John kept asking, "Can you believe I'm here?!" all over Ukraine. It was so surreal to be with him here, to show him our home. Just meeting Logan's Dad at the airport felt crazy...and it wasn't because we were an hour or so late picking him up. We skyped regularly, but it's different when you can be with someone face to face and collect new stories with them as travel buddies. I will be forever grateful for the experience.
Highlights:
Kiev
In the capital city, we spent some time getting on wrong (but cheap and air conditioned) trolley-busses and standing in awe of all the giant statues--especially the Motherland statue that we just couldn't look away from. We used thin candles to guide us through narrow underground passages to see dead Saints in the Lavre.
Chernigov
We went to see our lovely host family in Chernigov. I often thought of John during training when I would wander into Galina's beautiful garden. I'm so glad he got to meet the family, drink with them, eat with them, and laugh with them over a silly conversation about the different types of cherries.
Melitopol
This was the winding down part of the trip. We brought John around Melitopol, introduced him to some of our friends, and got a little out of control at Lena and Sasha's. It was worth it, though, as our pictures might suggest. We got to see the five songs Sasha can play (and sing!) on the guitar. John quilted them a baby blanket which they can start using in October (ухты!!!) Lena came by the apartment to give John а parting gift of a beautiful embroidered table runner with the traditional Ukrainian black, red, and white pattern.
Sevastopol
Sevastopol was beautiful. We visited Kahn's Palace in Bakhchisaray and walked up a mountain to Chufut Kale, the ancient ruins of a fortress where the Tartars sent the Jewish Karaites (I think in the 17th century). We also thoroughly explored, touched, climbed and witnessed the defacement of Ancient Greek Ruins in Khersones with our friend Jon. After that, we headed to Balaklava which has become one of my new favorite places. We went to the underground submarine base there, kept a secret to the world (even to Ukraine) during the Cold War. The pamphlet to the museum talked about how many bombs America was going to drop all over specific civilian territories in Ukraine and Russia. So, that was interesting! Also, we were the only ones in the museum, aside from the creepy quiet guards. There were dark rooms and areas that were not boarded off which we may or may not have ventured into. As we left the base, we saw the following quote on the wall, which was used to help motivate the workers to keep the place a secret:
Don't say all that you know, but always know what you say!
Saying Goodbye
John and Logan had lux tickets to go back to Kiev for a proper goodbye escort. I stayed behind because there were no tickets left. It was a little hectic saying goodbye; a train heading to Russia pulled up as we were about to cross the tracks to get to the right train. I gave a quick goodbye hug as John and Logan nervously hopped through the train to get to their track on the other side. The Russian train actually left a few minutes later and I saw Logan and John across the platform, waiting. They called over to me and I was about to cross when another train decided to move in, faster than me. I decided that it wasn't a good day to get run over by a train, so I said goodbye over the phone, just feet (meters, sorry) away. Another moment to add to the surrealism of a trip that came and went so fast.
Click on a picture to go into slide-show mode:
 |
| Golodomor Statue and Monument |
 |
| On the Marshrutka! |
 |
| The Arc of Friendship, Арка Дружбы народов |
 |
| Grifnik admiring giants (Grifnik is the nick name given to John by John himself) |
 |
| Shevchenko University in Kiev |
 |
| Shevchenko among flowers and darkness |
 |
| Lavre |
 |
| The entrance to the mega monument complex, leading up to the leading lady (you'll see). |
 |
| With Galina in her impressive cellar |
 |
| это Мелитополь, детка! |
 |
| Two more bottles are under the table--empty |
 |
These thumbs turned upside down in a matter of minutes.
We stood up and it was the beginning of the end for us. |
 |
| Jewish Ruins |
 |
| View from the Jewish Ruins. |
 |
| Nice hat, nice lady |
 |
| Some joke about "sea men" and what not |
 |
| Greek Ruins |
 |
| On ancient dirt |
 |
| Jon on a ruin |
 |
| Logan on a ruin. |
 |
| Jon probably contemplating ways to become a secret sailor |
 |
| Logan at the train station |
 |
| Bye, John! |
