Friday, June 27, 2008

Angels in Kharkov


I fell for Kharkov the moment I landed. When you see the airport building you will know why. I went there knowing only the city is about 50 km from the Russian border and it is more Russian than Ukrainian. I had no idea Kharkov is a cradle of soviet constructivism with the unique square build only in constructivist style. The sculpture of Lenin hovers over the square now called Liberty Square. Many buildings in Kharkov (as in Kiev) were built by German POWII. The day I arrived the city had a “birthday” and there was a huge party on the main square. There was energy and buzz in the city. City's many parks had their old linden trees in full bloom. The city was wrapped in a sweet linden smell. Before joining a concert at the city square I went to the Theatre - a truly ugly building from 70-ties. They had Carmen Suita/Pahita ballet and tickets for parterre seats were UAH 13 (about 2 EUR) and I could not resist not chicking it out. In the Theatre in the raw behind me were about 15 soldiers and next to me a 6 year old boy. All spellbound by a ballet. I have not spoke to soldieries but kid told me it’s his first ballet. That evening the orchestra was a bit naughty - I got impression they were in a hurry to watch Holland - Russia match so the ballet ended up quickly. I watched the match too with some young students. As the game progressed these kids took pity on me and tried to cheer me up with vodka shots. I am not sure if vodka is the reason I saw angles walking in the city http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/Kharkov

Friday, June 20, 2008

Ode-crepit Ode-ssa





I associate Odessa with Ostap Bender – an arch type conman from the novel “The Golden Calf”. Ostap is a Soviet guy obsessed by becoming rich. His adventures bring him to a city at the “Bleak Sea” where he says “ strange town where they took the monuments out of the cemetery”.

That’s how I found Odessa - as a cemetery of decrepit monuments.

But let’s start with getting there. After last weekend E40 road adventure I decided to fly. Metro does not reach the Kiev airport and locals either keep a knowledge of how to get there by bus a well kept secret or have more money than I do and always take a taxi. There is no “hotel to airport bus” or “railway station to airport bus”. So I ask an assistant to order a taxi - as locals do. We agree on time and place for taxi to pick me up and I get a taxi number - a 7 digit number displayed on a board placed atop of a taxi roof. On Saturday morning I leave on my house and wait for a cab. As I get out of my building I see a cab parked in front of it. I see numbers on the backside of the board, check them against numbers put on a paper by my assistant and these do not match. Few minutes later I call my assistant and tell her there is a taxi in front of my building but with different numbers. She calls a taxi company. Some minutes later a lady from a taxi company calls and says – there is a taxi waiting for you. I ask what kind of car. “An orange Chevrolet”. That’s true - I respond - but the numbers on the board are different from numbers I have on a confirmation and I read her the numbers. “Go and check numbers from the front” the lady instructs me. And indeed the numbers on the front are the same as numbers on the paper. Why would I ever think that a legit taxi should have the same set of numbers on the front and the back of the board?

