BEST After a short trip to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Frankfurt called Höscht, where there is a small castle on the river, I spent the evening with one of Becky's friends at a small wine party in a park. Becky had a show, and her friend and neighbor Hannah had come with us to Höscht. She invited me to join her as she and her boyfriend were saying their goodbyes: they are moving back to the UK. After the wine party, they stopped in at Becky's for a little more wine, and everyone said their goodbyes. Höscht with Hannah This church in Höscht was built in the 9th century!!! a little square. Hannah again The wine party in the park. It happens every Friday. WORST Thinking about the long flight tomorrow. I look forward to landing in Chicago. WHAT I LEARNED Street festivals in Germany are VERY cheap. And they fill your wine glass up to the top. Every time. You read that right. Wine GLASS. They give you real glass. They take a 2 euro deposit for the glass, which they return when you return the glass. It's very classy... And GLASSY... NEW BUSINESS
This is the end of the blog series. It's been a long and unforgettable month. I'll be back in Chicago soon, and I can't wait to share the trip details with you all in person. Thanks for following my journey. Until next time, I'm signing off. BEST Heidelberg castle was SO COOL. Heidelberg is an old (and current) college town in the mountains about an hour outside of Frankfurt. The castle ruins are huge and beautiful. The city is adorable. WORST The bus was late getting back, and Becky had an opera tonight. So or five plans were cut short. WHAT I LEARNED There is a museum in the city that preserved the university student prison, where delinquent university students were interred for minor offense to until world war 1. It was like an intense detention, and students didn't suffer much discomfort there. They resorted to decorating the walls and ceilings with silhouettes, cartoons, and poetry. NEW BUSINESS
Tomorrow will be my last post for the trip. Its my last day in Europe before I spend a day traveling back the Chicago. BEST I saw one of my oldest friends living her best life. She moved to Frankfurt to sing opera, and tonight I had the privilege to see her perform. I am so very proud. Curtain call WORST I know zero German. I've not been particularly good about learning the language of the places I've visited this trip. I should get on that. WHAT I LEARNED Frankfurt has a beautiful park with a bike path that goes around the old city. Becky has an extra bike that I was able to use for a casual tour of the city. We happened upon several gardens and a street festival in front of the opera house. NEW BUSINESS
Tomorrow Becky and I are going on a day trip to Heidelberg. BEST The Proczkos met me again today. We explore a bit more of the historical city and visited a Ukrainian history museum. We explored the exhibit about the first half of the twentieth century, in large part the events that put an ocean between me and this branch of the family. Poignant. Then they escorted me to the airport for my departure. My uncle showing me a beautiful rent in the old city he worked on renovating. The church where one of my aunt and uncles got married a relative on my mother's side, and also significant figure in modern Ukrainian history Ukrainian scouts, plastuny WHAT I LEARNED The was a Jewish concentration camp near Lviv at the beginning of the 1941-1942. NEW BUSINESS
I'm in Frankfurt and with one of my oldest friends. Life is good. BEST I met with two of my relatives of the Lishchynsky family for lunch. We had delicious Tatar food and good conversation. WORST The wine at lunch hit me pretty hard. So I had to take a time out. WHAT I LEARNED I went the High Castle park after my nap. Its a man-made hill in the north of Lviv. The small stone platform at the top gives a beautiful view of the region. NEW BUSINESS
I leave tomorrow. It's been a spiritual experience. BEST I went to the ballet for the first time ever. The Lviv opera house was playing SWAN LAKE tonight, and I thought it would be a good introduction. I was right. It was beautiful. And the theater is breathtaking. Afterward I was able to explore the city a bit. WORST I drank too much at lunch, so the first half of the ballet was a drunken struggle. But I persisted!! WHAT I LEARNED I went to visit the Lviv museum of historical architecture. The museum is open air in the middle of a park. They have genuine recreations of traditional churches and homes from Ukrainian provincial life. I learned my great grandfather lived in a house like these in the mountains of south west Ukraine before moving to the outskirts of Lviv. After the visit we had lunch. NEW BUSINESS
