Unexpected Iceland: Crazy Walking and Swimming :)

It's been quite a while since I've written anything on my blog, because I've been tired and lazy (mostly lazy, let's admit that), but don't worry, I'm not abandoning it yet! ;) I just need some time to relax after the most adventurous winter I've ever had in my life. And of course to share my adventures with you. :)

I took the flight from Copenhagen to Keflavík on 6th February. Until the last minute I was worried that something would go wrong and so I wouldn't eventually fly to Iceland, especially after I tried to do self check-in at the airport and saw my name written as "Kseniamahanna", while in reality it's Ksenia Marianna. Fortunately, they didn't pay much attention to such tiny details, Kseniamahanna has become my new nickname, and I was finally flying to Iceland :) The island looked so beautiful from air that I even forgot to be scared of landing!

A few minutes before the landing

When we landed in Keflavík, we couldn't get out from the aircraft, because there had been a problem with electricity supply at the airport. The perspective of spending 5 days in the plane didn't sound like fun, but luckily the problem was solved after some 15 minutes! ;) Iceland welcomed me with a very strong wind and snow. I took a bus to Reykjavík and after some 50 minutes I was already in world's northernmost capital city. And, as it usually happens to me while visiting faraway countries, I still couldn't believe I really was in Iceland :)

Even when I finally met Søren and we went to have a lunch together, I still had the feeling that I must be dreaming and so I'd wake up in a while! But apparently it was reality, because the next morning I woke up and I was still in Reykjavík. :) Unfortunately, Søren had to work - that was the reason why we couldn't stick to our original plan of meeting in Sweden and Denmark - but we'd go on some trips or do crazy activities every afternoon and evening. :) The first adventure was a walk to Hafnarfjörður, which is a town located some 15 km away from the capital.

On the way to Hafnarfjörður

The road was actually much more busy than I had expected. In fact, Reykjavík also looks much bigger than cities of similar size in Ukraine in Poland. As the whole capital region of Iceland (which includes Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður and a few more towns, which have names too difficult for me to remember) ;) has just about 200 thousands of inhabitants, so I expected to see a really calm and sleepy place, while in reality it's quite a busy city! It must have something to do with the fact that in Iceland almost everyone has a car, so the traffic is high. You see, it's a very poor country with no railways at all! :( After spending 5 days in Iceland I realised that you can't really do much there without a car, but I'll tell you more about it in my next blog entries. So we walked down quite a busy road through two other towns, but as soon as it was possible, we'd just walk closer to the sea, where I could see the black volcanic rocks. My mum saw the pictures on FB and said that it looks a bit like moon landscape. ;) Well, indeed, it does. But there's something unusual and tranquil about it.

In Hafnarfjörður

When we came to Hafnarfjörður it was already dark and we were completely wet after walking for more than 2 hours in the rain, but it was still such a great experience! And I didn't even feel tired after walking 15 km, but we decided to take a bus back home nevertheless. Then came my lovely experience with hot water in Iceland! :D You see, they have hot water for free, because the country is full of geothermal sources. Great, right? But the hot water stinks like... Okay, I won't write it here, because some of you might be eating while reading my blog. ;) Anyway, I ended up taking cold shower and even washing my hair in cold water for this reason. But you know, cold water isn't really a problem for me... ;)

Søren and me being crazy :D

The next day we went ice-swimming! On 1st January, when I decided not to swim in the ice cold sea while I was already sick, I promised myself I'd still do it this winter. But could I imagine that I'd do it in Iceland?! Never! :) There's just one beach in Reykjavík, because in all the other places the sea is just too deep and dangerous to swim. It takes quite a long while to walk there from the nearest bus stop and we had to walk against a storm wind, so I must admit I had some doubts whether we'd actually dare to do it! ;) But we promised ourselves and told some other people about our plans, so I'm afraid we had no choice! ;) In fact, the temperature of water in Iceland is higher than in Ukraine at this time of the year. That was quite surprising to me, because just the name of the country: "Iceland" already sounds quite freezing! ;) But in reality it has quite a moderate climate and the sea was +5 degrees warm. :)

I'm crazy and I love it!

