Spring 2007 photos

[Jack]

Hello guy's, getting stronger everyday but more importantly able to get a little more time. Seeing doctors, going to hospitals and clinics to have medical stuff done, trying to finish-up with a group tour going on 6000 miles away has taken a lot of time and I am just now beginning to have a little more time,.....so since I will not be able to share any fall photos with you guys I figured I would share some of my recent Spring photos.

Once I start posting of photos, in just a few minutes, it will take me some time to post photos and comment's so I won't be able to respond to any questions until after I finish.  My last posting of photos will be titled "The End".

Ok, before I post photos and stories, a few Disclaimers.



It has been suggested by a RWD member that my post's/photos should be considered in the same light as Pike's trip report.  Quote... " Those that believe Pikes saucy tales can somehow corrupt newbies should also take another look at the picture threads that seem to be tolerated so well as a TR.  After all they say a picture says a thousand words and I really don't see much difference as to what is being implied." ... Unquote.


Disclaimer # 1.

Be WARNED.  If Pike's trip report offended you, you may not want to go any further in this thread.  If you found Pike's report offensive, if you are a newby who can easily be corrupted, you may NOT want to look at any of the following photos or read any of the contents included.






Following you will also see many photos of Russian women.  These are not photos of only beautiful Russian women so if anyone thinks I am only posting photos of what I consider beautiful Russian women, that is not the case. These are photos of normal, everyday Russian/Ukraine women. 

If you are a Russian woman member of RWD who thinks these are pictures of only Russian whores, you are dead wrong.  And if you feel that beautiful Russian women who wear short dresses, short skirts, short short are whores I strongly urge you and recommend you not to look at the following photos as well I don't care to hear of your disgusting comments directed at the photos of these women.

Most of these photos of women are NOT photos of women who are seeking marriage to a foreign man. Any photos taken at some of our parties, or some of my friends, yes, these will be women who are seeking a foreign husband. But the many photos taken of women who are out and walking about the city cannot be considered as women who are looking for a foreign husband.



Disclaimer # 2.

If you are a person who often objects to sexualization, esp. visual, of RW on a Russian discussion board, and feels such photos offer no value, then you may not want to look any further.

If you are a Russian woman or a male member who is offended by Russian women wearing short skirts, short dresses or short shorts, you may not want to look at any of the following photos.

To any of those who may be offended by such photos being posted on RWD I will offer you the advice and suggestion offered by one member of RWD.   Quote,..." If that's what guys around here want then it is MUCH easier to do this:  Google 'Russian Woman' and click on the images link and you can see hundreds of pics of sexy FSU women without comments in all kinds of poses and states of dress. Enjoy. ".... Unquote






And finally.  If any members want to post any other photos to this thread, no matter if it is one photo or 100 photos, please feel free to.  I do not want any moderators to delete or to remove any photos posted by other members and begin a new thread with those photos.  If the guys wanted to post those photos in a new thread, they would do so themselves. If any members want to post any photos to this thread, make any comments, feel free to do so and do not worry about them being removed, deleted, or your photos and comments made into a new thread.

[Jack]

 

[Jack]

 
                                   Pectoral


If your are ever driving through out Ukraine or Southern Russia you might look out your car, bus or train window and see a large mound of soil in the middle of, ....well,.. the middle of almost anything. Maybe the middle of acres of sunflowers or rows of corn or next to a school in the middle of the center of Zaporozhye (as is really the case) or a large farm of nothing but flat level land as far as the eye can see, with the exception of this one large mound of dirt.  Chances are that mound is a Kurgan.

Next time any of you can drive from Dnepropetrovsk to Zaporoazhye, highway M2, keep an eye out on both your right and left hand side of the road and you can see,.... I think I recall,  three or four Kurgans.

In May I saw this one big mound on the right hand about 250 meters from the road and asked Galina what's that large mound and she proceeded to tell me it was a Kurgan.    Ohh, ok...., a Kurgan (like I was suppose to know). A short time later, maybe 10-15 minutes, I see another large mound on the left-hand side of the road and asked our driver to stop. He did and I stepped outside the auto and took these photos of this one Kurgan.

There are a lot of these Kurgans throughout Ukraine and Russia, as well other parts of Europe.


What is a Kurgan?  A Kurgan is the Russian word for Tumulus, a type of burial mound.  In this mound members of the elite were buried with goods, weapons, sometimes with horses and chariots, and the body of a single human.  These Kurgans date back to 4th century BC and were built during the Eneolithic, Bronze, Iron, Antiquity and the Middle ages.

Of course over the century grave robbers have dug into these Kurgans and taken whatever treasures they could find.

In 1971 there was a Kurgan named Tolstaya Mogila in the Dnepropetrovsk region that some officials wanted leveled. It was believed that this Kurgan had also been robbed as there were many tunnels dug around and into the center. A decent archeologist who no one knew, and was employed by the state (USSR), Boriz Mozolevsky began to excavate the mound. Four inches from the top soil, four inches from centuries of grave diggers, Mozolevsky found what has become to be known as simply "Pectoral" (Greek word for Chest decor).  The degree of the delicate and fine workmanship of this piece astounded world scholars to the point some believed it had to be built by extraterrestrial origin.

This priceless artifact can be seen today in the Larva Monastery museum in Kiev.

[Jack]

                                    Kiev



First photo,

The Globe, right in front of the main post office.  This is a popular place for meeting people.  Surrounding the globe you will see markers indicating how many kilometers it is from the Globe to most of Ukraine's major cities.



Second photo,

The walkway between the entrance to the main post office (to the left) and the Globe (to the right).  One of the two MacDonalds off Khershatyk can be seen in the background.



Third photo,

People sitting outside the Square (Independence Square).  Below (underground) where these people are sitting is Kiev's most expensive mall.



Fourth photo,

Looking at the north end of Khershatyk. 

Where you see the large blue cover on the left side of Khershatyk (construction work being done) is where our Firstdream marriage agency office is located.

[Jack]

Kiev



First photo,

Top of the monument to Ukraine's Independence (also called Kuchma's folly).



Second photo,

Another view of Independence Square from underneath the monument to Ukraine's Independence.



Third photo,

The far north end of Khershatyk where traffic is diverted from Khershatyk on the weekends (and holidays).



Fourth photo,

View from Independence Square towards Khershayk and the hill towards the Presidential Palace.

[Jack]

Kiev


First photo

View on the left side of Khershaytk facing south in front of the MacDonald's located on Khershaytk next to the main metro.



Photos two, three, four,

Nice flower arrangements in front of the main metro on Khershaytk.



Photo five,

View of Khershatyk from sitting area outside Double Coffee.



Photo six,

Halfway down Khershatyk facing south.  If you heard of the "Arena Club" it's located in the large building in the center of the photo.

[BillyB]

Jack, you probably need to warn all pregnant ladies, people on medication, and people with a heart condition from viewing any further too. So far, this is tame compared to your other photos posted in the past but just in case, I'm going to adjust my pacemaker.

[Jack]

Kiev


Photo one,

View of Khershaytk looking south from close to Independence Square.



Photo two,

A couple of young Ukraine men standing on Khershatyk. This haircut is quite popular.



Photo three,

St. Andreski.



Photo four,

Taken from flat at 28 Khershatyk.   Here is a flat I sometimes stay in while in Kiev if I'm only staying for a few days.  From my window you can see the main department story on Khershaytk (and one of only two buildings on Khershaytk that was left standing from the Patriotic War.  Anyone know the second building?)  Almost anything you need you can buy at this department store.
 
A funny think happened while staying in this flat this past May.  About 8am in the morning there was a knock at the door.  We had stayed out late the previous night and 8am was real early to be knocking on my door.  As I was getting up to answer the door I was thinking to my self which of the guys was in some sort of trouble.
 
So I go to the door and there are two gentlemen nicely dressed in black suites. The dark haired man of about 28 began talking to me, in Russian of course and he pulled out his billfold and showed me his credentials. They looked impressive whatever they were.  So after this guy finished with his 25 second spell to me I told him nyet Po'russki.  " NYET Po'Russki " he says?   Then the blond headed man of about 30 standing behind him a few feet said in broken English "Sir, you cannot open your window or look out your window".   I said "Hey, no problem" as they said good-bye and I jumped back into bed.  I couldn't image why they didn't want me opening the window or even looking out of it but I was in no mood to do either as I quickly tried to fall back to sleep.
 
Then at 9am all hell broke loose. This loud music, the loud speakers with people talking. "What the hell is going on" I wonder.  So despite being told not to look at the window, I had to.  It was the Ukraine Independence Day parade.  On the street standing on both sides of Khershatyk were police/army men standing shoulder to shoulder with those on my side of the street looking at the buildings across the street and those policemen and soldiers on the other side of the street checking out buildings on my side of the street.  Yuschenko was in the parade and the Ukraine secret service forbid anyone who had a window or balcony facing Khershatyk to either open there window or balcony door or from even looking out there windows.

[Jack]

 

[Jack]

 Nice couples

[Jack]

Lugansk


First photo,

Remember as a kid we wondered what it would be like to have a moto on our bike?    A real bicycle with a little motor on it.


Second photo,

City center waiting for bus.



Third photo,

The infamous 2005 photo of the Great republic.



Fourth photo,

2007 photo of same pot-hole.  Texas is no more.

[Jack]

I'm walking down the street.   What's this, a man-hole cover slightly opened?   Maybe it looks like a little open from this angle.

Ahhh, but from the side angle, opening looks a little bigger.
 
A little over a year ago a young woman in Kherson was killed when she fell into such an open man-hole.

[Jack]

Sitting in the center of Lugansk one day and across the street a see some type celebration going on.  I asked what was the celebration all about and was told this was graduation day for many of the trade schools and these students were all bakers.   Different groups of students would come up and sing, some would dance, some would do little skits.    Changing outfit's in public?  No problem.

[Jack]

More Lugansk. Helen, Katya, party.

[Jack]

 

[Jack]

Long shot's.



The following are shots taken from a great distance.
 
The first photos were taken at about 100 meters (110 yards).
 
Then shots at 150 meters, then 200 meters. 
 
 
 
 

[Jack]

More long shots.


The very last photo, a blonde in a short white dress, I saw her from my balcony window in Dnepropetrovsk and thought she looked nice. I took the elevator downstairs, I thought it would never come, ran down to the corner where I saw her walking towards and just before she disappeared from site I was able to take this one photo of her at about 250 meters.


The photos just before the last photo are of a blonde in a short black dress in Lugansk. She was about 200 meters from me.  Takes a pretty sharp looking lady to get Ukraine men to take a double take. Look at third photo of two men in the taxi.

 

[Jack]

                 
                              Dnepropetrovsk

[Jack]

DNP

[Jack]

Dnp   

[Jack]

                                 Short shorts   

[Jack]

 

[Jack]

Nikolaev


The center of the center, Sovietskaya street.

[Jack]

     
                             Kharkov



First two photos.
 
The center of the center for Kharkov is Sumskaya  (Sumskaja). The stress is on the second vowel.
 
Located about halfway on Sumskaya on the west side of the street you will see Freedom Square.  Originally named Dzerzhinsky Square after Felix Dzershinsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, it was renamed Freedom Square in 1991 after Ukraine became independent from the USSR.
 
Many of the buildings you see to the west of the statue of Lenin are some of the many different Universities located in Kharkov.   Kharkov has more Universities that any other city in Ukraine.



Third photo,

Park just to the south of Freedom Square.




Fourth photo,

Kharkov opera.    Located on south side of park next to Freedom Square.



Fifth photo,

Standing in front, well to be more precise, standing in the middle, of the street in front of the opera looking south on Sumskya.



Sixth photo,

As you walk further south on Sumskaya, away from Freedom Square, to your right you will see this 5 story red brick building, the Kharkov Historical museum.
 
For any of you history buff's of the Great Patriotic war  (WWII) you will really want to visit this museum.  Many actual photos, one of a kind photos, are shown of Kharkov during the war.  One of the things Kharkov will always be known for in history is it was the site of the German's last major victory of the war.  The center was almost completely destroyed. Sumskaya was actually used as a landing strip for German planes.



Seventh photo,

Sumskaya looking north from in front of the museum.

[Jack]

Lot's of good sights in front of the museum as the first photo shows.




Second photo. 
 
 Just to the south of the museum you will see this monument that
some people in Kharkov are not to crazy about.  Many people have said it looks like several people carrying a refrigerator.  Guess it depends on the direction you are looking at the monument.  I asked what is the name of this monumnet and was told it had no name, it was devoted to the revolutionists who took part in the Socialistic Revolution in 1905.




Third photo
 
Looking towards the very end of Sumskaya.




Fourth  photo
 
At the sound end of Sumskya looking north.




Fifth photo,

One block west of  Sumskaya at the south end of Sumskaya you will see these two statues?  Anyone know who these guys are?   If no one knows I'll tell.



Sixth photo,

I met these two guys in a small market east of Sumskaya towards the river. I was buying juice, they were buying, what else, vodka.  They heard me speak English to the clerk and these guys could not believe I was an American.  I was the first American they had ever met in person. We celebrated over several shot's of vodka.