Alexandria Park

I was so impressed by Sophia’s park I spent most of my free time researching about Countess Potocki. As usual research turned out some surprising findings. In this case I found out there is another park close to Kyiv created by a woman. The place is Belaya Tserkov about 80 km from Kyiv. The guidebook said that Barron Branicki created a park for his wife. As years of the park creation were close to one in Uman a thought that Russian aristocracy was not immune to “keeping up with Jones’s” crossed my mind. But after doing my research the statement that husband built the park is wrong. Alexandra Branicki’s true passion was horticulture and during her 84 year long life she created two parks at the houses where she spent most of her time. But I tell her life story later.
I went to the park yesterday and prefer it to Sofiika in Uman. First it is more "low key" - no sculptures, grottos, lakes are smaller etc... Alexandra’s park has more depth as vistas are expansive and there is strong sense of vast space. Being surrounded by over 350 years old trees without many people around is an additional bonus. Photos of the park are on: http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/AlexandriaPark
Now about the lady who created the park. Main source is again S.S. Montefiore.
As a niece of Prince Potemkin, Alexandra “Sashenka” Vasil'evna Engelhard (born in 1754) was presented at the court in St. Petersburg in 1772, when she was eighteen. She immediately became a favorite of the Empress Catherine and accompanied her on many of her travels. At 21 she was appointed as maid-of-honor to the Empress. Stories later circulated that Alexandra was Catherine's daughter by Potemkin. These were put about in the later years of her life by French writers without proof, but it is fairly well-documented that she was Potemkin's mistress as well as his niece which at that time was kind of tolerable within Russian aristocracy or at least in Potemkin’s case who slept with all his five nieces.
Alexandra’s portraits show a slim brunette, high cheekbones and blue eyes. She was an able business woman who made millions trading grain and timber. In 1779 Potemkin’s intense relationship with Sashenka ended, but they remained closest of friends and he died “in her arms”.
In 1781, Alexandra married Count François-Xavier Petrovich Branicki, of an old and powerful Polish family. Trained as a soldier and diplomat, Count Branicki held several posts before being sent to St. Petersburg. He became great friends with Stanislaus Poniatowski, who had been Catherine's lover. Branicki enjoyed the favor of Catherine and Potemkin and after supporting Russian suzerainty over the Sejm, or Polish parliament, he was awarded vast estates in Belaya-Tserkov after the province was ceded to Russia after the Partition of Poland in 1793.

When Alexandra married Branicki he was 49. The accounts state he was “good natured, self-made and ambitious ruffian” who made his career as King Stanislas-Auguystus hard man. He new Casanova and dueled with him in Warsaw for insulting Casanova mistress – an Italian actress called La Binetti. Both were wounded – Branicki seriously but became friends.
While her spendthrift husband did his best to lose their fortune, Sashenka increased it prodigiously. During her entire life she was close to Potemkin and Catharine the Great – though she lived mostly at her Polish and Belorussian estates. She was widely respected. Contemporaries emphasized her good morals – which is something remarkable for these days, especially when she was married to an older Lothario with whom she had a large family.
After Potemkin’s death “Sashenka” retired to her estates and became so rich she could not count it. She lived majestically and royally. She was a woman of contrasts – her love for rich and splendid is exemplified by her collection of art and precious objects. However these were housed in rooms paneled in plain wood. (no need to waste money) She was much loved for giving villages to peasants and endowing them with their own agricultural banks to finance their farming. She was appointed as the “grand mistress of the Russian court” and even 20 years after Catharine’s death she held her special status at the Court.
While she knew Countess Sophia Potocki and they might be friendly they are very different and this is reflected in their parks. Alexandra all her life knew world of privilege while Sophia was shrewd survivor using her beauty and intelligence as main resources. I think that’s the reason why Sophia’s park is full of “props”. Sophia joyfully celebrated her life achievements in creation of her “Odyssey” and Ithaca. She was proud of her life and was not shy to show off.
Alexandra did not have a need to show off. All her life she was conscious of her privileged status and money and she created a park for her comfort only.

