Sculpture in Odessa.Odessa Art Museum.Traditional Ukrainian clothing.Postcard with musical notes and a short melody.Different helmets, a shield, and weapons used in Ukraine.Propaganda from the Russo-Japanese War.Historic military helmet from Ukraine’s past.Naval mine used near Odessa during World War II.The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.Cat in a tree near the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.Building in Odessa.The Potemkin Stairs.Climbing up the Potemkin Stairs.The funicular on the southeast side of the Potemkin Stairs.Sculpture in front of the City Hall of Odessa.Sculpture permanently obscured by a cage of metal beams and wood boards.Building in Odessa, near the Philharmonic Society.Ornate and lovely building in Odessa.Monument to the Twelfth Chair, from the satirical novel by the Odessan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov.The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa.Rkatsiteli white wine, produced from the Crimea.Ukrainian Muscat wine.Colonnade, part of Vorontsov Palace, which was built in 1830 AD.Primorsky Boulevard.The “Old Fortress” in Odessa.Odessa’s seaport.The Black Sea seen from Lanzheron Beach.The Odessa Film Studio.Odessa Railway Station.Crimean Muscat wine.Statue of a foppish man in Odessa.Inside the Odessa Passage – an ornate, albeit small, shopping mall.Another view inside the Odessa Passage.Poltava (soup with chicken balls and halushkas (pieces of dough)) and slices of veal tongue baked in spices with cucumber slices and mayonnaise.Veal entrecote with mushrooms and pomegranate sauce.The “famous house-wall” in Odessa – it is an optical illusion and built at an angle to make it look like nothing more than a wall . . . quite lame.Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.View of the Potemkin Stairs from across the street.Rally held at the top of the Potemkin Stairs, next to the Duke de Richelieu Monument (depicting Odessa’s first Mayor).Primorsky Boulevard at night.Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater at night.Climbing up “Andrew’s Descent” – the road leading to St. Andrew’s Church.View of Kiev from St. Andrew’s Church.St. Andrew’s Church.Steps leading to St. Andrew’s Church.Inside St. Andrew’s Church.The pulpit inside St. Andrew’s Church.Monument to the Ukrainian comedy film ‘Za Dvumya Zaytsamy’ ( “After Two Hares”), about a man who has promised simultaneously to two girls to marry them.National Historic Museum of Ukraine.Ancient shiv made with bone and obsidian.Ancient drinking cups.Zoomorphic spout.Weapons and armor used in medieval Ukraine.A type of xylophone used in a military band of old.Interesting musical instrument (a precursor to the keytar?).Based on the prominent Totenkopf (German for “skull and crossbones” – a symbol made infamous by the Gestapo) this most likely belonged to the Prussian and Brunswick Armed forces (dating from the 19th-century AD).A sword hilt with a seal stamp at the end – very useful.Entrance to St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.Entrance to St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.The Dnieper River, running through Kiev.The art of seduction.The Kiev Funicular.Lovely buildings in Kiev.Monument to Princess Olga.St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in the morning.Mykhailivs’ka Street, on my way to Maidan Nezalezhnosti.Maidan Nezalezhnosti (or “Independence Square”).Makeshift memorial at Maidan Nezalezhnosti.An abandoned school at the Chernobyl site.Sleeping room for children inside the school.Doll outside of the abandoned school, within 10 kilometers of the disaster.The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl (formerly known as the “V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station”).Railroad leading from the nuclear power plant.The New Safe Confinement structure, created to permanently and soundly seal Reactor 4 for the next 100 years.Monument with Reactor 4’s sarcophagus in the background.The hotel at Pripyat.Soviet propaganda posters left inside the theater.Pripyat amusement park.Bumper cars at the Pripyat amusement park.Ferris wheel in Pripyat.Stands at the football field in Pripyat.Basketball court at Pripyat.The swimming pool at Pripyat.Ladder leading in to the swimming pool.Classroom littered with books.Room littered with gas masks supplied to the school for the children to use in case of a nuclear holocaust.Front of a television set and a doll wearing