Tomorrow I meet with my mother's family in Lviv for lunch. BEST I met Proczkos!!! It was magical. I won't bother to introduce them all. There were so many. We walked around the city, took a tour of a brewery, visited the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried, and spent time in the home of my family. We visited their village church, the children's school, and a nearby natural spring. Enjoy the photos. Lviv opera my grandfather's youngest sister a picture my family Ukraine has of me with my grandmother sitting in her kitchen in the suburbs of Chicago WORST Nothing to report. WHAT I LEARNED Where to start?! I don't think I can organize this in a small blurb here. Suffice to say, I learned a lot about my family and about Ukraine. NEW BUSINESS
Tomorrow I will continue this adventure with Proczkos. And I have a ticket to the basket at the Lviv opera house. BEST I'm in Ukraine!! This is my first time here. It's pretty overwhelming right now. A distant uncle met me at the Lviv airport and escorted me to my hotel (I'll have my own room!!). And then he took me to a late night restaurant. I ordered Ukrainian food. WORST My flight from Bucharest took off a little late, so my layover in Kyiv was a bit hectic. And the Ukrainian airport personal had ZERO patience for my attempt at using my lackluster Ukrainian. I made it, though. And the storm clouds are pretty cool. WHAT I LEARNED The Lviv airport is new! The old building is very beautiful, but the modern airport seems like a good soon to the city. NEW BUSINESS
Tomorrow morning I'm meeting the Proczkos of Ukraine. BEST THE BLACK SEA. That's all. And it's enough. WORST The entire strip of hotels where we were staying lost water reassure for about 12 hours after a thunder storm. Apparently that happens in the region frequently. I was out in the city to see a French production of "Phedre" and getting interviewed and I had already showered. So I was able to hold out until the water turned back on the next day. Unfortunately that meant there was no coffee. :( i don't know what I'm saying at this moment, but it might be something like "hold the phone!" WHAT I LEARNED The Black Sea is very refreshing this time of year (Happy Solstice!). Constanta isn't a terrible place to take a vacation. It would be perfect if they just fixed their water issue...and the apparent antisemitism and homophobia... But it is pretty cheap. NEW BUSINESS
Our performance in Constanta was the final performance for the tour. The working part of my travels is over. I'm currently on the way to Bucharest, and tomorrow I fly to Lviv. It's been awesome spending the past three weeks with these people. And I will always be grateful to them for bringing me along on this adventure. Now, let the vacation begin! BEST Brasov is a BEAUTIFUL city. It's old and very European. Situated in the Carpathian Mountains, a Transylvanian city, Brasov is the highest city in the Romania (above sea level). It also has its own "Hollywood" sign. I loved it. WORST It rained almost the whole time we were there. We had a full day off, but it was hard to do anything outside. It was a pretty rain, but I would have liked to see the mountains around the city. There is a Fanicula that takes you to the peak where the Brasov sign is. I forwent the trip. The morning we departed, I ended up getting a few sunny shots. WHAT I LEARNED On my rainy day off I spoke with an American college professor who teaches archeology when I was at a coffee shop. Apparently there are a lot of bones just north of Brasov. And apparently that region is mostly Hungarian, ethnically. So he could not help me order any coffee despite having lived in Romania for two years. The whole region seems to be like that: mixed up pockets of ethinicities left behind by or running away from conquering forces. NEW BUSINESS
We discovered the festival at Baia Mare (the previous city) gave out nominations and awards to the participants in the festival for different categories. We were nominated by the jury for Best Play, Best Director, and Best Leading Actor. THAT'S ME!! It feels good to get recognized for the work, especially in a foreign country, presenting a play written by a countryman. We won Best Director, and the audience voted that our set was their favorite. It was very exciting to be able to celebrate this success. |