 5 griven entry fee...according to all the signs, organ concerts take place here regularly...after walking around, marina asked the lady if historical information was posted anywhere...the lady gestured in the direction of the far wall, on which we could see old photos and a long description in Ukrainian...there used to be a fortress right nearby, but it isn't there anymore, at least not as a fortress...

Marina did some translating for me, telling me when the church was built (which is when I learned this wasn't the white church we'd originally thought)...fun to learn a little :)
We walked across a small bridge going over the street, straight over to another white church...in front of the church was a statue of prince yaroslav, the guy who founded the town...this church was pretty small, and not open...nevertheless, we were pretty sure this was the real white church...i wish it had been open (though i didn't have a head scarf and probably wouldn't have been able to go inside)...

We continued walking, and turned up the Main street of town...after not too long, we spotted a place to have lunch...nothing fancy, just a normal buffet type place, but we were both hungry...
After eating we continued walking...our next stop was into a market...I like walking through local markets...we walked through the area with fresh produce, eggs, and one stall with spices...
Back out on the main street marina made the observation that there were a lot of stores and offices dedicated to kids...apparently kids have a good life in bila Tserkva...

Eventually we made it to the end of the street...the end of the street was at the entrance gates of a GIANT park...named Alexandria, after the wife of the guy who built the park...talk about a romantic gesture! (And not cheap)...
The entry fee was only 10 griven, which is less than a dollar...my guidebook had a map, but it ended up being rather confusing, so we just wandered...statues at various points, many seemed totally out of place...do I really want to see a statue of a nude guy in the middle of a park? i think i read somewhere there are 16 statues throughout the park?

We made sure to find several points of interest: the echo pavilion, Chinese bridge, the ruins, the column of sorrow, and the rotunda...there was very little 'proper' landscaping in the park, I loved it...instead, there were lots of trees, open spaces, trails wide and narrow...we ran into one couple taking wedding photos...(the bottom of her dress was not clean)...
Eventually we decided to leave the park...after exiting we found the closest bus stop, and hopped into #1, which took us back to the 'city centre'...

from there we found the bus station, and joined the queue of people going to kyiv...there were quite a few people, but marshrutka a came very few minutes, so everything went quickly...we were dropped in a different place in kyiv from where we started our day, but that didn't matter much...
I'd love to I back to the park in bila Tserkva at a different time of year, just to see the differences :) ...with so many trees, the park is probably a rainbow of colour in fall...

ukraine: skydiving!!!

Friday around noon I got a text message from a friend, asking if I was keen to go skydiving the next day. She and I had talked about jumping, as her husband had signed her up as a birthday gift. She knew I was interested, (a previous conversation had covered each of our 'bucket' lists) and since I had nothing else scheduled for the next day, I thought 'hey, why not?'
The next morning I met her at their apartment, and we all hopped in a taxi to the airfield. It was out the west side of kyiv, in a small area called chaika. We got there faster than any of us expected, traffic wasn't bad at all for the middle of saturday. I was happy the taxi ride didn't make me carsick, as that happens often.

The man with whom everything had been arranged met us just outside the building in which the organization ran itself...after introducing himself, he showed us  to the small room where we found the overalls (I don't know the proper name: the outfit you put on over your normal clothes...kinda like a flight suit)...I ended up with a pepto pink outfit...fashion is important, right? i wonder how old my suit was, and how many people had worn it? my instructor made it sound as if i was one of the bigger people who needed a suit...hmmm...

After getting dressed, vanya helped us into the harnesses needed for skydiving...lots of clipping and tightening...
Next up was the photo board, on which we could see photos of two people dressed the same way as us...vanya used the photos to tell us how to hold our bodies at different times of our jump...
After instruction, we had to wait about 30 minutes until it was time for our plane load of people to go...Shubra and I were the only first timers on the plane, everyone else seemed comfortable with what was happening and the rather uncomfortable seating...

The plane was not modern...at all...it made me think of what I think 1970s planes would look like...I could smell petrol, yuck...we took off with the back door open! It was closed birth after takeoff...
Soon enough, our instructors had us stand up, and they tightened all the straps, and attached our harnesses to their harnesses...(the first time you go skydiving you have to go in tandem, attached to your instructor)...after that, it wasn't long before everyone else was up, making final preparations...Shubra jumped before I did, I was last out of the plane...

