olechko

Last night my husband turned “..” and we decided to pop into a bar to celebrate. It was Monday night but the scene at Arena bar was very happening. Expats hanged by the bar, tired executives in suits, pimp-looking Ukrainians lounged in booths. Girls in pairs (one pretty girl and another - wing woman) - occupied booths, sipped chardonnay, talked on cell phones, smoked hookah and waited on Mr. Pinchuk to drop by.

Otherwise it’s a very typical “new Ukrainian” place, fully equipped with sushi bar, exposed stainless steel kitchen, mini brewery, and sports on tv. The bar was on the ground floor, the lift in the hall lead into a restaurant on the second, casino on the third, and night club on the fourth, what else? In short, a perfect place for a restless oligarch to meet his needs all-in-one. Fabulous!

Arena City Entertainment - off Baseyna St. across from Besarabka

A great aerial view from Wikimapia of Palanok gives an idea about the three-castles-in-one layout that it has. It is Mukachevo hosts a wonderful gem of a castle - Palanok. It stands on an antient dead vulcano in the middle of the plains, in Transcarpathia.

Inside the castle there is a local ethnographic museum and a church. Being so unreachable, it is one of the best preserved castles. (Another particular good castle is Olesk, but in total you can visit around 40 castles in western Ukraine).

Last week I took a day tour around the Carpathian mountains. It was my first time seeing its breathtaking views:

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All those living in Kyiv area would like to join my American husband’s jamming sessions? Ukraininan language would be ok, but English-speaking fellow jammers are preferred. He plays accoustic and electric guitar, owns a bunch of home-recording stuff I don’t know the names for. His music inspiration are the Beatles, Elliot Smith, recently The Decembrists, etc.

A follow-up on the discussion with Little Miss Moi on Fashion. Kyiv fashion may either scare to death or wildly inspire newcomers. There are several kinds of sources for obtaining clothing here. The masses wear bazaar-purchased clothing that commands the worst taste of Turkish and Chinese manufacturers. Middle-class makes rich the A group (Mango, Promod, etc). The cream of the crop shop in London, Milan and Paris. Petrified expatriates order from gap.com and zappos.com and beg their friends to bear the overseas shipping costs.

Local clothing production is almost non-existent. There used to be a nice “democratic” British-Ukrainian label called Sensus which is no more. Several Ukrainian acting designers do not make the weather here just yet.

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It’s stunning, interesting, personal and magnificent. In spite of having very little to do with music and theater, I am drawn to this place extremely. The Opera House was opened in 1900, built in Austria, transported to Lviv by train and put together by pieces. The interior is full of gold, silver and marble details. It generally feels good to be inside. Besides, ballet and opera, other acts perform there periodically. The tickets on regular shows range from 10-70 hryvnias, a bit steeper then in Kyiv, actually. Because of that it’s easier to get a seat at the last minute. A nicely-designed site has the general information and contact info in English, but does not seem to have the bill translated just yet.

In the past fortnight, I visited Lviv twice and fell in love with it completely! In spite of temperamental weather(see London), lack of basic amenities (people get water here three hours a day) and general sad state, the place rocks! Seeing the old town alone makes up for all the inconveniences. The architecture carries the spirit of old Austro-Hungaria and Rech Pospolyta. The most common religious denomination is greek-catholic, although a few roman-catholic orders represented here as well. (more…)

A fortnight of self-indulging has passed. Lots of interesting things learned and seen. Apparently a large sub-culture of our people are into mineral water-treatment (also ozekerit- mountain wax, fresh air walks and salt shafts breathing exercises). Some dedicate to it up to a month of time each year! The often positive effect stands proves them right. The exercises seem to improve their health greatly.

Truskavets is an ancient settlement in Pre-Carpathians (Lviv region). It’s name comes from ?latin for salt. Previously, the local folk would base the livestock in the mineral water springs to treat skin problems and thanked the providence for the healing. In 1827 Tarasevych - an Armenian apothecary from Lviv has discovered the water in Truskavets can benefit people’s health when drunk. Rich in oil-based elements, it dissects calcium in body (more…)

Excellent collection of XIX Century art in the Russian Empire, includes Vrybel, Repin, Shyshkin, besides Ukrainian-born Levytskyi. Also at the museum there is a room with several icons. The whole collection is based on Tereshchenko’s collection - the fabulously-wealthy Kyiv family. Btw, another part of their collection is presented at the Haneky Collection next door (Terschenkivska 15). Hankenky were the daughter of Tereschenko and her husband who continued on collecting.

A gift edition of glossy museum photoalbum goes for whopping $290.

Tereschenkivs’ka 9 (044) 451-40-27

I stumbled across an essay on this Ukrainian lady artist. This is her oil painting titled Julien’s Studio. She left her family for to Paris to study art (where all the action was at the time). She kept an intriguing diary since she was 15, written in French, that was published all across Europe. She died at just 24. Just found out there is a novel out about her - by Mykhailo Slaboshpyts’kyi. I am off to Petrivka! (The picture above is taken from Ukrainian Culture History, Book 4.

25.10.07: did not find the book anywhere but by changing the spelling of her name to Russian (Мария Башкирцева) found a full text of her diary posted online on this Russian website, as well a plethora of information on her French site.