Two Brennans in Ukraine: Grifnik and Son

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!

The Budapragna Triangle: A Day in Vienna

If you could only do one thing in Vienna, it should be to go to the Schonbrunn Palace. It took my breath away. It was the summer home of the Hapsburgs and Logan kept reminding us of this fact when looking at the massive gardens "summer home," gorgeous fountains "summer home," obelisks "summer home," and gold plated whatevers. Summer home. The guided audio tour was great, but I don't even have a word to describe how I felt when I looked out towards the Gloriette. I felt like a little kid running through the maze trying to find the center...and then I felt like an oldie when all the kids whizzed past me and made it to the center and back before I could remember if I had been down that way before or not.

We only had a day and a half in Vienna, but we made sure to eat and explore the Naschmarkt, drink some coffee, eat some schnitzel, listen to opera in the park and pretend that passersby were actually acting out dramatic scenes, and drool all over the Hapsburg's summer home. Here are some photos.

You can link to the other Budapragna Triangle cities, here: Budapest and Prague.

At Sigmund Freud Park

Front of the Hapsburg Museum

Looking towards Gloriette

Maze!

Logan the miser with his (heavy) bag of coins

At the Naschmarkt

Junk piles at the Naschmarkt

The Budapragna Triangle: Prague

We woke up disoriented from the overnight bus from Budapest. The whole ride felt like dreamy haze featuring pristine gas stations lit in green and immaculate food displays with plastic-looking croissants. The layout of Prague's street's didn't help. We were lost, trying to decipher which way was North. Not being able to see where the sun was because of the tall building made it impossible. It was 6:45am and I was secretly amused by our situation. I was happy just wandering and waiting for Prague to reveal more of itself to me--Show me all the beautiful things!!! But we had to find them for ourselves.

Walking through the center, I shamelessly craned my neck upwards towards the sky to get a better look at the architecture. At first glance, and from far away, it's beautiful and impressive, but when you look closely, it's a little creepy. Especially the decaying blackened arm hanging inside the Saint Johns Church. Apparently, a man tried to steal from the church and they chopped off his arm and left it as an example for others. I stole some photos there. My arms are still in tact.

We took a day trip to Plzen, the birthplace of Pilsner Beer, and went on a pretty cool brewery tour which let us explore the underground beer tunnels. Due to lack of funds, we made our own two-bar bar crawl in Zizkov, a city outside of the center. Our first official stop, where we got our first beer (and more), was called Kenny's Island. You should check this place out if you like surprises. Next (and last) stop was at Budvar, where an old man who had eight beers, sang and played a stringed instrument while his friends did the same.

Some photos below, for you (and for me the next time I reminisce about this beautiful city and pink castle sunsets).

Links to Part 1 and 3 of The Budapragna Triangle: Budapest and Vienna

View from a tower.

The synagogue that was surprisingly not destroyed by Hitler. Our guide told us it
was because he wanted to make a museum of a lost race here. Very scary.

Disney castle in the distance! This is up on a hill near our hostel in Zizkov. It was a pretty cool lively area that reminded me a little bit of an eclectic Brooklyn neighborhood.

The underground beer tunnels. Brrrr.

Kegs.

View of the brewery.

Post brewery tour map

Logan admiring mountain men.

If you listen carefully, you can hear them playing...

Apostles spinning on the hour. Quote from the crowd:
"I wonder when this thing going to go off..."
"Um, on the hour like every other clock in the world, Martin!"

Vladislav Hall at the Royal Palace

Charles Bridge. Prague is beautiful, but I'm glad we stayed
 outside of the center. There are so many people!

Last point on the triangle: Vienna for a day

The Budapragna Triangle: First stop, Budapest

Cynden and I made our great escape from summer camp on 3 July. It was a make a run for it and jump through the open window while the car is still moving kind of escape. No stopping, no looking back, just bring us to the border, driver, and step on it!  Well, I woke up wanting it to feel that way. In actuality, the taxi showed up 30 minutes late and we stood alone outside the camp gates wondering if the next car to pass in that early morning light would be ours.  After he finally arrived, I'm pretty sure he went to go get some food from the camp kitchen as we impatiently sat in his car, waiting to start our adventure into the Budapragna Triangle (pictured to the right).

We were driven up and down the bumpy dirt roads to the Ukrainian-Romanian border so we could catch a bus to Hungary and meet up with Logan, who had gone to Kiev a few days ealier for a NOFX show. We breezed through Ukrainian customs, crossed a river, and waited for the Romanian border guards to open their little windows and stamp our passports. A man came out and excitedly told us to "wait five moments," which I slowly started to realize meant an uncountable amount of time. Lucky for us, five moments turned out to be about 25 minutes. The man behind the window was really friendly and he even called a taxi for us so we could make it to our bus on time. 

Our bus left from Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania. We drove through small towns that stretched as far as a five-minute bus ride. Looking out the window from the front seat, I saw multiple people carrying bread, big breasted women of Grandmothering age, sickles in motion getting rid of weeds, and plenty of shirts with English words--"men at work," "Linkin Park," "Just have fun!" We transfered at Satu Mare, which I think is part of Transylvania or on the way to it, anyway.

We finally made it to Budapest around 5pm. Logan was supposed to meet us at the hostel, but he was late. We waited while drinking Cynden's Budapragna cocktail--Red Bull (yuck) and some random brand of vodka. Logan made it eventually, in case you were worrying, and thus our exploration of the triangle ensued. Here are some photos of Budapest and Pécs, which is a beautiful and peaceful city in Southern Hungary. I've included some notes.

We talked about this place during our whole trip because they gave us
 free prosecco and an awesome cheese platter. We felt like kings.

This is in the Mosque of Pasha Gazi Kassim, built in the sixteenth century
by the Ottoman Turks when they occupied the area...

...It was converted into a Christian church later on.  So, the Turks destroyed the 13th-century
Bartholomew Church, built their mosque, and then the Christians took it back. When I say took it back,
 I mean they painted this wholesome mural of them taking it back and killing the Turks.

The mosque, from the square.

Student artwork in church basement.

The Sziget Eye Ferris Wheel  in Erzsébet Square where, it seems, a lot of young college-age kids
 hang out, drink, skate,  and watch other people (tourists?) pay a lot of money to go on the Eye.

A study in lamps, at a Ruin Bar

Embroidery at the Palace

Short short fashion

The changing of the guard

Turkish Bath House where I got the weirdest pedicure of my life here (weird in a bad way). This was a pretty relaxing experience, though--sitting in the sun, trying out different temperature pools, and people watching.

Next stop: Prague.