The first few moments out of the plane were awful...not because I was scared (it surprised me that I had no fear, which was probably because u wasn't the one actually jumping out of a perfectly good plane) but because motion sickness hit me really hard...ugh...it never occurred to me before this that I would feel it so much...as soon as we reached maximum speed, everything turned into awesomeness...free falling is amazing, you don't feel like you're falling at all...if I could do just that part again, I'd be there in a heartbeat...

My instructor let me know when we had dropped to 5000ft, he pulled the cord that opened the parachute...a really fast jerk, and I felt as if we'd completely stopped going down...as soon as we got the straps on my legs into a slightly more comfortable position, I got to relax again...vanya made a few turns, then let me try...fun :) ...(I found out later that Shubra didn't get to 'drive')...I quickly realized that sharp turns brought on motion sickness so I didn't do any of them, and vanya didn't either...(because of this we descended more slowly than everyone else)...

Our landing was perfect...I picked up my legs, and vanya brought us down smoothly...it took me a minute to stand up properly, my legs felt a bit jello-y...(another surprise)
After detaching, we chatted a bit, then went inside...after waiting about 30 minutes, Shubra and I each received DVDs with photos and a video of our jumps...AWESOME!
The taxi took us back to kyiv, and that was that...

ukraine: a 5th trip to lviv and around

this was by far my warmest trip to lviv...it was another trip decided almost at the last minute...
the original plan was for a girls weekend with swati, shubra and i...unfortunately, swati wasn't able to make it, as an emergency took her out of ukraine at the time...
tickets were bought for the express train from kyiv to lviv, the ride was only 5 hours long...if i remember correctly, the express trains were made in south korea...a smooth ride, arrival after dark...the hotel was way nicer than places i normally stay, and located very close to the train station...shubra had stayed in the hotel before, i'm glad she knew where we were going...

the next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (included in the room price) before walking to the platz in the middle of the city...shubra had signed us up for a day tour to three castles around the city...it took us a while to figure out which company was taking us on this tour...the hotel had helped with signing us up, but only told us we could find the company in the square, and to look for a yellow bus...
thankfully when we called the hotel to get a little more detail, they called the company which told us the exact address we needed to know, thank goodness...there were quite a few tour companies, and no yellow buses...we were a few minutes late, fortunately the bus didn't leave without us...

the first drive was about 90 minutes, at least 30 minutes of it filled by a spiel from the tour guide...the information was all given in ukrainian, so shubra and i didn't really know what was being said...at some point i dozed off, as did almost everyone else on the bus...
our first castle was called olesko...on top of a hill, overlooking the entire area around...the bus took us up the road nearly to the castle, we didn't have to walk far...
the group had to wait a few minutes for the tour guide to take us inside, i have no idea why...maybe there was another tour group already inside...

while we were waiting everyone wandered a bit, shubra sat down on some stone steps and nearly everyone looked at her like she was crazy...(ukrainians DO NOT sit down outside...at least, not in direct contact with steps or the ground)...
as we entered, our tour guide started talking, and didn't stop until we exited the castle...she had a bit of information about nearly everything on display in the museum...every item...every piece of furniture, painting, etc...as much as i wish i could understand heaps more russian/ukrainian, this lady had a lot of information, i probably would've found it overwhelming...some of the rooms had furniture, some had paintings, and at least one room had religious icons...

after the tour was finished, our guide told us we had some free time before the bus would leave, shubra and i decided to explore the gardens on the hill below the castle...they are landscaped, and quite pretty...
After Olesko castle, everyone got back in the bus and we drive a little while...not nearly as long as the first drive, thank goodness...
Again the tour guide talked on the microphone for a while, again Shubra and I tuned it out since we didn't understand...in my years of traveling there is probably an astounding amount of information i've missed because i don't speak a language...