Then we wore white robes on top of our jackets and were ready to head to Kleppur - Iceland's biggest mental hospital! ;) Actually, we walked like this almost to the city centre! I think it's really precious to have a Friend, with whom you can do the most insane things without the need to hide your quirky nature! :) With such person even a gloomy and windy day can turn intro a great and funny adventure :) We didn't go to Blue Lagoon or any other fancy place like that, but I bet it wouldn't have been even 1% as fun as swimming in the ocean in such a terrible weather! I'll tell you more about our next adventures tomorrow! (If I'm not as lazy as I've been lately!) ;)

A short visit to Malmö

The 5th of February started one of the biggest adventures in my life. At least so far, because I can't know what else my life would surprise me with! :D What has been going on this year is really unbelievable and it makes me think that once you leave your comfort zone, there's really no way back to it!

The original plan was quite different. I was supposed to fly to Malmö on 7th February and spend a few days with my friend Søren in both Sweden and Denmark. But as he couldn't get days off from work, the plans had to be changed. It really took him a while to convince me to come to Iceland instead, but fortunately he managed. Now I realise it would have been a huge pity if we had just cancelled the whole trip... Søren changed his flights in such way that I could use them for flying from Copenhagen to Reykjavik and back, while I changed the date of my flight to Malmö to 5th February, so I'd have a bit more time. Still, I had to decide, whether I'd like to spend one day in Sweden or in Denmark, because I couldn't really do both. Just to explain you why I'd fly to Sweden and then from Denmark and why it's not as insane as it sounds: Malmö and Copenhagen are located very close to each other, it takes only about half an hour by train, which passes through the Øresund strait by the bridge and tunnel, which were open in 2000.

The main train station in Malmö

As for the airports, the main one, used by people from both countries, is located in Copenhagen. The Malmö airport, located some 25 kms East from the city, is smaller and used mostly by the low-cost airlines. The funny thing is that even from Malmö it's easier and quicker to get to the Copenhagen airport than to the Malmö one. ;) I had to go to both of them in any case, but I decided to spend a day in Sweden, because I had never been to this country before. And if I went just to the airport, I'd be confused whether I should put Sweden on the list of countries I've been to or not. Sounds like a very serious reason, doesn't it? :D But in fact I was just curious to see a completely new place. :) To be completely fair, I should admit that Copenhagen would probably also feel like a brand new place to me, because the only time I've been there was 19 years ago and I obviously can't remember much. But I really hope I'll be able to go there together with my friend, when he'll finally be able to take a short holiday.

The Malmö castle

As I'm really interested in castles, one of the places that I really wanted to see in Malmö was the Malmöhus, which was built in the 16th century and historically it was one of the main strongholds of... Denmark. Nowadays it's a museum, which I didn't have a chance to visit, because I didn't have enough time.

Almost like in the Netherlands:)

Next to the castle there's a very nice park and a windmill, which reminded me of my recent trip to Kinderdijk.:) I don't know, what was its function, but it looked really beautiful. One more similarity between the Netherlands and Sweden that I've noticed were the bikes. They're just everywhere in Malmö and, just like in Dutch cities, you have to be careful not to get run over by one. :)

The town hall

The historic centre of Malmö isn't really huge, but it has some nice old buildings, including the town hall, which is city's one of most popular landmarks. The Scandinavian architecture style is quite different from what I've seen in different West European countries and it felt quite "heavy", in lack of a better word, to me, but it was interesting nevertheless. I was afraid that 2.5 hours (and that's how much time I had before meeting my couchsurfing host) wouldn't be enough for sightseeing. But in fact I managed to see all the main sights, to send some postcards and even to fight the Swedish cash mashines. :D Yes, it took me some time to realise that in Sweden you should put your card into the cash mashine "upside down" - until then I thought that they didn't like my Polish card and that I wouldn't be able to withdraw money. I'm a very smart East European tourist, what else can I say! ;)

