Thursday, October 11, 2007

Chernihiv trip photos, Part I.

Ever since the summer, I've been looking for a chance to get to Chernihiv (Chernigov in Russian). Chernihiv was a major historical, cultural, and religious center for hundreds of years, at time competing with Kiev in prominence. Last Saturday, my wife and I had an opportunity to go on an excursion, and we jumped at the chance. After waking at 5:30 in the morning, getting ready and having breakfast, we hopped in her father's car for the trip to Public School #8 in the Obolon district of Kiev, the starting point for our trip.


The trip was an organized excursion for the teachers of this school, in honor of Teachers Day on Friday. An excursion like this is not something the teachers of the school can afford on their own, since teachers here are near the bottom of the pay scale, along with doctors, the police, and any other public sector employee. But the word we heard was that this excursion was paid for by one of the most important politicians in the country, because one of the trip organizers had worked on this politician's recent election campaign.


Although neither my wife nor I are employed by the school, my wife's father worked for said trip organizer on this politician's campaign. There were two busses, on for the teachers, and one for the VIP's. My wife and I got the VIP treatment.


Around 7:30 AM, our trip took off, and we had the obligatory vodka toast, the first of many this day. Then, about 40 minutes out of Kiev, our bus turned off the road to Chernihiv for what I assumed would be a slight detour, but after an hour it was apparent we were going somewhere else. It seems our excursion was not to the city of Chernihiv; rather it was to lesser known destinations in the Chernihiv Oblast (administrative district). But being the adventurous sort, I made the best of the day. As you can see from the pictures, I hope you'll agree it was worth the detour.


Later in the day, at our third and final stop for the day, we had the obligatory feast, with vodka, cognac, and wine for all (except the drivers, of course). Later we returned to Kiev, arriving home at 9:30 PM.








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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great photos Matt, thanks for sharing!

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