Random Picture Collection: Instagrams From Around Ukraine

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

Here are a few photos from my recent travels that I've been posting on my Instagram account. 

It was either wedge into the smallest elevator ever or take the stairs past the drunk guy sleeping in the hallway on the third floor. 

In the winter they just cover the carousel with plastic.

Yanni is coming to Ukraine...but I'll hold out for The Killers in Latvia later this summer.

Something tells me nothing in this store is "fun" or "cool."

A Father teaching his daughter how to play cards Wednesday on the train to Vinnitsya.

After rarely seeing ice in restaurants I've been served ice cubes this way two nights in a row.

Antagonizing the fish at our hotel. They either thought I was going to feed them or they don't like getting their photo taken.

The View From My Window #12: Kiev Hostel

The view from our hostel in Kiev...all night long there would be loud bangs and crashes as the snow from the angled roof would fall off.  At first I thought people were throwing their garbage from their windows down into the dumpsters below.  

Here's another view of Maiden Nezalezhnosti which I will never get tired of photographing.  

On American Soil [Briefly]

Wednesday morning found Laura and I visiting the good old U.S. of A. for an hour or so...and by that I mean we went to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev.  Awesome bathrooms, drinking fountains, and we got to cut the queue as we were 'Mericans!  It's not often I'll cut in line here in Ukraine and Laura gets frustrated how I'll let people go ahead to me to get on the subway or trying to get somewhere fast.  But after seeing the line of people trying to get into the Embassy I gladly whipped out my passport and jumped to the front.

The outside security of the Embassy seemed to be run by Ukrainian security and as I went through the metal detector and had my possessions put through the x-ray machine the Ukrainian security guard came up to me and said, "I'll be keeping your cellphone and your lipstick back here."  I looked down to see him holding my cellphone and my ChapStick.  Laura started giggling and I smiled and said "okay."    

Born Slippy

The dangerous stairs leading to Kiev's art museum reminded me of an Underworld song "Born Slippy." Somehow we made it up the stairs to discover that the museum was closed on Tuesdays.


And here is Laura cursing the Kiev guidebook that said the museum was closed on Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays.

Graffiti #11: Take The Skinheads Bowling

Today's graffiti comes from an alleyway in Kiev near the hostel we are staying at.  It reminds me of the power that a symbol has against plain text. Spray paint a swastika on the alleyway and it would be much more intimidating than writing that this wall seems to be owned by "skinhead."  In fact, this made me smile and think about the great Camper Van Beethoven song "Take the Skinhead's Bowling." 

In my free time I've been re-watching All in the Family and really enjoying them.  Certainly some of the episodes are clearly very, very dated and are borderline ridiculous today but many of them have new found meaning when I listen to anti-Obama arguments that have their roots in racism.  Nearly all of Archie Bunker's problems are centered with his frustration trying to be successful in society with his limited education and if the show had been set during a Democratic's president's term [rather than during Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford's administration's] I think a lot of the jokes would resemble the Tea Party today.

In a season 3 episode called "Archie Is Branded," the Bunker house has a swastika painted on the front door because their address is confused with one of a outspoken Jewish activist.  It is one of the best episodes they ever did and at the surprising conclusion I wish they would have been able to continue the story line beyond just one episode.  You can watch the episode below to see the power a symbol can have:

Part 1:

Part 2:

The Weirdest Thing I've Seen In Ukraine

Laura and I recently found ourselves back in Kafka-esque hallway that I wrote about back in October to get some more documents officially translated into Ukrainian...and when I say "officially" I mean adding some colorful stamps to a piece of paper.    

The hallway looked to be pretty much the same although there seems to be a little construction going on in some of the rooms...and on the door in the bottom right of the above photo had a few new sheets of paper attached to it.

If you don't speak Russian you might just pass by this sign not really noticing it...

But once you read down a little further you get some serious Ghostbusters technical talk.  "3rd degree of adsorption?"  I better watch out!

And in case you were wondering if the signs were not to be taken seriously we have some important words from Gandalf and a homage to this legendary scene from The Fellowship of the Ring.

What the heck is going on behind this door???  

While I was waiting in the hallway while Laura was in the very very small translator's office someone else came down the hallway and actually knocked on the door the "special door."  I thought to myself "This is it...we're all going to go up like flash paper!"  We both waited to see would happen next but nothing did...there was no answer at the door and the other guy walked away.

The View From My [Train] Window #11: Dnieper

Here is the view from my train window today crossing the Dnieper River on our way to the center of Kiev.  

You may recognize the monument in the distance as The Motherland Monument that we visited back in November.