Revisiting Lviv & Kyiv
If you're already in Poland for a work thing and have some time to kill, it'd be silly not to pop over to their eastern neighbour for a bit, just to see what's changed since you were last there in August 2022, right? Well, it sounded like a logical plan at the time, so that's what we did….
Life is Sweet
Always nice to find that the apartment you've rented has a well-stocked kitchen cupboard. Even if you're not gonna make use of the items, it's just more homey knowing they're there if you need em.
Although upon further inspection, this kitchen cupboard turned up some surprises. Life was indeed sweet for a previous guest, and that's not in reference to the sugar 😉
NB: No staging here, this is exactly what it looked like when opened after arriving - except that red box being turned ever so slightly to the right, so a bit of the brand name would be visible.
Sunset over the Dnipro
Calm, quiet, low-key sunset over the Dnipro earlier this evening. Also nice to have it still be light out till almost 10pm, especially when there's no electricity in your part of town....
NB: This photo was taken and originally posted on 9 July, the day after one of the largest missile attacks on Kyiv of the entire war.
Rain or Shine
Rain or shine, Lviv is a gorgeous city, with the perfect amount of gritty Slavic character and charm. Definitely a place to consider visiting if you're ever in the region - ideally during the warmer months of the year, although it surely looks nice covered in snow as well.
Some Leopolitan street art....
Here's a Google translation of the text at the bottom (translated from a photo taken back in 2022, when the mural was still entirely intact:
"I really want there to be no pictures of me, no portraits of me in your
offices, because the president is not an icon, not an idol,
the president is not a portrait. Hang pictures of your children
there and look them in the eye before making every decision.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi“
If this doesn't make you [redacted out of excess caution]
Lviv to Kyiv
Very nice, new double-decker passenger trains running between Lviv and the capital. And a 2nd class ticket for the 6.5hr journey only costs around €9. Could have used a bit stronger AC and/or a bit weaker sun though....
Ukrainian Vodka
When the main reason you come to a country is to see if you can continue abstaining from alcohol - because the last time you were there, you averaged 1.5 bottles of vodka per day (plus various beers) - and this is what normal supermarkets look like....
NB: It's around 43 hryvnia to the euro, which means these bottles start at just over €2 and go all the way up to the princely sum of nearly €11.
Kyiv is Waiting!
The local tourist board's campaign is cool, but also raises some questions. Questions like: Who is the target audience? And when was the last time I read that one Samuel Beckett play?
Local Innovations
Not a lot of tourists around these days, but that hasn't seemed to stop local innovations in the field of tourism souvenirs....
11.56pm (Till I Shop)
If you've been following this page for any amount of time, you'll already be well aware that supermarkets are almost always one of the most fascinating attractions no matter where you travel, and Kyiv is no exception.
For instance, this ubiquitous chain is not only named for late ‘90s / early ‘00s German trance DJ André Tanneberger aka ATB aka that guy who produced that one song*, but it also has some very specific opening hours.
Sure, they could have gone with 23:59, or rounded to 23:55 or even 23:50 or 23:45 like a bar might do for last call. But no, they close at exactly 23:56. Perfect.
NB: They actually close at 23:00 on account of there being martial law and a curfew, and sometimes they'll randomly stop letting people in much earlier (around 22:00 or so), seemingly depending on if there's a power outage or air raid sirens, etc. But still, the official time posted on the entrance is still the official time posted on the entrance....
*That one song:
Small Pleasures
Small Pleasures #24713: When the closest water dispenser is only two blocks away, but is in a different electricity cut zone, so you've repeatedly walked there and back empty-handed (or empty-bottled) over the past week (almost always followed by having to trudge back up 9 flights of stairs), which makes that sweet feeling of success all the more enjoyable when it finally happens.
If you had (or are still having or will have) a better Saturday night than that, know that you're amongst the very lucky few in this world!
Tsekh Gallery
Went to an art gallery in a nearby industrial zone yesterday. The place itself was super cool (as most industrial zone art galleries throughout the world tend to be), the current exhibition was interesting if not especially large, and the lady working was very friendly despite not speaking any English.
But her dog? Her dog was the real star of the show - obviously an 11/10, no question. And easily one of the top highlights of the trip thus far. Luckily the place was closed today, or it would have been tempting to go back and hang out....
Christmas in Kyiv
It's always Christmas in our hearts! And in Kyiv, apparently....
BEYOUDDIFUL
This page is nothing if not staunchly anti-capitalist, and seemingly more so with each passing day. But that caveat aside, credit where credit is due. And some credit, or perhaps creDDit, is begrudgingly due to whoever came up with the name of this lingerie shop....
Kyivsterdam
Kyiv doing its best Amsterdam impression....
Grocery Shopping in Kyiv (Stretching Those Hryvnia)
What 413грн (or around €9.50) worth of groceries in Kyiv looks like.
More than a quarter of which was the instant coffee (semi-guilty necessity when travelling, sorry), while 20грн was the scratch ticket, which ended up winning 10грн back, but was never redeemed....
What is The Rock cooking?
When you smell what The Rock is cooking, and it smells an awful lot like that old familiar stench of rotten neoliberal consumer capitalism run absolutely amok.
Honestly, that's been one of the main takeaways from Kyiv. Shop shop shop. Buy buy buy. Maybe duck into an underground passageway for a few minutes when air raid sirens go off. And then shop shop shop, and buy buy buy some more!
Side Note (mostly for fellow Americans): Remember a few years ago when it was a kind of far-fetched joke that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was thinking of running for president? And now it's a few years later and if this same obscenely wealthy, absurdly unqualified, woefully out of touch entertainer announced he was running it would actually be a welcome relief for tens of millions of people? Curmudgeon Farm remembers....
Martha Stewart Living [Sponsored Post]
"Some home and garden inspiration from the streets of Kyiv. Got a semi-destroyed, decommissioned Russian armoured vehicle or two laying around the front yard? Sure, you could sell it for scrap or perhaps turn it into a fort for the kids.
But transporting it to the scrapyard would take more effort than it's worth, and those sharp edges are just asking for a trip to the ER if you let the kids horse around inside it!
The solution? Just slap a few planter boxes on top and call it good! Once those buds start sprouting, your friends and neighbours will never believe that your beautiful, naturally looking new garden was once a war machine!"
- From the Summer '24 issue of 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘜𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (posted with the kind permission of the publisher)
Caged Bird: Kyiv Edition
"A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom."
- Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
Patriotic Barbershop
A patriotic barbershop pole in Kyiv, which perhaps even more interestingly just led to the acquisition of the following historical tidbits:
"Hundreds of years ago, barbers didn’t just cut hair and trim beards; they also worked as dentists and surgeons, providing their services to poorer people who couldn’t afford to see a physician....
The red and white stripes of the barber pole originated from a practice known as bloodletting...this practice involved drawing blood from the patient, in an attempt to cure them of disease or infection....
The bloody bandages associated with bloodletting inspired the red and white stripes, while the barber pole itself symbolises an instrument people gripped onto during the procedure to encourage blood flow.
Barbers would place the barber pole outside their barbershop, to let customers know they were open for business. Many modern barber poles have a blue stripe....In Europe, the blue stripe was meant to differentiate barbers from doctors, as the two professions gradually began to grow apart...."
From uppercutdeluxe.com