As the bus pulled up to our next stop, we could see the grand entrance of a church...it was an interesting contrast to the regular looking houses next door...we said we would go in he church before getting back on the bus...
Our next stop was called pidhirtsi...it turned out to be closed, visitors are only able to walk around the grounds, not go inside...
After giving the spiel to everyone, the guide have us a quick version in English, which was awesome of her...what I remember is that the last use of this castle was as a tuberculosis sanatorium...there are also stories of ghosts prowling the grounds, I don't know the history of those stories...

The castle is falling apart, it's tragic...I would love to wander around inside, just to see the beauty of an abandoned building...
We saw two different couples having wedding photos taken at this castle, I was not a fan of the bridesmaid dresses of each couple...
We were among the last of our group to head back to the bus, so my visit into the church was very quick...which was okay, as there wasn't much to see...the interior definitely did not match up to the awesome exterior...another couple was having wedding photos taken here, i had to stay out of the way of the photographer...

Our last place to visit was a castle called Zolochiv...it is actually two buildings, around a landscaped courtyard, with a fountain in the middle...the whole area, including the buildings, are surrounded by earthen ramparts...there are old canons at each corner, I have no idea if they still work...
Again the tour guide guide gave a spiel outside then led the group on a tour through the interior...after the tour of the first castle when the guide knew something about everything displayed, Shubra and I knew better than to stay with the group...

we walked through on our own, enjoying the variety of decor...one area was covered in horns from game hunting...not my style...one room was a throne room of sorts...too bad it was blocked off, otherwise I would've had my photo taken on the chair :)
We left the building before the group, and climbed up one of the corner ramparts...nice views over the town, though not terribly picturesque...i could see the tops of a couple churches, i really wish i'd had time to wander through the rest of the town...

As we came back down, the group came out and the tour guide told more information about two rocks we could see in the yard...one is covered in writing, though no one knows what it says...it was found nearby, and the language is a total mystery...the other rock has a hole in the middle...legend says you put your finger in, twisting to one side to wish for romance and twisting to the other side for money...I wished for both, of course :)
After this last castle we grabbed a snack, then got back on the bus for the drive back to Lviv...I would seriously consider signing up or this tour again, just to have transport to three towns I wouldn't otherwise visit...I would wander around each town while the group goes through each castle, then hop back on the bus in time to get to the next town :)

we had dinner that evening at a random asian place just off the main square...nothing fancy, but we both thought it a good idea to have some carbs...on the way back to our hotel we picked up water for the next day...
the next day we walked into the city center again, this time to the area in front of the opera building...we'd both signed up for a 4K color run, it was organized as a fundraiser and awareness raiser for the problem of human trafficking...this was the first year it was organized, we could tell...

there was no entrance fee, which we thought a bit strange for a fundraiser run...also, everyone received a tshirt, conveniently white...there were a couple tables set up to check in all the runners, and hand out shirts; the tables were packed up about 10 minutes before the race was scheduled to start...as we waited around after checking in, we watched the other people who'd shown up to run...some of the people were dressed as if they'd never run previously...jeans and flats! hair not tied up! carrying backpacks!
someone used a megaphone to start the race, and everyone took off...some of those people dressed completely inappropriately started off really fast, we knew they wouldn't last...the course took us through a park, which is where the coloured powder was thrown at everyone in two locations...(i wish my shirt was wet, it would've held more colour)...the race ended in the platz in the middle of lviv...shubra and i are both pretty sure the course wasn't the full 4K, but we still had fun...

as soon as we could, we collected our stuff, then walked quickly back to the hotel, showered and cleaned up...since we were checking out late, the hotel charged us a late fee, argh...(both of us wish the race had started at 10am, not noon)...we left our bags at the front desk, then walked back to the city center (again.)...we had a couple hours to kill before heading to the train station to get back to kyiv...
on the way to the city center we took a few photos in a playground i hadn't seen in my other visits to lviv...everytime i come to this city i find something new :)
after lunch we entered my favourite cafe...this cafe is on the square, and has the best chocolate cake i've had in ukraine...YUM...it's probably chocolate overload when i add in the hot chocolate, but oh well...on the way out we looked at some of the many souvenirs you can buy in kyiv, but for the first time in i don't know how long, i didn't buy anything!! (except postcards of course)
the train got us back to kyiv at 2300...nice and fast :)