Domestic Kiev airport reminds of E40. Only hay is missing. No electronic boards but cardboards placed on check in counters randomly. No official announcements. You ask and if you are lucky you get a right answer. Otherwise keep asking. I flew YAK 40 -another Soviet relict. There is a joke in Ukraine which goes like: “Why is it dangerous to go by train in Ukraine? Because planes fall on trains.”. As average train speed in Ukraine is 50 km per hour I guess our plane could not locate any train en route. But landing in Odessa was quite bumpy. Possibly the airport tarmac was build by same construction engineers as E40.
The bus came to pick us up and after 500m opened doors next to the road. No need to go through the building. A group of taxi drivers waited. I asked for a rate to the city and quote was 200UAH (about USD 40). In the office I was informed the rate is around UAH 100. I tried to negotiate the rate down, but as I am obviously a foreigner - taxi drivers decided UAH 200 is what I should pay. Fortunately I did some research and was aware there is a small buss (more like a van) called “marshrutnoye taxi” which goes from the airport to the railway station. I found it and the rate for it was UAH.1. 75. In the bus everyone was nice and tried to be helpful . I had to change from a bus to a tram on the railways station. The tram drove straight through the market. Slow but exciting ride. Once I made to the city center I was in shock. I was surrounded by ruins. Odessa was build 200 years ago by two Frenchmen. But I could see only ruins of what once were beautiful baroque buildings. For some photos see http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/Odessa_1
In Lviv buildings are also old but I felt that people care about them. There is no money but tender loving care is visible through potted plants on windows, no garbage on streets, no gaping holes in buildings. In Odessa it seems nobody cares how the city looks.
People most likely got prime real estate for almost nothing by typical Ukrainian methods. Now they sit on it waiting to sell it for millions of USD without investing a hrivnya. Why should they bother with esthetics in Odessa when most likely they live in London or Paris?
My camera got fed up with ruins too. It broke down. I usually have a spare. This time I decided to travel light and left a spare camera in Kiev. Travelling light disagrees with me.
Frustrated by ruins and upset by a broken camera I decided to check in the hotel. The secretary booked one of better hotels called Londonskaya. There I showed my confirmation. I have to remark that a secretary sent an email with attachment stating “attached is your confirmation”. I printed the attachment and placed in my travel folder withou checking it. In hotel I showed my passport and my hotel confirmation. The receptionist glanced at both than asked me where is a hotel confirmation. I looked at her and told her I just gave it to her. “But it is not from our hotel” she responded. “That’s not possible” was my answer but I took a confirmation and started to read: "Thanks for booking at "Grand Hotel Ukraine" in.... Dnepropetrovsk!" This is a town about 440km from Odessa! The same agency which booked the hotel - booked my flights to Odessa! Typical!
In "Londonskaya" they had a room available – but I insisted to check it first. There where so many stairs and such long corridors I worried I would get lost getting in and out of the room. Plus I had an impression there are no guests there. I decided to check in elsewhere. The closest hotel was "Mozart" - which opposite to the most beautiful building in Odessa - the Opera. I asked receptionist if there is a free room in the hotel. Yes –there is. I am taking it. No room checking this time. She asks for a credit card -I pass it to her. Few minutes later she gives me a receipt to sign. I look at the receipt and the amount is three times the price of what she told me. I ask for an explanation and she tells me "this amount is for three rooms you asked for”. How “free” mutated in “three” is beyond me. But this incident brings a memory of another hotel experiance in St. Petersburg. First time in St Petersburg I arrived there very late and facing some accomodation problems decided that after midnight the best way to avoid problems is to check in the most expensive hotel. I entered "Grand Hotel Europe" and at the empty check in desk asked a kid if there is a free room in hotel. "No" was the answer. I must have a puzzled look as a kid immidiatly explained "We do not have free rooms here. You have to pay". Seems I should avoid phrase "free room" when checking in hotels.
Next week I'll be in Kharkov.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

