Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Oct 12, 2023
Wow, what a nice city is #Kraków! I could live here, and I don’t say that about many cities. There are parks and green space everywhere. The transit is fabulous. It’s all very clean and orderly while still intensely interesting yet still somehow calm. It has the most beautiful “Old Town” that I’ve ever seen in an old city. And all just a 2-day rail journey from #Kyiv. I came to pick up a visa from #Ukraine’s consulate. The first pic shows #NazarsRock in front of the main train station.
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Oct 8, 2023
#NazarsRock being in #Lviv today is a bit accidental, stemming from a misunderstanding of train schedules related to my journey to Kraków, but #Universe has been gracious and now I’m very glad I’m here. I was 2 hours early for checkin to the Airbnb, so I wandered down to a city square where a patriotic fundraiser was about to start. When the national anthem was played, I stood and placed my hand over my heart, and tears leaked out. Many school groups performed songs and dances. #GloryToUkraine!
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 23, 2023
Saturdays are my day off from studying Ukrainian and I try to get out and see a different part of #Kyiv. Today I took #NazarsRock to Victory Park which commemorates the USSR’s victory in WWII. It was my first excursion to the left bank of the Dnipro River. The southern tip of the park has a small amusement park for kids. The “devil’s wheel” (that’s what my teacher said they call Ferris wheels) wasn’t running. There are also small playgrounds scattered throughout the park, including a number of up-in-the-trees activities for young and old alike. Along the western edge of the park is a long thin lake with adjacent walking paths, small boat rental, picturesque footbridges, and lots of ducks. There were many families enjoying the day together in the park. That’s what I thought about constantly: these folks are just trying to live their best lives. They’re fun-loving, family-loving, freedom-loving people. Who would want to attack them? Oh yeah: cranky little paranoiacs. #GloryToUkraine
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 13, 2023
You might remember in the early days of the war seeing scenes on TV news of Ukrainians swaddling the monuments to their heroes in sandbags to keep them safe from harm. Today I brought #NazarsRock to the big park that is home to #Kyiv’s monument to the great poet #TarasShevchenko. The monument continues to be very well protected. I look forward to seeing it unobstructed someday, after #Ukraine wins the war and rebuilding is well underway. I wonder what ceremony might accompany the un-entombing.
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 9, 2023

Yesterday I visited the #Kyiv’s Hryshko National Botanical Garden. Here’s a nice write-up:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hryshko_National_Botanical_Garden

It’s on top of a hill and about a 15 minute walk from where I’m staying. The walking route involves a series of stairways that reminded me a bit of climbing up #TelegraphHill in #SanFrancisco. (But no parrots.)

The first pic shows #NazarsRock in front of the fountain near the entrance. Around the outside wall of the pool is written in various languages, “Let there be peace on earth.”

The bird, according to Merlin Bird ID (Europe pack) is a hooded crow. To me it looks more like a crow wearing a silver cape, but body color is primary, so it’s a silver bird with a black hood. Very common in the Botanical Garden.

Hryshko National Botanical Garden - Wikipedia

Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 5, 2023

I’ve been in #Kyiv less than 24 hours, but I was able to procure Hryvnias, learn to use the metro, and have nearly 3 hours of language classes at a great place called #LanguageLab. Too busy for a pic with #NazarsRock, so here’s a bit about the very intense and beautiful #KyivMetro.

It’s very deep, over 300 feet. Think about that: 30 stories underground. No wonder it makes a great bomb shelter. The escalators are much faster than in the US. Have to be nimble. And it’s weird to go down, down, down for seeming minutes with a breeze in your face. This article makes me want to check out every one of these beautiful stations. #SlavaUkraiini!

https://bbqboy.net/the-10-most-beautiful-metro-stations-in-kyiv-kiev-ukraine/

The 10 Most Beautiful Metro Stations in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine

The 10 Most Beautiful Metro Stations in Kyiv (Kiev). They're all unique and beautiful, but one makes it on the list of the world's most beautiful..

The Travels of BBQboy and Spanky
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 3, 2023

#NazarsRock is now in Przemyśl, Poland. It was a wonderful 9-hour train ride from Vienna because I made a new friend, a Polish chemical engineer named Mariusz who spoke really good English. We talked for nearly 8 hours about many things. He thanked me for my insights on American society and politics and taught me about Polish government. I explained the anthropogenic causes of #ClimateChange and he made me promise to email him more information. Then he taught me some Polish, showing me the seven case endings for some words, and also how to pronounce some of the mysterious letters. Now I’m smitten with Polish, and since he invited me to visit when I’m next in Poland, I’ll stick with it.

Never, during the lowest points of my life, on the point of giving up, never did I imagine that if I just hung in there, I would make a friend on a train in Poland. Thank you, #Universe.

Never ever give up.

Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Sep 2, 2023
#NazarsRock is currently in #Vienna. I was very taken with St Stephan Cathedral. I’ve never before noticed geometric designs on a church roof.
Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Aug 30, 2023

I’ve resumed my eastward trek toward #Ukraine, spending tonight in #Munich. It’s not very picturesque near the train station, so I took a pic of #NazarsRock in front of the great place I’m staying which I found on #Airbnb. Nice private room but shared bathrooms on each floor.

But the BIG news is OMG the #Zurich train station is incredible! Seriously, if you have the chance to visit #Switzerland, just put that on your itinerary. No, it’s not architecturally sublime or stuffed with great works of art. What it is is PERFECT in the form-follows-function sense. It’s so clean and spacious. The last 3 pics below are from 11am this morning! (Wednesday) Every large train station in Europe I’ve visited over the past 5 weeks has been sheer over-crowded chaos. Not this place. The main lobby is on the middle level and there are 20 tracks above and 24 tracks below. Oh, and weight-activated escalators. Why can’t the USA have nice train stations like this?

Djembro, RO, supports 🇺🇦🇬🇪Aug 28, 2023
Decades ago, I had a recurring dream of an unfinished bridge. A few years ago, I related it to a friend who said it reminded him of “le pont d’Avignon,” the bridge in Avignon, France, that stops abruptly in the middle of the Rhône River. That’s when I added seeing “le pont d’Avignon” to my #bucketList. That’s how #NazarsRock came to be in #Avignon, because being enroute to the war in #Ukraine seems a perfect time to check some things off the ol’ bucket list. And I got to share the experience because “coincidentally” (thanks, #Universe), two friends from home happened to be starting a river cruise/bike trip in Avignon. How’s that for a #blessing? We had an incredible time, learning that we shared much life philosophy. It was a potent experience for me, just days away from entering Ukraine.