Travelogue 3

Luhansk (Lugansk) is a small(ish) town in the Ukraine. One thing I was impressed with is the architecture and landscaping that are occurring now. These buildings belong to rich people, let’s make that clear, but money can buy a lot including good creativity.

This house occupies near one block, and is built almost like a castle.

The landscaping looks amazing in the sunset.

The front has a mixture of plants ranging from cherry blossom to grapes and firs. The vines are grapes, not ivy.

 

 

 

 

 

The ‘tower’ seems to be a nice place to chill out but I was impressed with the wall… must have taken a lot of patience to cut and fit slices of stone together. That wall by the way, varies between 12 and 20 feet high and more than a foot wide, and is long enough to circle the property.

No plastering in sight so it might well be that it stands because of the fitting of the stones.

 

 

 

This one is built out of BIG wooden logs fitted together. I was prevented from taking a better photo by a huge dog who looked at me as if I was his Last Supper. As you can see though, it is still being built. The logs are held in place by ropes and by careful cutting of the wood to make perfect fit.

Some o those logs are more than 22 inches thick.

 

 

 

This photo is of a plane in front of the aviation club. Looks like a single person fighter that was planted there but there was no one we could confirm that with, as I passed there on a public holiday and the club was closed.

 

However, the plane has battle scars and this more than anything had me thinking it is real.

 

 

 

Not too far from here is an actual circus…. a fixed building outfitted and used by different circus acts, seen below.

Thought of the Day

When I saw the following quote, I knew there was a reason I didn’t trust Jack Warner:

Never trust a man with short legs… his brain’s too near his bottom.

Noel Coward

The war you don’t see.

If you watch this, be prepared to question yourself into what you believe.

This is a 2010 ITV documentary in how war is sold and the public minds manipulated.

Memories

Wow… this brings back memories.

Travelogue 2

One of the pleasures of travelling, for me at least, is trying new foods from the various places I visit… the local cuisine can be daringly different or sometimes familiarly similar. The Ukrainian local cuisine is a blend of both, and at first glance is very healthy… similar to a Mediterranean one.

Cold and hot soups, filled with vegetables… meat dishes of various kinds, baked, fried, BBQ’d, boiled even (but since my heart attack, I avoid fried foods)… I took a fancy to two types of fish salad made by my friend’s mother.

In the first, to the far left, you can see decorations of black olives and potato chips… yes, the kind that comes out of a pack or a Pringle’s can. The one on the right is loaded with vegetables, corn, herbs etc. Both had different tastes, which made tucking in a real treat.

 

 

The dish to the right is  'pelmeni’ (Russian, in Ukrainian it is vareniki) which is like wontons… a thin flour wrapping filled with meat. This particular dish was pelmeni with mushrooms. To the far right is a cabbage salad. It was topped with lemon juice and was very tasty.

The best food is home prepared, in my opinion. I like the traditional flavours that come through, as opposed to the taste of  dishes from restaurants… though to be fair, even those are nothing to scoff at as I said in my last post.