Ukraine's Presidential Mountain Retreats

The Presidential Retreat near the village of Huta in the Carpathian Mountains was begun during the presidency of L. Kuchma and added to by both Yushchenko and Yanukovych.

The main residence

the house that Yanukovych built

 



 In 2012 Yanukovych spent close to three million USD building this Pavillion.

a dining hall

He had German craftsmen do work at Mezhehirya in Kyiv and possibly these craftsmen added the thatched roof to this pavillion.

Each President added buildings to the complex and this cottage is part of Kuchma's contribution.

Yushchenko' house

room for BBQ's

toward the tennis court

tennis courts

The following photo's are taken through the windows as the buildings are closed to the public.

security screens

where the wheel stops no one knows.

                                         All the photo's were taken on March 2nd and 3rd, 2014.

Happy New 2014 Year

Happy New Year!

Downtown Kolomaya, a few days before New Years day turns into a forest with evergreen trees for sale. 

 Traditionally in Ukraine a "Christmas tree" is not decorated on Christmas.  It is my theory that in order to distract  people's attention from any desire to celebrate Christmas, (a religious  celebration)  the soviets began decorating a tree for New Years and so it still is today.   However, as we celebrate Christmas on both Dec. 25th and Jan. 7th we don't usually find any trees much before the 24th of Dec.

I am constantly reminded that the decorated tree is a New Years tree and not a Christmas tree. 

 A couple of years ago the government introduced a law that required all live trees sold to be farm grown to prevent the depletion of the forests.  Or as many local believe to provide some business men with another source of income.  However, this year it seems to me that there is a sense of contempt against any government directives.  And there do not appear to be any commercially trees for sale on Kolomaya's streets.

The short dense trees are hand made to counter the ban on cutting your own tree.  They are made of branches taken off a larger trees and attached to a central stalk to create a miniature tree.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Taras and Yaroslava