Ukraine
http://mentalfloss.com/article/32098/why-did-ukraine-become-just-ukraine
Ukraine (one land, many masters; Little Russia or Little Rus') became independent 1991 <okraina=borderland, between Russia and Poland> steppe, mountain, river
kalyna (or guelder rose shrub) : unofficial symbol of Ukraine
http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2001/220115.shtml While the sunflower and the poppy are both "Ukrainian" flowers (with some symbolism attached), it is the kalyna which, for Ukrainians, represents so much more than simple physical healing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQD58E_eZ1M
Traditional Ukrainian folk song in Kobza's jazz-rock arrangement. The video is taken from the music movie "Kobza Forever" shot in 2006.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-budge-release-jailed-ukraine-pm-20314796
http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-23185.aspx
trident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Ukraine
national flag
Modern Ukraine (since 1992) bicolor; Yellow represents golden domes (Kupola) of Christian churches and blue the Dniper river.
Carpathian Mountains
Kyivan Rus; Mongols; Poles; Kozaks; Russian Empire
Currency: Ukrainian Hryvnia (trident symbol) $1 USD = 8.16 UAH 1 UAH = 0.12 USD
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g294473-Ukraine-Vacations.html
http://allmyownstuff.wordpress.com/out-and-about/2013-viking-river-cruise-in-the-ukraine/
Itinerary of Viking Lomonosov cruise
Our contact number on the ship Viking Lomonosov is as follows:
Telephone: +380 50 383 8943
(380 is country code; to dial from USA, first dial 001 and then 380 ....)
email: viking.lomonosov@vikingrivercruises.com
The Footsteps of the Cossacks (or Kozaks)
from Odessa to Kiev September 10 to September 22, 2013
A VOYAGE THROUGH UKRAINE IS A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME. EXPLORE THE RENOWNED CITIES OF ODESSA, YALTA AND KIEV, AS WELL AS SCENERY AND TOWNS RICH IN TRADITION ALONG THE DNIEPER RIVER. ON THIS 12-DAY JOURNEY, SEE HOW SOCIETIES FROM THE VIKINGS TO THE TATARS AND COSSACKS HAVE INFLUENCED THE ARCHITECTURE, CUISINE AND CULTURE OF TODAY’S UKRAINE. VISIT LANDMARKS LIKE THE LIVADIA PALACE, SITE OF THE 1945 YALTA CONFERENCE, ODESSA’S POTEMKIN STEPS AND KIEV’S EXTRAORDINARY MONASTERY OF CAVES, AND IMMERSE YOURSELF IN COSSACK TRADITIONS IN ZAPOROZHYE. DISCOVER UKRAINE!
Ukraine Travel Guide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6u8N20BqAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUZQm5Iyn58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlZ8o76Rer0 Welcome to Ukraine
Travel to Ukraine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUXtNNugBes
History and Culture
http://kiev.com/kiev/view/ukraine-history-and-culture
Economics
Ukrainian immigrant to USA, Simon Kuznets (born in Belarus), Nobel Prize in Economics, 1971.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Kuznets
Literature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_literature
Alexander Pushkin (in southern exile at Odessa, Ukraine)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pushkin
http://alexanderpushkin.com/content/view/16/39/1/3/
affairs with Vorontsov's wife (Vorontsov Palace or Alupka Palace)
fatal duel (A duel to the death)
Life was to imitate the art of Eugene Onegin in which the hero fights a duel, with pistols in the snow, against his friend Lensky, a poet whose frozen corpse is then loaded on to the sleigh in which they arrived.
This was pretty much Pushkin’s fate, too. On a winter evening in 1837, Pushkin travelled by sleigh from Nevsky Prospekt to the Black River area of St Petersburg, then filled with woods and dachas, where Georges D’Anthès fatally wounded him in the stomach.