Communicating with Swedish geese! ;)

Finally at 4 pm I met Anna, my host. She turned out to be a very nice girl (just as the vast majority of couchsurfers!) and we quickly found the common language. We went on a walk to the park, where I managed to find the common language with local geese as well! :D They were not really happy with me bothering them, but one of them started looking at me very curiously, so perhaps we established some special connection! ;)

At the seaside

We also went to the beach for a short while and I could see this famous bridge from a distance (you can also see it on this photo if you look very carefully). Anna lives in Sweden, but works in Denmark, which turns out to be quite a common thing to do in this region. The borders in Europe are really not what they used to be. :) I could see Denmark from a distance and some part of me wanted to go there as well, but I knew I couldn't do that if I wanted to spend some days in Iceland. But I believe I'll be able to visit Copenhagen again too, maybe even in the near future. :)

For Anastasia in Ukraine

Although my stay in Sweden was rather short, I even managed to send one letter from there. It was partly written on the flight from Katowice to Malmö, where I've lost my fountain pen, so I had to continue writing with an usual one. But I guess the fact that I'm able to write letters while flying shows that I've nearly got rid ofmy aviaphobia thanks to extensive flying this winter.:) I really feel sorry for Anastasia,because she'll have to decipher the most terrible version of my handwriting, but I can't do anything about myself being absent-minded and losing stuff all the time... I hope at least she'll be happy to receive a letter sent from abroad.:)

Sea Training!

The next morning I've done the International Oversea Training together with Anna and I came directly to the Copenhagen airport, so I didn't have a chance to get lost. I waited about 4 hours for my flight (I know I come to the airports a bit too early...) and then a much bigger adventure started!:) But that I'm going to tell you about the next time. ;)

What happens when I go to Poland?

What happens when I go to Poland? I turn into a zombie! :D

I'm such a nice zombie!

Okay, I'm just kidding. But sometimes doing stupid things is the best way of coping with difficult emotions. This wonderful photo was taken yesterday by my mum after we bought those funny teeth candies. ;) It took me quite a long time to decide, whether I should go to Poland or not (or, to be more precise, should I go just to the Katowice airport when the time of my flight comes, or whether I should go a bit earlier and visit my relatives) and I made the decision in the last minute, which is typical for me. I decided to go just in order not to regret not going later. I realise it's probably not the best motivation - ideally I should just feel like coming here, just like most of my groupmates, who have come to Lviv to study, feel happy whenever they can go to their hometown. A few years ago I'd still feel guilty because of not having such feelings, but things just are the way they are and I have to accept it. I don't ever go to my hometown (Wrocław) anymore, unless it's because of some paperwork, because I don't have any relatives living there anymore. Therefore I usually come to Opole, which is the hometown of my mum and where she's been living with my grandfather lately. It's been difficult. We've had some really emotional conversations, which weren't easy for any of us, but perhaps we needed them. I don't know, whether that's going to change anything or not, but it's good to know that at least we're able to discuss certain issues. I must admit that my mum has been trying to be nice for me. Maybe it's just me, who's not appreciating it as much as I should?

A book, paper and envelopes from my Mum.

She knows how much I'm into penpalling, so she's bought me 250 colourful sheets and 200 envelopes, as well as a book of a Polish writer, who's very much into East Europe and Central Asia and who has signed this book for me. I'm really thankful, although at the same time I get distressed, as fitting it all into my small WizzAir luggage (this airline only lets you take a small backpack on board for free) is a bit of a challenge. And I wouldn't like to hurt her by leaving anything here. Our relationship is very complicated, but sometimes I think that one of the main problems is basically a very simple one: we have completely different ways of expressing our feelings and, as a result, we both feel there's something missing. 