Sophia's Fairyland

My sister and her husband came to visit. The first weekend we visited Odessa. The highway from Kyiv to Odessa is fantastic: gentle rolling hills draped in gold of wheat fields offset by blue sky. Some green sunflower fields (sunflower still have not open) distract gold-blue monotony.
We had Ukrainian GPS to help us getting around. In the city GPS is a trusted friend. But in wide open it got us lost among ocean of wheat fields. Later in the office I learned that GPS is not complete – it will have the smallest street in any of the big five Ukrainian cities but regional roads remain "work in progress". I do not complain about being lost in the sea of gold….
To make up for Odessa let down we went to Belgorod Dniestrovsky which has a famous Turkish fortress. But more than a fortress Ana and Kristijan enjoyed swimming in the Black Sea on a wonderful white sand beach of Zatoka.

For me the highlight of the trip was Sofievsky Park in the city of Uman. Uman is half-way between Odessa and Kyiv. A guidebook mentions a lovely park build by a Polish Count for his wife. While this was intriguing enough for me to visit it, I was totally unprepared for a fairyland I found in the park.
Uman is city of Khrushchev-Brezhnev building style mix: gloomy, gray and decayed. GPS could not help us there but nice, friendly young people got us to the park. The park has an uninspiring Soviet name “'Sofievsky' Uman State Dendrological Park”. But in fact the park is an ultimate romantic neo-classical monument belonging to the times of absolute grandeur. What make the park so special are not its size (150 hectares) or trees and flowers, spectacular cascades of natural lakes and waterfalls, antique sculptures and fountains etc. What makes it special is the park's purpose: it is designed as a memorial to one woman’s beauty and given to her as a birthday present!
The lucky woman is Sophia, the “Beautiful Greek” - one outstanding adventures of 18th century. Her life story is amazing. As she was Poteminkn’s mistress there is a reference to her in S.S. Montefiore Potemkin biography:
Sophia Glyavone was born in 1760 in a poor family of Anatolian Greek¬Roumeliyts in the town of Bursa, Turkey. She also had the Turkish name Dudu (in Turkish parakeet). Over years the family took up its residence in Constantinople, in the Fener residential area. Her father went bankrupt and died. Dudu’s mother traded vegetables and one day she sold her daughter (at the age 12) to the Polish Ambassador in Turkey Karol Boskamp¬Lyasopolskiy who procured girls to King Stanislas-Augustus. Dudu’s equally fine sister was sold to a senior Ottoman Pasha. (That’s important for later.)
From then on, every time Sophia was bought, another man fell in love with her and outbid the first. On her way with the ambassadorial baggage, Sophia was spotted by Major de Witte, son of the Governor of the Polish fortress Kamenets-Podolsk, who bought her for 1000 ducats and married her in 1775 age 15. Major Witte sent her off to Paris to learn manners – and French.
La Belle Phanariot or Beautiful Greek bewitched Paris. She is described having blond curls, a noble Grecian face and violet eyes. In Versailles she had a reception with the Queen Maria Antoinette and the King Louis XVI. Soon she conquered almost the whole royal Europe. She was received at the court of the Prussian king Friedrich II, who went down in history as “The Great”. Allegedly the Austrian emperor Joseph II was in love with her too. Joseph II patronized not only Sophia, but also Mozart.
Back in Poland when Potemkin’s War began, Mme Witte husband, now governor of Kamenets was the linchpin of the Prince Potemkin’s espionage network in southern Poland. Major Witte smuggled spies into Khotin (Turkey) hidden with the butter. But most likely it was Major’s wife – Sophia who provided the information as her sister was married to the Pasha of Khotin. Sophia first became the mistress of the besigiging general Nykolai Saltykov. But then she was introduced to Potemkin in Ochakov. Potemkin appointed the complaisant husband to be the governor of Kherson. Allegedly she was not only Potemkin’s mistress but also his secret agent among the Poles and Turks. As a public acknowledgment of her service to Russia, the Empress gave Sophia a pair of diamond earrings. After Potemkin died in Jassy, Mme Witte hooked up with the Polish magnate Earl Felix Pototskiy one of richest dukes in the Russian Empire. Mme Witte dumped her husband and two children and moved with Earl to St. Petersburg. Sometime later when Earl’s wife died they got married in 1798.
In St. Petersburg Pototsky was a member of Catherine the Great inner circle. In short Sophia rose from a teenage courtesan in Constantinople to one of richest countesses in Poland. For forty years she astonished and scandalized Europe with her “beauty, vice and crimes”.
Sophia, with close connection to royal courts saw many royal gardens and had a dream of creating her own paradisiacal corner.
Sophia's dream was ancient Greece and she chose “Odyssey” by Homer as the source of inspiration for creating her "dream garden".
Her task oriented husband started to build the park in Uman in 1792. In five years, thanks to the efforts of thousands of serfs (her husband owned 130,000 serfs), a fantastically beautiful and unique park was laid out on the uninhabited bank of the river. Every day for five years about 800 serfs worked on fantastic grottoes, waterfalls, lakes, antique statues and picturesque cliffs - all in effort to create a romantic gift of love. The park has its own Isle of Lesbos, a terrace of the Muses, red poppy Elysian Fields, a Cretan labyrinth, and an underground stream called Styx. A lot of trees were brought from exotic countries. They say when the park is viewed from a plane a foliage makes a name “Sophia”. The unfinished park was presented to Sophia on her birthday in May 1802.
Shortly after presenting her with the park the Count uncovered an affair between his son from his first marriage and Sophia. Brokenhearted, husband grew seriously ill and died in 1805. Four years after her husband died Sophia threw out the son and built up a fortune for herself. She died in 1822.
There is a novel about Sophia’s life by Eva Stachniak. The novel appears under two titles “Garden of Venus” or “Dancing with Kings”.
The fact that a freak earthquake pushed Sophia's graveyard out of the Uman churchyard has the locals convinced that she was a witch. In any case she was an amazing survivor.
For photos of a park see http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/Sofiika