a child’s gas mask behind it.Classroom in the derelict school in Pripyat.Abandoned apartment buildings in Pripyat.Pripyat River, seen from the town’s riverside park.The radiation detector at the entrance to the cafeteria at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.Driving through the woods in Chernobyl.The Duga-3 radar array.Looking up at the Duga-3 radar array.The gigantic radar array at Chernobyl.Looking up at the radar array.Another view of the Duga-3 radar array.The electronics building for the Duga-3 radar array site.The identification control room at the Duga-3 radar array site.Identification specifications for the Trident-2 missile.Monument to the heroes of the disaster in the center of the town of Chernobyl.Road through the abandoned neighborhood at the outskirts of Chernobyl.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs at night.St. Andrew’s Church at night.Bottle of Crimean red wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.National Art Museum of Ukraine.‘Bride’ by Fedir Krychevskyi (1910 AD).‘Taras Leading Troops’ by Mykhailo Derehus (1952 AD).‘Soldier’s Wife’ by Viktor Zaretskyi.‘High Award’ by Tetiana Holembiievska (1962 AD).Painting depicting a wife watching her husband ride off to war.Painting depicting a family in the countryside with a traveling musician.‘Anti-religious Carnival’ by Vasyl Chaliienko.‘In Memory of Sculptor Ihor Levytskyi’ by Ivan Makohon (1934 AD).Mariyinsky Palace.Mariyinsky Park.Gate Church of the Trinity (and the main entrance to the Kiev-Pechersk Historic-Cultural Preserve).Dormition Cathedral in Kiev-Pechersk Historic-Cultural Preserve.Dormition Cathedral and Great Lavra Bell Tower.Dormition Cathedral and the Refectory Church, seen from the Great Lavra Bell Tower.BMD-2 seized by Ukrainian servicemen in the Luhansk Region in August 2014 – troops using these vehicles in the region were found with documents identifying them as personnel of military base No. 74268, which is located in Pskov, Russia.The Motherland Monument standing tall above the Great Patriotic War Museum.Nazi uniform on display in the Great Patriotic War Museum.Soviet (“CCCP”) pistol.Concentration camp uniform for a political prisoner from Russia.Soviet Union military medals.Memorial room below the Motherland Monument.Statue inside the Great Patriotic War Museum.Path through the park behind the Motherland Monument.House from the Donetsk Region in the twentieth-century (in Pirogov – the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine).Zarubyntsi village church (originally built in 1742 AD).Wreath in one of the dwellings inside the Middle Dnieper Area Region site at Pirogov.Inside one of the homes from the Middle Dnieper Area Region.Traditional homes from the Poltava Region, reassembled here at Pirogov.Log cabins from the Polissya Region.Windmills from the Polissya Region.Church from Kanora village (built in 1792 AD), in the Carpathian Region.Mill from Pylypets village, in the Carpathian Region.Peasant home from Puzhajkove village, from the Potlillya Region.Zelene village church (built in 1817 AD), from the Ternopil Region.Peasant house (on the right) from Kadyjivtsi village and the hen house from Tsybulivka village (in the center).The farmstead of Garyachyntsi village.Windmills.Farmstead from the Middle Dnieper Region and the church from Dorogynka village in the distance.National Opera House of Ukraine.Golden Gate of Kiev (a historic gateway in the ancient city fortress of Kiev).The bell tower and main entrance to St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev.Looking up inside the bell tower.St. Sophia’s Cathedral, seen from the bell tower.Statue of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, seen from St. Sophia’s bell tower.St. Sophia’s Cathedral.Painting of Volodymyr the Metropolitan, who was the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church until his death in 2014 AD.Blue miter worn by Volodymyr the Metropolitan.Statue of Bohdan Khmelnytsky.Art on the side of a building in Kiev.Ukrainian dry red wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.Street in Lviv.Transfiguration Church.Painting on the corner of a building.View of Lviv from Union of Lublin mound, located where the High Castle used to stand.Temple of John the Baptist (from the 13th-century AD).The Gunpowder Tower.Tram in Lviv.The Assumption Church and bell tower.Entrance to the Assumption Church.Another street in Lviv.Polish Papenhaimer helmet with wings (from the 17th-century AD).Belgian Duel Set from 1842 AD.