Another reason why I felt quite nervous about coming to Poland is that yesterday there was a court trial for official separation between my grandparents. They've been living separately for almost 2 years, but the thing is that somehow my grandfather didn't receive a letter from court (I don't know how it's possible) and I was supposed not to tell him anything... And I hate lying, I can't really do that. Yesterday I've met my grandmother only for 15 minutes in the court, she looked quite overwhelmed by the whole situation, but I really hope we're going to spend some more time together today. I'll take a train to Kluczbork, the town where she lives with my grandaunt, in a couple of hours.

For Stav in Israel.

On a more positive note, I've been taking a lot of effort to catch up with my huge pile of mail. :) I've written a long letter for my dear Stav in Israel partly in Ukraine, but mostly on a Polish train from Przemyśl to Opole. That was a very effective Training session! ;)

For Mihaela in Romania

In Opole I've started using the envelopes that I have from my mum and I've decided to answer my new penpals first, because I believe new friendships require regularity to develop. This envelope went to Mihaela from Romania, who's totally new to penpalling, but has written me a really lovely letter. :)

For Taši in Slovenia

This letter went to Taši in Slovenia and I hope it'll reach her before her birthday! :) In case you've been wondering why I'm posting the pictures of my letters without stamps now, I'll explain you: once I give my letters to the lady at the post office in Poland, I never get to see them again! ;) And I don't have any Polish stamps with me.

For Jennifer in UK

Finally, I've answered Jennifer's (who's also known as Hunter) great intro letter and this envelope will start traveling today. I still have 8 letters left to answer, but I believe I'll manage not to delay my answers too much, because I've been in a very productive writing mood, as you can see above. :)

Tomorrow I'll start a great journey again and I'll be even more of a zombie, because I'll have to spend the night on a train, bus and then the Katowice airport, so I won't really get to sleep anywhere. But I'm really excited about the adventure, which is about to begin! Hopefully I'll survive both the flight and my aviaphobia (I'm not sure which one of them is actually more dangerous) and will be able to share my experiences with you! ;)

Crazy Five Days at Home

Today I can finally tell you about all the things that have happened to me in the last 5 days, since I've come to Ukraine. It's been a short time, but really full of events - some of them really unexpected!

1. The way back home was already crazy enough! :) I flew to Budapest, then took a train to Záhony (the border station in Hungary) and thought I'd wait 1.5 hour for a train to Chop (the border station in Ukraine) and then spend the whole night waiting for the train to Lviv there. But my plan was too European! In Ukraine things are much more spontaneous. ;) In Záhony an Ukrainian taxi driver came to me and started convincing me to use his services.

- I'll take you to Chop for 5 euros!

- Well, it's a good price, but it won't help me - I'll have to wait for my train until the morning anyway. So I'll better take the train to Chop.

- But maybe you can catch the earlier train to Lviv?

- It departs from Chop in 8 minutes, at 23:10, so I don't think so... But... Do you think we could make it to Uzhgorod before 23:50? 

Uzhgorod is the next station after Chop. Ukrainian trains are quite slow, so even though I obviously couldn't catch this one in Chop, we got to Uzhgorod much quicker than it did. I paid just 10 euro for this crazy international illegal taxi service and went to the ticket office at the Uzhgorod railway station just to learn that there were no tickets left to Lviv! I should have guessed that, it's hard to get them on Sunday evening! I still had 10 minutes until the departure, so I came to the 3rd class carriage and decided to solve this problem Ukrainian way. We have an expression: "їхати зайцем", which means "to travel as a bunny" literally. It stands for travelling without a ticket. ;)

- Will you take one "bunny" to Lviv?

- Sure!

That wasn't hard at all. ;) For 2.5 euro I was on a night train to Lviv and didn't have to spend the night at a railway station. I just realize I'm probably not the best person to fight or criticize corruption in Ukraine, am I? :D Just to justify myself, I can tell you that I only give bribes in extraordinary situations like this one.

