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.
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.
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