“Battle of Grunwald.”“Winged Hussar” armor (the “Winged Hussars” were the main striking force of the Polish army in the late 17th-century AD).Set of weapons with a Morgenstern (“morning star”) in the center.a fish-shaped cannon.Hunting Adze (from Poland, 18th-century AD).Bernardine Church and Monastery.Facade to the Chapel of the Boim family.Inside the Chapel of the Boim family.Inside the Latin Cathedral.Stained-glass window in the Latin Cathedral.Looking up at the ceiling of the Latin Cathedral.Buildings on Rynok Square (also known as “Market Square”).Lviv’s Town Hall and tower in the center of Rynok Square.View from the Town Hall tower with the Dominican Church (dome on the left) and Assumption Church (bell tower on the right).Looking north from the tower with the Transfiguration Church in view.Looking southwest from the tower with the Latin Cathedral and the Chapel of the Boim family in view.More buildings along Rynok Square with Korniakt Palace – the Royal Townhouse – on the right.The Italian Courtyard within the Royal Townhouse building, which is now the Historical Museum of Lviv.Room inside the Royal Townhouse.Order of the Golden Fleece.Saints Peter and Paul Church (the Jesuit Church).Inside the Jesuit Church.The ceiling in the Jesuit Church.“The Virgin Hodegetria,” painted in the mid-16th-century AD in the Lviv Region.“The Old Testament Trinity,” painted in the late 16th-century AD in the Lviv Region.“Christ – The Vine,” painted between 1720-1740 AD in the Lviv Region.“Virsavia” (after the painting by Karl Briullov) believed to be by Taras Shevchenko.“Petruvannia” (a Ukrainian Folk Feast on Saints Peter and Paul’s Day) by Teofil Kopystynsky.“Village Cemetery” by Mykhailo Tkachenko.Recent painting created in 2012 AD (the placard was in Ukrainian, so I have no idea who painted it).2013 AD painting of St. George slaying his dragon (apparently while on LSD).Inside Kriyivka, a Ukrainian freedom fighter themed restaurant.My dinner of bread, salo (sliced pork fat with garlic), and chicken noodle soup.Statue of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, at the entrance to Masoch Café.Inside Masoch Café (a café with a sadomasochistic theme).“Horse Over Killed Rider” by the Polish painter, Juliusz Kossak.“Do as the Gods Do” by Polish painter Henryk Siemiradzki.Death viewing the art gallery.“Christ and the Samaritan Woman” by Henryk Siemiradzki.“Hutsul Orphans” by Polish painter Kazimierz Sichulski.“The Winter Sun in the Carpathians” by Polish painter Wladyslaw Jarocki.“Bathers” by Russian painter Alexander Deineka.“Fountain at Rynok Square in Lviv” by Erno Erb.Potocki Palace, which houses the European Art Gallery.St. George’s Cathedral.Looking out from St. George’s Cathedral.Elephant slide in a children’s playground.Pedestrians crossing a street in Lviv.Diorama of monks brewing beer in the Beer Brewing Museum in Lviv.Diorama of a Cooper Workshop (where barrels for beer were manufactured, repaired, cleaned, and resined), inside the Beer Brewing Museum.Tap with air pump attached to a beer cask.Historic church from the Lviv Region, now located in the Museum of Folk Architecture and Peasant Homes.Inside another historic church from the Lviv Region.Church from the Boiko Ethnic Region, with sheep grazing in front (there’s always got to be one black sheep in every herd).Inside an old home from the Hutsul Ethnic Region.Hut from the Transcarpathian flatland.Church from the Lemko Ethnic Region.Woods in the Museum of Folk Architecture and Peasant Homes.Bandura (a traditional Ukrainian stringed instrument).Graves in Lychakivske Cemetery.Cross on top of one of the tombs.Polish military burials from 1918 to 1920 AD, in Lychakivske Cemetery.Chapel found in Lychakivske Cemetery.Lviv National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.Building where Ludwig von Mises was born (back in 1881 AD), located in Lviv on Hnatyuka Street.Inside the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv.Stained glass above the altar in the Armenian Cathedral.Tram tracks on the south side of Rynok Square.Statue and fountain in Rynok Square.Buildings and lamppost at Rynok Square.Inside the “super” room in the Lviv National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.The cast of ‘The Magic Flute’ being applauded at the end of their performance in the Lviv National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.