2. I'm going to visit Iceland in less than a week, even though I thought it wouldn't be possible in the next several years. Not until I start earning good money or until low-cost airlines conquer Iceland! ;) I was going to meet a close friend of mine, who lives in Iceland, during a trip to Sweden to Denmark. Due to some problems, he unfortunately wouldn't be able to come. First I thought we should just cancel this trip and do it later... But then he would lose his plane tickets, there's no way to get a refund. So he came up with a idea which seemed completely crazy to me in the beginning - to change the dates of flights and the passenger's name (which is allowed for a fee) and then I could come to Reykjavik. First I didn't want to agree and I still feel very uncomfortable about it, because I wouldn't be able to afford this flight at the moment. But I realize it's better than just losing the ticket and even though I feel upset that we can't follow our original plan, I think I should just enjoy what the "fate" gives me! :) I remember that I've wanted to travel to Iceland since I was in primary school and my dad told me about an amazing island country in Northern Europe with few people, but full of mountains, volcanos and geysers. I really wanted to see it, but I thought I would never actually have a chance... Of course, I don't think we'll be able to travel all around Iceland, because my friend will have to work for most of the time. But even if I only get to see Reykjavik, it's still so much more than I could dream of! Oh yes, I wished for a year full of adventures, didn't I? :)

3. I've had a job interview and it went well, so I've started working for a translation agency in Lviv! For now I'll work remotely, even though they wanted me to work in the office, because I still have one semester of my studies left... and because I like the idea of working from home more, at least for now. ;) I don't expect much from this job, but it'll surely be a very useful experience. So far the only problem I can see is that I get to work only for about a hour a day, because I don't get enough requests from them. But I've calculated that if I only worked for 4 hours a day 20 days a month, it would be more than enough to live a comfortable life here (of course what is comfortable for me could be very humble for someone else!) and to save money for traveling. So I'll see how it goes and maybe I'll try to cooperate with more agencies later. Of course, at the moment I still can't work legally in Ukraine, so it's unofficial, but this could also be solved soon...

4. It's possible that I'll be able to get Ukrainian citizenship in May-June! Today I've been to the immigration office to ask which more papers should I bring to get my permanent residence permit, but it turned out that in my case it'll be much quicker and easier to get the citizenship. It seems that I've been entitled to get it since I was born (as my granny comes from Ukraine), I just wasn't aware of it. When and if I get it, I may have a small problem with my double citizenship, so I might need lawyer's help, but I think it's worth trying. I probably won't sound like a big patriot of Ukraine, but let's be realistic: it would be quite stupid of me to renounce EU citizenship under current circumstances here in Ukraine. Still, I'd be happy to have an Ukrainian passport. I know it's just a piece of paper, which doesn't define who I am, but symbolically that would mean that I have some kind of connection with this country forever and that I wouldn't have to explain why I feel Ukrainian anymore. So keep fingers crossed for my double citizenship! ;)

5. I've been having weird family issues, which are causing me a lot of stress and I don't know, whether I should even go to Poland tomorrow, but I think I will anyway. I just hope it won't be too stressful. The funny thing is that I've just been to Poland yesterday! I went to Przemyśl again to buy medicines for my landlady and to withdraw money, because for some reason nowadays the exchange rate is much better when I use an exchange point instead of withdrawing money in Ukraine. As I had to pay for the next semester of my studies, it made quite a huge difference, which means that I'm allowed to travel more! ;)

6. I've received a pile of mail! :D Yes, usually we talk about our piles of mail growing, but this time I can say that I've received one, because it suddenly went from 1 letter to 13! ;) I could see that coming, because a lot of letters were delayed during the Christmas/New Year period and I didn't manage to receive them before leaving Ukraine. Of course, now I feel overwhelmed with the amount of mail I have, because I can't write back to all the letters quickly. :( But I'll do my best! Actually, I've been trying to think of an logical explaination to a phenomenon, which many of my penpals have already experience: sometimes we have no letters at all and sometimes we have... what I have now! ;) The only explaination that comes to my mind is that usually a huge pile of mail grows (or arrives) during a period, when we're not really able to write a lot of letters (as we're busy, traveling etc.). This means that during this period of time our penpals don't receive letters from us. So when we finally manage to catch up with our mail, we find our mailboxes starving for at least a few weeks! Do you think that makes sense? But well, I think that instead of creating a new theory of hungry and overweight mailboxes, I should just show you what I've received this week (on Monday and Wednesday)! :)

From Antonina in Ukraine

This letter came from my friend Antonina from Vinnytsia region. The strange thing is that she's sent it in December, but the cancellation says "20th January". Yes, our postal service had some delay during the holiday period!