L'viv



Last weekend I was in L’viv. It’s beautiful (mostly baroque) city close to Polish border with an amazing history. It belong to Poland, to Habsburgs , than Poland again. After WWII it became part of Soviet Union. The city is an encyclopedia of major European styles. The old center is breathtaking with beautiful old buildings in renaissance, baroque, rococo and neo-classical style . Everything was build in a very solid manner as during last 70 years (under Soviet rule and since its fall) no money has been invested in maintenance of beautiful buildings. Yet they still shine. While old buildings overwhelm you with their past grandeur - presently you see that the city and its people struggle economically.
But where is no money people have time - so L’viv has contagiously relaxed atmosphere. I tried to capture some http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/LVivCityscapes .
Cobblestone streets meander through the city and while architecture is breathtaking, ladies negotiating cobble stones in high heels are amazing. In L’viv it is difficult to see a woman in heels less than 10 cm. I tried to capture some of them http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/LVivHighStandards .
On Saturday the city is full of brides. I sat and enjoyed a Viennese coffee while brides were passing by http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/CityOfBrides
L’viv is 535 km from Kiev. This first time I went by car with my friends Kees and Catharine. We took my car but Kees was driving. He lives in Ukraine almost 5 years and usually races through Kiev on his BMW motorbike. He is used to the Ukrainian driving style.
Ukrainians think that once they are in a driving seat they underwrote an immortality policy. We had few close calls. On our way to L’viv we were stopped by police three times. First time only Catharina noticed police tried to stop us. Kees was driving too fast to stop. Second and third time police got us. Over speeding. But policemen do not speak English and I was hiding my rusty knowledge of Russian. So they let us go. The third stop was quite interesting as the policeman wanted to write a protocol which he will send to Kiev. Kees will be called to go to the court. The court will decide upon a level of penalty fee. “Writing a protocol” in Russia means you walk with a policeman to his car and while he asks you for papers accidentaly some 100 roubles (that was few years ago) find a way from your wallet into your documents. You pass doc’s to a policeman. He flips through them, takes money, returns doc’s, and you are free to go. Still unfamiliar with Ukrainian customs I just said: “No protocol. No court. We pay now. How much? “ The policeman gave me a strange look, became speechless, waved his stick and let us go. Russians are more pragmatic.
From Kiev to L’viv and back we took E40 - a main road route to EU and kind of East-West Ukrainian highway. Judging by appalling route condition EU is centuries away. Outside Kiev I have not spotted one fancy car Kiev is buzzing with. On E40 I saw mostly old timers: Zhigulis, Volgas, Ladas… En route we passed villages where people plough with a horse, a woman carries hay on her back, village women try to sell strawberries, apples, potatoes or pickles along the road.
The road is full of heavy trucks all bringing to Kiev goods from Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Netherlands. Few trucks have expensive cargos like BMW 4WD, Lexus cars etc…The difference between living in a capital and in a village 200km away is huge.
Once outside the city the landscape is amazing. Even on my poor photos one can see how rich the soil is. I heard they can have three harvest seasons a year. There is no reason for this country to be poor. Next to amazing landscape the best thing along the road are stork nests. I was lucky to catch few on my photos http://picasaweb.google.com/gordie26/EnRouteKievLVivE40AndM06
This weekend I go to Odessa.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Some good news


Have some good news to share. The weather improved and I started to make trips outside Kiev. Last weekend I was in Pirgova, an ethno-park about 30 min drive from Kiev. I went there with Alexandra, an Ukrainian freelance photographer, her boyfriend Kolya, my friend Catherina and Frantisek, a colleague from ING Prague who arrivd here to help me to put things in order. It was a lot of fun. The school year finished on May 30th and lot of graduates came to the park to celebrate. On attached photo you can see a typical school uniform. We had great weather and I enjoyed shooting. For photos of Pirgova please check:
http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/Pirgova
Another great news is I finally found a lady to clean my home. Finding one was like an executive search. I appreciate many of them finished university and have BA and/or MA and merciless random life events put them in a position of considering a house cleaning job. But some interviews were weird. One lady tried to convince me I do not need a cleaner three times a week as I live alone. Another one told me she does not like pets so I should not take a dog. One announced she takes two months holidays in July and August and cannot start before September. Finally two weeks ago I found Yulia who is 28 years old and has a 5 year old daughter. Yulia is unemployed and with her husband builds a house about 30 km from Kiev. She is "pure" Ukrainian and does not speak much Russian. Her Russian is as rusty as mine but we manage to understand each other. So far she cleans well and is very nice.
Last week Esra gave birth to five puppies and one of her boys will come to Kiev. I will call him Igor. In Russian Igor means the warrior. I'm fighting here so many problems I need a warrior by my side. Igor was also the first grand prince of Kiev. There is a Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. I hope my Igor will not write barking symphonies. I will get Igor in about 3 months. For photos of wonderful tibbie puppies see :
http://home.kpnplanet.nl/~O.enM.ottens@kpnplanet.nl/Pagina%206%20PUPPIES%20ESRA%20X%20MARVIN.htm
I hope to be able to visit a puppy during the summer. Maria and Sandra – the proud tibbie breeders (http://www.tibbies.nl/) - already investigated what is necessary to get Igor to Ukraine. It seems next to my normal work - getting paperwork arranged to fly Igor to Kiev will keep me busy for weeks.