The poet, then aged 37, had become convinced that D’Anthès was flirting with his wife and challenged the French cavalry officer to a duel. Pushkin’s death is all the more curious because a major theme in Eugene Onegin is the relationship between literature and real life.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/culture/9390316/alexander-pushkin-life-death.html
Nikolai Gogol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogol
Taras Bulba: a tale of the Cossacks
Anton Chekhov, MD (Russian writing in White Dacha, Yalta, the Crimea) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov
Chekhov practised as a medical doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress."
Cherry Orchard
Three Sisters
Fyodor Dostoevsky (half-Ukrainian) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky
Ivan Franko (on 50 UAH bill) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Franko
Taras Shevchenko (on 100 UAH bill) also known as Kobzar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Shevchenko
Isaak Babel (born in Odessa) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaak_Babel
Lesya Ukrainka pseud. (1871-1913; on 200 UAH bill) female poet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesya_Ukrainka
statue in High Park, Toronto, Canada http://www.swansea.ca/gallery_Community_30.htm
http://www.kingofmarble-shmatko.com/engver/w28z.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN-fzEFthZs
"Ukrainka" literally means "Ukrainian woman" in Ukrainian
Medicine
Ukrainian immigrant to USA, Selman Waksman, Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1952
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selman_Waksman
Music
bandura (stringed instrument) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandura
Pete Seeger found inspiration for the song "Where have all the flowers gone?" in October 1955, while on a plane bound for a concert in Ohio. Leafing through his notebook he saw the passage, "Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they've all taken husbands. Where are the men, they're all in the army."[5] These lines were taken from the traditional Cossacks folk song "Tovchu, tovchu mak", referenced in the Mikhail Sholokhov novel And Quiet Flows the Don (1934), which Seeger had read "at least a year or two before".[3]
Seeger adapted it to the tune of the Russian folksong "Koloda Duda" (which was subsequently published in Sing Out in 1962). With only three verses, he recorded it once in a medley on The Rainbow Quest album (Folkways LP FA 2454) released in July, 1960 and forgot about it. Joe Hickerson added verses four and five, and a repeat of verse one,[3] in May 1960 in Bloomington.[6]
In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".[4]
The song appeared on the 1967 compilation album Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits released by Columbia Records as CS 9416.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y2SIIeqy34
On July 26, 1956, the House of Representatives voted 373 to 9 to cite Pete Seeger and seven others (including playwright Arthur Miller) for contempt, as they failed to cooperate with House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in their attempts to investigate alleged subversives and communists. Pete Seeger testified before the HUAC in 1955.
In one of Pete's darkest moments, when his personal freedom, his career, and his safety were in jeopardy, a flash of inspiration ignited this song. The song was stirred by a passage from Mikhail Sholokhov's novel "And Quie Flows the Don". Around the world the song traveled and in 1962 at a UNICEF concert in Germany, Marlene Dietrich, Academy Award-nominated German-born American actress, first performed the song in French, as "Qui peut dire ou vont les fleurs?" Shortly after she sang it in German. The song's impact in Germany just after WWII was shattering. It's universal message, "let there be peace in the world" did not get lost in its translation. To the contrary, the combination of the language, the setting, and the great lyrics has had a profound effect on people all around the world. May it have the same effect today and bring renewed awareness to all that hear it.
People
Famous Ukrainians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_born_in_Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_born_in_Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ukrainian_Jews
Viktor Yushchenko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko
Viktor Yanukovych
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych
Famous Ukrainians in Canada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Canadian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ukrainian_Canadians
Alex Trebek
Famous Ukrainians in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ukrainian_Americans
Mark Kac
Simon Kuznets (Nobel economics, 1971)
Selman Waksman, Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1952
Politics perestroika, glasnost
Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) Ukrainian by birth
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) born in the border between Russia and Ukraine; shoes at UN
Religion
Ukrainian Orthodox Church; Ukrainian Jews
Science
Mark Kac (1914-1984) mathematician (Cornell, with Hans Bethe, Richard Feynman)
Sergei Korolov (1906-1966), born and raised in Ukraine, directed the Soviet space program that put Yuri Gagarin in the space.
Sports
Oksana Baiul (1978- ) Olympic gold medal for women's figure skating, Lillehammer, Norway, 1994
Food and Drink
Borsch (Borscht; beet soup) - Ukraine's national dish
Varenyky (cf. pierogi) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varenyky
Cabbage rolls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjHObI7iU8Q
koteta po kievski (chicken Kiev; breaded chicken breast); pickled foods; vodka; tea and coffee
http://kiev.com/kiev/view/ukrainian-food-visit-the-country-and-taste-the-flavors
Ukrainian Easter Egg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka_Museum
Chernobyl 1986 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
(Fukushima Daiichi 2011)
Ukraine's Orange Revolution -- 2004 presidential elections cf. Colour Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution
Andrew Wilson. Ukraine's Orange Revolution. Published 2006
Steve York. Orange Revolution. documentary 2007. 106 minutes
The Crimea (peninsula)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea
Kiev -- Hero City; Mother of All Russian (or Slavonic) Cities http://kiev.com/ << Russian Kiev; Ukraine Kyiv>>
Kyiv, of course! campaigning for the proper spelling http://kyiv.of-cour.se/
Caves Monastery; Saint Sophia Cathedral;
http://kyiv.of-cour.se/2006/10/19/us-government-changes-spelling-of-capital-to-kyiv-instead-of-kiev/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev
http://www.tripadvisor.com/QuickGuide-g294474-Kiev.html
Kyiv: Important For Two Millennia (Kyiv=belonging to Kyi)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F621EvRd4BU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK-bSp8vm2c Fall in love with Kyiv
Walking in Khreshchatyk Street, Kiev, Ukraine
St. Sophia's Cathedral etc.
Twelve former Soviet cities were legally recognized as hero cities, and thus hold the right to be so designated. They were:
- Leningrad/Saint Petersburg - Stalingrad/Volgograd
- Odessa - Sevastopol
- Moscow - Kiev
- Novorossiysk - Kerch
- Minsk - Tula
- Murmansk - Smolensk
Bestowal of the title, Hero City, was made by the Soviet Government.
Odessa (or Odesa) summer capital of Ukraine
Derbybasivska Street (main thoroughfare in downtown Odessa)
Potemkin Stairs (or Steps) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_Stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLEE2UL_N7Q
Vorontsov Palace (Odessa) cf. Vorontsov Palace (Alupka, Yalta)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorontsov_Palace_(Odessa)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZrsbqCueU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpUKrzDuVYc (guide: Olga)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/06/odessa-city-of-writerly-love.html
Kherson (a city of brides) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kherson
pt. 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1ArZ2hHp4
pt. 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9HlHhOw54w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPCn-OGNSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQzL3xum910
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6N6bH2G-fU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gglwldo52XQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LERc1TYvOGw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGqwe3fQ-nw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cogO6kJajrk
Zaporozhye, ancestral home of the Cossacks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhia
guide Olga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F07OkmXEwao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8k33DrSWdc
Sevastopol Russia's Black Sea Fleet nuclear submarine base
Charge of the Light Brigade into the Valley of Death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbPHtYil_yY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgEDrQO06QQ
guide Olga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH9fslzign8
Yalta
Alupka Palace, Chekhov's White Dacha, and the Liviadia Palace (setting for the Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SfZXrOYC4Y&list=PL6AAC1F97FD29C570
- Anton Chekhov Monument in Yalta Park
- http://ukraine-vacation-guide.com/publ/cool_vacation_spots/the_house_museum_of_anton_chekhov_in_yalta/11-1-0-103
Chekhov wrote in this house such renowned plays as "Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard", stories "The Lady with the Dog", "Bride", "At Christmas time", the story "In the Ravine" and other works. He prepared there for publication his collected works which were published twice during the life of a writer - in 1901 and 1903.
- The Big Three at Yalta
- The Little Three at Yalta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta
Lividia Palace
Aloupka (Alupka or Vorontsov) Palace
part 1 part 2 part 3
Promenade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9HUL9DMTSw
Yalta Embankment is a scene of action a of many creations of art and mass culture. The most famous among them are the story of AP Chekhov's "Lady with a Lapdog" and the film "Assa" by SA Solovyov.
Cableway that leads up the hill Darsan begins in the middle of the embankment near the berths for ships of local lines and pleasure boats.
Bridge over the river Wuchang-Su crosses the embankment in the western part.
Near the lower cable car station is a building of the hotel, which was built in 1875. In 1876 in the hotel lived very sick NA Nekrasov about two.
Swallow's Nest castle
Massandra Palace
Massandra Winery
Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedra
He had treatment there and worked on the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia". An incredible number of famous names mentioned on a plaque of the hotel. The building is also interesting for its architecture and engineering solutions.
DNEPR (DNIEPER RIVER) DNIPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnieper_River
http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCK4LEC4unDLk
http://geography.howstuffworks.com/europe/the-dnieper-river.htm
Kyiv (Kiev)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g294474-Activities-Kiev.html
Monastery of the Caves Pechersky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pskov-Caves_Monastery
St. Sophia of Kyiv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sophia%27s_Cathedral,_Kiev
guide Olga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc8VFR7Wifs
Babi Yar
Day-to-Day Itinerary
Day #1 September 11, 2013
ODESSA
Arrive in Odessa then transfer you to your ship.* After boarding, take free time to relax before dinner. (D)
program director Alyona took us on foot to Potemkin Staircase and walk around town.
welcome dinner aboard
Day #2 September 12, 2013
ODESSA
After breakfast, enjoy a half-day tour of Odessa, an elegant city of terraced hills and landscaped parks. Travel along Primorski Boulevard to the Opera House and Potemkin Steps. You have the rest of the afternoon at leisure to further explore enchanting Odessa on your own—as always, your Program Director can help you plan your free time. Additionally, you can choose to join an optional Jewish Odessa tour. After dinning aboard, you may choose to attend an optional performance at the Odessa Opera House. (B, L, D)
a.m. city tour by bus (included)
p.m. bus tour to Odessa Catacombs (included)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa_Catacombs
Day #3 September 13, 2013
ODESSA
During this morning’s free time, explore more of Odessa’s stately 19th-century architecture—a blend of its Russian heritage and more Mediterranean sensibilities—or stroll along its miles of sandy beaches. Or, you may choose an optional excursion to Akkerman Fortress in the ancient town of Bilgorod–Dnistrovsky. After lunch aboard, tour the fascinating Odessa Catacombs. This maze of underground tunnels began as a sandstone mining operation but the abandoned mines were later used for smuggling, and for Soviet partisans fighting fascist invaders during the Second World War. We depart for Sevastopol after dinner. (B, L, D)
Day #4 September 14, 2013
SEVASTOPOL
Enjoy lectures and cultural activities as we sail on the Black Sea. This afternoon, arrive in Sevastopol, base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Tour the city center and see St. Vladimir Cathedral and Admiral Nakhimov Square. Explore a little more on your own, or join an optional archeological tour of the ancient Greek city of Chersonese, founded in the 6th century B.C. near today’s Quarantine Bay and designated one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. The evening is free, or you can attend the optional Black Sea Choir concert. Dine aboard. Dock overnight. (B, L, D)
Day #5 September 15, 2013
SEVASTOPOL
http://ukraine-vacation-guide.com/publ/romantic_vacation/bakhchisarai/10-1-0-74
This morning’s tour goes to the Tatar city of Bakhchisarai. Tour the Khan Palace, built in 1519, and see the many different architectural styles within the complex. Visit the courthouse, harem and mosques, then stroll the beautifully landscaped grounds. After lunch, explore Sevastopol, site of the famed “Charge of the Light Brigade” during the Crimean War, on your own—or take an optional tour to Balaklava to visit the Panorama Museum and submarine tunnels. (B, L, D)
Day #6 September 16, 2013
YALTA
Awaken this morning in Yalta and enjoy a morning tour. Travel along Lenin Embankment (Promenade) to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and Livadia. Visit the White Palace, site of the 1945 Yalta Conference between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, and take a guided tour through official halls and private apartments of the czar’s family. Explore on your own this afternoon; or join an optional wine-tasting excursion to Massandra. Lunch and dinner are served aboard. Dock overnight. (B, L, D)
Day #7 September 17, 2013
YALTA
Spend your final morning in Yalta touring the 19th-century Aloupka (Alupka or Vorontsov) Palace and gardens, commissioned as a summer residence by Russian prince Mikhail Vorontsov. Designed in the Tudor style, the building also incorporates Scottish, Moorish and Gothic elements, creating a surprisingly harmonious impression. See the spectacular interior rooms and stroll in the park, which incorporates native vegetation of the Crimean coast. As we depart this afternoon (Sail away at 1 p.m.), we gather to enjoy the majestic scenery of the Crimean peninsula. (B, L, D)
Day #8 September 18, 2013
KHERSON
After a morning of scenic cruising and a Ukraine language lesson, arrive in Kherson midafternoon. Disembark for a tour of this small city, founded in 1778 by order of Catherine the Great and named after the nearby ancient Greek colony of Chersonesos Taurica. Walk along the river embankment, see the monument to Prince Potjomkin and visit St. Catherine’s Cathedral, decidedly Mediterranean in design. Dinner is served as we depart. (B, L, D)
Day #9 September 19, 2013
ZAPOROZHYE
After lunch, arrive in Zaporozhye, ancestral home of the Cossacks. Drive along Lenin Street; see the Lenin Monument, the city’s dam and massive hydroelectric plant. Then visit the Cossack Museum of Khortitsa. Later, enjoy a special Cossack horsemanship show including folkloric music and dance. Depart early evening and cruise through the night. (B, L, D)
Day #10 September 20, 2013
DNIEPER RIVER SCENIC CRUISING
Enjoy a full day of scenic cruising, taking in the Dnieper’s landscape of rolling hills, ancient forest groves, historic villages and wide lakes. A series of onboard activities are available to help you continue to familiarize yourself with the history and culture of Ukraine. (B, L, D)
Day #11 September 21, 2013
KIEV
Arrive in Kiev mid-morning. Tour Kiev, one of Europe’s oldest cities, with a heritage of Viking, Cossack and Ukrainian peoples. Explore its historic buildings and monuments, and take a guided tour of the lovely domed St. Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Monastery of Caves, an extensive complex of churches and museums founded by monks in 1051. After lunch spend some time exploring Kiev on your own or you may take an optional Jewish Kiev tour. Enjoy dinner aboard and remain docked overnight. (B, L, D)
Babi Yar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar
Day #12 September 22, 2013
KIEV
After breakfast, disembark and proceed to the airport for your return flight. Or, extend your time in Ukraine's capital city with a 2-night Kiev extension. (B)
+++++++++++++++++
The Harvest of Sorrow
Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine
Robert Conquest
- The Harvest of Sorrow is the first full history of one of the most horrendous human tragedies of the 20th century.
- A deeply moving testament to those who died, and will register in the Western consciousness a sense of the dark side of this century's history
The Harvester of Sorrow <a song>
gulag
perestroika
glasnost
Orange Revolution
And quiet (or Quietly) flows the Don
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Quiet_Flows_the_Don
The lyrics for the folk song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson were adapted from a cossack folk song mentioned in And Quiet Flows the Don.