Perhaps the most famous thing about Bila Tserkva is
Dendropark Olexandria. It is very old, very large, and
very beautiful.
Inside Dendropark Olexandria.
It is customary to leave flowers on a
monument on your wedding day, so that
may be why the flowers are there.
Here's me at another monument in Dendropark Olexandria -
a monument to the Cossacks.
This place is called the "broom".
It used to be the place where the market was in the center of town.
Now it is the location of a lot of trendy shops, cafes and bars.
Things are so trendy here in BT that we even have
our own Chinese restaurant - the Golden Lion Chinese Restaurant.
We don't have a McDonald's here yet (there are a number of them in Kiev).
We don't have a Starbucks, and I don't think they are in Ukraine yet.
We do have three Celentano Pizza outlets, which is OK pizza but nothing
like North Beach Pizza in San Francisco.
Here's a shot of one of the main streets in BT on a Sunday morning.
You can tell by the number of pedestrians in the street that vehicular
traffic is not too heavy. But, you do have to be careful. Drivers
here have not heard of "the pedestrian right of way law".
This is a tank of kvas. They start appearing in late spring.
It's a fermented beverage made of water, bread and apples.
You can buy it by the glass or by the liter if you have your
own container. I am personally not a fan of this stuff.
This is a portion of the outdoor used clothing bazaar that
circles half way around the soccer stadium. It's packed on
Saturdays and Sundays. I bought a really good pair of pants
here for Hr. 14 (about $2.64).
It is bizarre, but in the bazaars, more stalls are devoted to
selling trendy ladies undergarments than to any other type of merchandise.
If you have a theory on why that is, please let me know.
Since the fresh produce started arriving back in maybe late April,
these makeshift produce stands have been popping up everywhere. With
some of the richest farmland in the world, we get an abundance of fresh
fruits, vegetables, berries and melons during the growing season.
You can see the excellent-looking tomatoes are going for the bargain
price of Hr. 4 per kilogram (thats $0.75 for 2.2 pounds).
Here is the building I am living in during my second of two
three-month homestays with a Ukrainian host family. It is typical
of the apartment blocks you see throughout Ukraine. I am due
to move into my own digs on or around the first of September.