20Jan2008Odessa

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Found this in a small park. Not sure, but I'm thinking it a statement about the struggles of the working class. Or perhaps the struggles in the USSR, given the date on the base.
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Although you may not be able to tell, when I first saw the dog (the owner was hidden by bushes) I thought it was a small pony.
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Just another neighborhood church. I guess it's probably Russian Orthodox.

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This is typical Russian attention to detail. Look at the many rocks in on otherwise boring concrete wall (the wall was about 10 feed long.) Notice that the rocks in the wall are not covered in concrete - they were not part of the pour when the wall was made. Instead, each rock was added to the wall one rock at a time by hand. Meanwhile, 1000 family apartment dwellings are falling apart due to lack of maintenance.
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Another neighborhood church.
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The low grade gasoline (A92 - don't know how that maps to our octane rating) is 4.98 Hryvnia per liter, which U.S. gal. That's without the taxes that we have (they might have some taxes, I don't know), and definitely without the extra cost of clear air additives that we have.

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This church was amazing. It was in the middle of a large graveyard (see following picture), and was a huge church. This church and graveyard was clearly very old.
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This is part of the graveyard mentioned in the previous picture. This area was dedicated to slain WWII war heros.
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Christmas tree still up on Jan 20. It's in the middle of a very busy street, so all cars are blocked from using the street. It might be there all year around - I couldn't tell. Remember that their Christmas is a few weeks after ours, so January 20th isn't that late.

DSC00523.JPG Found this in a small park. Not sure, but I'm thinking it a statement about the struggles of the working class. Or perhaps the struggles in the USSR, given the date on the base.	DSC00524.JPG Although you may not be able to tell, when I first saw the dog (the owner was hidden by bushes) I thought it was a small pony.	DSC00526.JPG Just another neighborhood church. I guess it's probably Russian Orthodox.
DSC00527.JPG This is typical Russian attention to detail. Look at the many rocks in on otherwise boring concrete wall (the wall was about 10 feed long.) Notice that the rocks in the wall are not covered in concrete - they were not part of the pour when the wall was made. Instead, each rock was added to the wall one rock at a time by hand. Meanwhile, 1000 family apartment dwellings are falling apart due to lack of maintenance.	DSC00528.JPG Another neighborhood church.	DSC00529.JPG The low grade gasoline (A92 - don't know how that maps to our octane rating) is 4.98 Hryvnia per liter, which U.S. gal. That's without the taxes that we have (they might have some taxes, I don't know), and definitely without the extra cost of clear air additives that we have.
DSC00531.JPG This church was amazing. It was in the middle of a large graveyard (see following picture), and was a huge church. This church and graveyard was clearly very old.	DSC00530.JPG This is part of the graveyard mentioned in the previous picture. This area was dedicated to slain WWII war heros.	DSC00532.JPG Christmas tree still up on Jan 20. It's in the middle of a very busy street, so all cars are blocked from using the street. It might be there all year around - I couldn't tell. Remember that their Christmas is a few weeks after ours, so January 20th isn't that late.