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

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.

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.

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.

May mood

I am bit embarrassed that more than two months passed since last blog. But last two months have been quite tough.
My grandma passed away on April 1st. She died in sleep at the age of 92 but it still came as a shock. We all expected that given her upbeat attitude she would live few years longer. I’ll miss buying underwear for her. The last time I saw her she was chatting up a waiter. Her funeral was a surprise for us – the family. We expected a small one with only family members and few close friends attending. It turned out to be a large one. Her five girlfriends with whom she walked almost daily around Sljeme came. Distant relatives from Slovenia I never met before arrived. Friends from work – although she stopped working 42 years ago. She had a hard life but nevertheless she knew how to live it and share it with others. It was eye opening to see how many people she touched in her life.
While at home for the funeral I saw my dad who is not getting better. My mum tries everything to hold him on. We all pray and hope he will manage to pull out.
As Tibet was closed due to March unrest my trip planned for first two weeks in May was cancelled. There was an idea to go to Sikkim but I was told at the last moment I need a visa which I could not arrange on a short notice. So I decided to go home instead. It was good to spend time with my family. For photos taken in my parents’ garden please check: http://picasaweb.google.nl/gordie26/VugrovecMay2008. I also went for a few days to Holland. This was my second trip to Holland in two weeks as I also needed (to finally) arrange my working visa at the end of April. In last two months I travelled a lot.
At work we are slowly sorting out the mess. I had two audits and an inspection. Based on their reports we now start to put things in order. But it remains hard work with almost no time for private life and socializing.
My stuff from Seoul arrived on April 12th but due to lack of time my flat is still messy. It takes time for things to find a new fitting place.
Since cold and depressing March now in May Kiev turned into a blooming garden. Countless elegant chestnut trees decorate most of Kiev streets at the moment. With such generous help from nature Kiev looks dramatically improved.
I still have not found a puppy but I am working on it and hopefully will find one soon.