The Chapel of the Fallen Eagles

A few weeks ago while visiting Savannah we stopped at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, GA [which is just outside of Savannah]. My Grandfather was a part of the 8th Air Force during World War II and I'll have another post highlighting the exhibits from the museum.

Today I'll highlight one part of the museum which is a chapel on the grounds called the Chapel of the Fallen Angels. It was built as a replica of a traditional English chapel that allows visitors and veterans a chance to pay their respect at the museum.

It is a very tranquil place and although you can't tell from the outside view but on the inside all the beautiful stained glass windows are air force related in one way or another. I took photos of all the windows with my favorite being this first one with the pilot staring out at you with the bomber in the background.

Living OTP

The view of downtown Atlanta from Piedmont Park.

The neighborhood you live in can sometimes mean more to other people than it does to you. This was the case in my hometown as were was a Northside/Southside divide which split the city's two public high schools and could influence what you thought of that person. The same is definitely true in Atlanta where there is certainly a premium put on living in one of the city of Atlanta's neighborhoods. Looking at a map of Atlanta you can see that it is encircled by Interstate 285.

If you live inside the circle you are ITP or Inside the Perimeter. If you live in the towns beyond that boundary you would be living in the OTP or Outside the Perimeter. It is considered best to live in Atlanta proper, if you can't do that then at least live ITP. I think it's fairly safe to say that it would considered a sin for anyone living OTP to say they live "in Atlanta."

We live decidedly OTP and although we were told many times to live in the city and not live OTP it has turned out fine. And although we've mainly stayed around our neighborhood since moving down here we've recently been spending a lot of time ITP near Grant Park. During one of our trips we were driving down one of streets bordering the park and I noticed that there was a woman sweeping the street, This is something you rarely see in America but a regular occurrence in Ukraine. It was commonplace to see a babushka sweeping the street with a bristle brush missing 2/3 of it's bristles.

I jokingly said "look, it's a babushka sweeping."

Driving further down we saw that it was a Eastern Orthodox Church she was sweeping in front of and the world came around full circle. This was St. John The Wonderworker Church of the Eastern Orthodox Church of America. I enjoy also how it is in a "Church Zone"...I'm not sure if I have ever seen a public sign like that before.

A Little Yellow Church In Kiev

 Although I'm now home in America, I'm going to keep posting as if we recently had these adventures around Europe. I'll post the dates we actually visited these locations at the start of each posts in an attempt to keep things straight. 

A Little Yellow Church In Kiev

Photographed: April 11th, 2013

This little yellow chuch is the Church of the Birth of Christ was was originally built in 1814 and then rebuilt in 2005.  I had no idea at the time of taking this photo but this is the church at which the Ukrainian poet and unofficial champion/mascot of this blog, Taras Shevchenko, was laid to rest while his body was transported back to his home in 1861.  In 1930 the church was destroyed by the Communists and rebuilt 75 years later.  There is a more famous yellow church in Kiev, St. Volodymyr's, but I like this one for its smaller size and more subtle mustard yellow color.  

And here are two views of St. Andrew's which is also in Kiev and is, I'm pretty safe to say, my favorite church to take photos of. This may not seem like a controversial statement but Kiev has quite a few beautiful churches to choose from.

 Its location on one of the city's hills allows it to appear imposing while up close it is also a pretty tiny church. 

Random Picture Collection: October 2012

Roughly every month I collect the photos that didn't quite get their own post and bring them together in a single post.  Past collections can be found here.  

Beyond this door is the land of higher prices and, believe it or not, worse customer service.  I wonder what the reaction would be to sign similar to this in the United States

In the little park that was located in the courtyard at our old apartment there was a ping pong table.  I highly recommend that more of these be installed everywhere and ping pong will be more popular than tennis.

I think The Help is an interesting choice for a Russian printing and I wonder if it is popular here.

Here are the communist flats on the outskirts of Kharkiv next to the large shopping mall.

 And here's the mall itself:

A Ukrainian doughnut exchange caught in progress.

Just an egg in a park.

I've seen quite a few Irish pubs around Ukraine but this is my first Scottish one.

On the Ukrainian scale of remarkable churches this one is a relatively minor cathedral but it's one of my favorites.  

And don't be afraid to catch a Ukrainian taxi if you need to get across town in a hurry.  

Just be sure to be out by midnight because...well, you know.

Churches, Churches, Churches

As Laura and I have gotten into our regular routine we've mainly been exploring Kharkiv over the weekends.  And so last Saturday was all about churches, churches, and more churches.  The three main sites are Pokrovsky Cathedral, Uspensky Cathedral, and Blagoveschensky Cathedral and all are located in the same central area of city.   

Kharkiv has few historic churches thanks to the Communist purges during Stalin's reign. Pokrovsky Cathedral is the oldest structure in Kharkiv and dates back to 1689.  A functioning monastery surrounds the church and you can tour the grounds.    

Uspensky Cathedral is located a block to the south of the monastery.  This church was converted to a theater during Communist times and remains as one today.  We didn't get a chance to tour the inside of the theater [for another day I guess] but it would have been interesting to see an Orthodox Church with seating as parishioners stand throughout Orthodox services and there are typically no pews.  

Blagoveschensky Cathedral is the newest of the three sites and was built in 1901.  It was the only Orthodox church that was able to operate throughout Communist times.  Because of it's colorful outside design Blagoveschensky Cathedral has been dubbed "the candy cane church."

Here's the view of it while standing at Uspensky Cathedral.  

And a close up view:

Getting your photo taken in front of Blagoveschensky Cathedral is a popular spot for newlyweds and there were a few wedding parties around the day we were there.  .

Sometimes foreigners like to get their photo taken there as well: