Pictures Pictures Pictures

Here we go, another barrage of photos from our adventures. These pictures are all from our time in Italy. We're in Geneva, Switzerland right now, but more on that later!

Please comment and enjoy!

Bandera is honoured in Italy

Just waiting at the train station

What's left of the Colosseum

Colosseum? Hardly...know 'em.

With our British friends Richard and Johnathan

View of St. Peter's Basilica from the Forum

Andrijko is short, but there arches make him look even shorter. As if that was possible.

The Wedding Cake...aka the Cheese Grater

Outside view of Colosseum

Zenon in front of the Pantheon, where all the Roman gods were honoured. Zenon honoured them in his own way...by taking a nap.

Possible career choice...?

(Some dead Italian guy's) ШТAНИ!!!

Jackpot.

Nooooot even close to our number....

Passing the time by planning our days...thanks to Mr. Rick Steves!

The Spanish Steps. Or, as the Spanish say, Los Steppos Spanitos. Right?

Pilipenstvo dates back to ancient Roman times.

Andrijko won 3 Euros!...then lost them all.

Zenon's keen sense of Subway led him here.

Street musicians everywhere!

The Pantheon at night

At Trevi Fountain

The hoard of tourists and locals at the Spanish Steps at night

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Theses guys don't look so tough.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

St, Peter's from the outside

Ukrainian church, St. Sophia, in Rome

More of St. Sophia

Sorry Andrijko, you must be THIS TALL to get into heaven.

Outside the Duomo in Milan....the one thing that was open. 

Two Down, Lots to Go!

Zenon: Two more cities down.  Florence can be summed up in one sentence: we waited half the day in the scorching heat to see Michaelangelo's David, and developed a very noticeable farmer's tan in the process.  Apparently, it's "frowned upon" to take your shirt off in public places in Italy.  You know what else was "frowned upon..?" Drinking on the streets in Ukrayina.  For anyone who's ever been at Bessarabs'kyj Rynok in Kyiv from the hours of 9 pm to 7 am, you all know how that works out every night.  Now its technically illegal in Ukrayina.  They might as well have left it as "frowned upon."  But, we're just humble tourists, so we kept our shirts on, and we'll have to straighten out that farmer's tan when we're at CYMivskyj tabir in England.  They have constant heat waves and sunshine there, right? 

Next, we had 5 nights Rome-ing around (we're not ones to steal jokes.... Comedic credit: Rick Steves, our 3rd best friend), and we are ready to move on.   Next stop, Milan.  It feels like we've been gone from Ukraine for ages, but it's only been a week.  It’s a little odd to be reminiscing about Ukraine instead of Canada, as if Ukraine had been our home all along.  We had a little taste of Ukraine today though - on our way out of Cavour subway station, a homeless person gave us a leaflet titled, "Manifestazione!"  To sum it up in a nutshell, the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome is calling all Ukrainian expatriates to demonstrate against the Ukrainian language law changes.  Appropriately enough, they are planning to hold this demonstration on August 24th, the anniversary of Ukraine's Independence.  Though there are (at last official count) about 5 million Ukrainians in Italy - mostly for short term work purposes - they have no real coordinated hromada here.  Even in Rome, where Ukrainians are scattered and lack direction, they've managed to get their act together.  A few more demonstrations from the diaspora, and that should be enough to send Yanu packing with his tail between his legs, I figure.  Oh no, I feel a verbal tangent coming on... Seriously, who voted for this guy?  We've been as far east and as far west as you can possibly go in Ukraine, and we have yet to come across genuine supporters of Yanu.  Yulia's people are camped out on the streets, Yatsenyuk's crew is handing out flyers left right and centre, and Klitschko... Well, I wouldn't want Dr. Iron Fist to know that I didn't vote for him.  I know he's the nicest guy around, and I've read all about his philanthropic work, but - excuse my French, mama - he scares the shit out of me.  When either of the Klitschko brothers looks at the camera, I half expect him to say, "I have crushed David Haye... You're next, Zenon Ciz."  Stoic and relentless, yet good natured and well meaning.  Intelligent and fierce.  He may be a little green, but put some political experience in him, and doesn't that sound like exactly what Ukraine needs?  So, Klitschko-Yanukovych Fight Club to decide the Presidency of Ukraine, or....?

But I digress... We're in Italy now.  (punches own head) We're on vacation - save the zeal and ire for when we're back in Canada!   ...And even though I hear more Russian than Italian (not much of an exaggeration), and have seen almost as many Asians as in Toronto (what's up with that, Italy?  When did you let that happen?), Rome is wicked.  For a self-proclaimed history buff like me, it is an endless labyrinth of interesting stuff.  You almost can't take a step without tripping on a rock Julius Caesar bled on, sitting on a ledge that Michaelangelo sculpted, or leaning on a wall that Mussolini probably punched in a fit of Nazi rage.  I don't think we're going to see a single city with as rich and storied a history as Rome. Well, only one way to find out!  ...And it starts where we are sitting right now, the world's least comfortable overnight train.  Eat your heart out, Ukraina - not only did we not get beds here, our seats are missing half of their back rests.  And I'm pretty sure they're made of the same material as the carpet I slept under back at Baba Vera's in Kyiv; a.k.a., a Brillo pad.  When we arrive in Milan in the morning, I am going to be seriously grumpy... Milan better be the coolest city in the world. 

Arrivederci, Roma!

Sorry, we had to. Too easy.

As we write this, it is Sunday, July 22, and we are on a train somewhere in Italy, en route to Milan—one of the fashion capitals of the world. Seeing as how we’re pretty much fashion icons, we’ll show ‘em a thing or two with our sweat pants, BUM shirts, Blue Bomber hat, SUSK sunglasses, etc. Our modelling careers might take off, so we might not be coming home after all.

Tonight, we left Rome after five days of being pure tourists (a nice change from being pure socialites on the Kyiv party scene). We had a busy five days, but always went at a good pace. One of the pluses of having five days in a city is never having to rush.

Our first day, Wednesday, was one of our favourites. Along with our British friends that we met at the train station, we saw the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill. Thanks to the podcast tour by Mr. Rick Steves, we learned a lot about the history of all three places. We also learned we would have made terrible gladiators. Wednesday night was party night as well, as we went out had an open bar for 20 Euros. Stumbling home at 3 a.m., we realised how cool Rome actually is. We didn’t use Islington Station or Portage and Main as landmarks to get home; we knew our hostel was north-east of the Coliseum and Forum. Using 2000-year-old structures to find tour way home is pretty wild! We also saw a Burger King on the way home (a post-alcohol mecca for one of us), but it wasn’t open. Shucks.

The following two days, we made sure to hit all the sites covered by our Roma Pass. The Roma Pass, for 30 Euros, gave us three days of unlimited public transportation, our first two sites free, and 30-50% off of other sites after that. It was a solid deal, and definitely paid for itself at the Colosseum, when we skipped the hour-long line. So, on Thursday and Friday we saw the Pantheon (where one of us took a nap), the National Museum of Rome, the Capuchin Crypt (where some monks arranged human bones in an artistically pleasing, albeit very creepy, manner), the Spanish Steps, the world’s biggest McDonald’s, and around thousand paintings, frescoes, mosaics, and sculptures.

You all know we’re not big “art” guys, but this trip is making us appreciate it, especially the sculptures. Most of the sculptures we see were carved from a SINGLE block of marble, with a hammer and chisel. The sculptures are so lifelike, and the details are so precise, down to every last crease in the clothing or wrinkle in the forehead, that it boggles our collective mind how this was done. This is truly a lost art form. Plus, what happened if they made a mistake?

Saturday was a highlight for us a well—the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. We were in awe the entire time. In the Sistine Chapel, we spent 45 minutes with our necks craned upwards, examining all the details in Michelangelo’s work.  St. Peter’s was much the same. That church is so grandiose and ornate; it made us feel really small. The lettering is seven feet tall, the dome is as high as a football field is long, the atrium is bigger than most churches, and the list goes on. After all our transgressions in June during EURO 2012, we were a little hesitant to enter the church. However, we did not burst into flames, so we guess we’re okay (for now). We tried to get some personal confession time with the Pope, but it was not to be. Maybe next time, Benny!

We spent Saturday evening and all day Sunday with Mama, Tato, and Olenka Ciz, as their travel itinerary matched up with ours once more. It was nice to have some family around again! We did some more sightseeing, ate lots of food, and had a great time being together in yet another European city. What a worldly family we are!

Now, on the train, we are exhausted. It was an action-packed few days, that’s for sure. We’re off to Milan for the day tomorrow (Monday), then off to Geneva tomorrow evening. Tuesday shall be a glorious reunion, as we’re meeting Alexa in the Alps for some adventure zip-lining. Hopefully this involves some physical activity, because we’ve done very little of that since May 30.

It’s been a while since we uploaded some photos, so we'll upload some within the next day. Off we go into Milan!

Florence

We think we’re going to feel the same way leaving most places on our adventure. That is, sad to leave one place, but excited for the new experiences we’ll have in the next.

That’s exactly how we felt leaving Venice. With one last look at the Grand Canal from the steps of the train station, we exhaled a big sigh and boarded our train to Florence. Remember how we mentioned in an earlier post the vastly improved conditions on the new fast trains in Ukraina? After just one train in Italy, a simple Venice-to-Florence route, we now understand how Ukraina’s new trains meet the European standard. We rode in spacious, air-conditioned comfort the entire way.

Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance movement, and we spent the day admiring the sights and sounds of this cultural mecca. Home to Michelangelo, Florence offers numerous museums, churches, and historically significant landmarks which everyone can appreciate.

Our first stop was the Galileo museum. After being frightened by countless obstetric models from centuries ago, we really enjoyed the Galileo rooms. That man was a genius. Need to measure the orbits of Jupiter’s moons to determine the latitude of your ship? No problem—Galileo invented a device for that, and had countless other scientific inventions as well. We just wish we could have played with all the inventions! Apprently, the museum frowns upon that sort of thing. We may or may not have found that out the hard way.

Then we saw the Duomo, the church around which everything seems to be based in Florence. With one of the largest domes in the world, and it’s architecturally-significant (albeit very “busy”) exterior, it’s quite impressive. Just the sheer magnitude of the church is something at which to marvel. As well, it looks way bigger from the outside. TWSS.

Afterwards, we went to the Accademia, a smaller art gallery home to Michelangelo’s David, and several more of his sculptures. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the line which wrapped around the building. However, a combination of beer, gelato, books, and meeting Ukrainians from New Jersey made that 90-minute wait go by rather quickly. Once we finally got inside, there was the big man himself—David. We’ve all seen his likeness before, but seeing this masterpiece up close was pretty darn cool. Some parts of him were bigger than we expected. Other parts of him were smaller. We’ll let you guess which was which. 

After another cheap meal of sandwiches and a giant hunk of watermelon for €1, we enjoyed another walking tour from Rick Steves, some more gelato, and that was it for our day in Florence. Art aficionados could probably spend three or four days here, but one day was just enough for us.

We’re currently writing this from our hostel in Rome. We haven’t seen any of the city yet, but we did meet some nice British people with whom we might meet up tomorrow. Gotta love meeting fellow travellers!

We have a solid four days in Rome coming up, with a full itinerary. Stay tuned for more from us…and more photos as well!

Venice the Menace

Zenon:  In serious social withdrawal (no offense, Andrijko).  We have gone from being surrounded by friends for every waking moment in Kyiv, to hanging out with a close-knit group of friends in Lviv, to just me and Andrijko strolling the streets of Venice, with naught but each other's company to keep us sane...as well as a million pigeons and twice as many tourists.

Yesterday, Andrijko was mistaken for a girl for the fourth time, to my recollection. We were sitting at a table sipping some (relatively) cheap wine in a piazza, when a homely brown man tried to sell me flowers to give to the person across from me at the table.  I promptly responded, "Why would I need those? (points at Andrijko) That's a boy."  Though this does give further credence to Mama Semaniuk's calls to get Andrijko's hair cut.  It's okay Mama Irka, you have a new son to be proud of - I got my hair cut two days ago :)

I personally have minimal exposure to Europe in my adult years (Ukraine notwithstanding - Ukraine is a far cry from your typical European experience). After years of seeing Venice hyped up and displayed ad nauseam in movies and television, I only have one thing to say to those that have never been - it is 100 times better and cooler than the movies can even hope to show.  How do you explain to someone through moving pictures the experience of not seeing a single car in a metropolis teeming with human traffic, of major thoroughfares being 5 feet wide, of almost every single building being waterfront property?  To someone born and raised in relatively nascent and mostly uninteresting Canadian cities, Venice is truly awe-inspiring.  Don't get me wrong - Canada by far the number one place to live.  I would hate to live in Venice. A small apartment can run you up a million dollars, and according to Rick Steves' audio guides, your home will flood 100 times a year on average.  But much like your first time driving alone, your first time on a roller coaster, your first time at Mongos in Winnipeg - and possibly some "other things" you did for the first time - the first time you experience it, it is magnificent.... And maybe even overwhelming.