From Anastasia in Ukraine

One more Ukrainian letter - this time from Anastasia in Chernihiv. She gave birth to a baby boy on 1st January, but found time to write me a letter nevertheless! :)

From Taši in Slovenia

This is one of the letters I was most worried about. Taši sent it in the beginning of December, so at the time I left Ukraine it already had been traveling for a month! Unfortunately, the letter got wet somewhere on the way, so I can't read some parts, but at least it's not lost. I love the special stamps Taši used - they show her and her husband. :)

From Marina in Russia

Marina's envelopes are always amazing and this one isn't an exception! I wish I was so creative! :) I love her chatty letters and I hope that mail between Russia and Ukraine won't ever stop arriving, no matter how complicated is the political situation.

From Mihaela in Romania

Mihaela sent a very nice answer to my intro, which was actually a continuation of our fascinating dialogue on Interpals. :) I'm so glad we've switched to snail mail!

From Katharina in Germany

Katharina has also answered my intro, which I've sent a couple of months ago. I'd like to answer her letter as soon as possible, but I know she'll be moving abroad soon, so I should probably wait for her to tell me the new address. Oh, can you see the train stamp? :D

From Sandra in Germany

One more letter from Germany - from my friend Sandra, who always writes long and thought-provoking ones. She's also sent me some samples of washi tapes, so I'll try to use them for my future letters! ;) Believe it or not, it's the first time I actually have washi tape in my hands!

From Olga in Belarus

This letter comes from my dear Olga, whom I've already met for several times and with whom I'm going to travel more this year! ;)

From Essi in Finland

And this one comes from my Finnish friend Essi, who's been missing slow Ukrainian night trains! :) She has partly written her letter during her holiday in France in Switzerland, and enclosed a yummy Swiss chocolate! :)

From Jennifer in UK

This lovely intro came from Jennifer in the UK. She was supposed to write me a letter as a part of the random exchange, but we agreed that we'd actually try to become penpals and I have a very good feeling about this correspondence already! I just hope she won't mind me being a bit slow now... 

From Bahanur in Turkey

A letter from my dear Bahanur, with whom I can discuss all the most controversial topics and whom I really hope to meet this year, before she moves halfway around the world away!

From Brigitta in Hungary

All the other letters came on Monday, but this one arrived two days later. :) It's from Brigitta, my Hungarian friend who has already hosted me twice - and each time she saw me being sick! Yes, I feel slightly embarassed about it. But I'm so happy that she keeps on answering my letters nevertheless! She has also used beautiful stamps, which are quite hard to get in Hungary, believe me!

A card from Martina in Slovenia

I've also received two Christmas cards, which didn't make it on time due to the snail mail working like a real snail. ;) This beautiful handmade one is from Martina.

A card and bookmark from Kathrin in Germany

And this one is from Kathrin! She's also made a lovely bookmark with my name, which I'm really thankful for! :)

Postcards from Tündi

These 3 postcards were sent by my dear Tündi during her trip to the Netherlands in Germany! :) The very funny thing is that I've been to all the places which you can see on these cards... And I went to Maastricht just 4 days after Tündi, which we both didn't realize! :)

From Chelsea in the USA

Last but not least, Chelsea from the USA sent me a big postcard showing the places she's been to in 2014. :) Chelsea is a friend, whom I've met thanks to Couchsurfing back in 2010, when she was traveling in Ukraine. It's so nice of her that she still remembers about me, even though several years have passed! 

I think you'll understand why I haven't been able to write much in the last days with all those things happening at the same time. I've only managed to send a small package for Antonina and her little daughter.

For Antonina in Ukraine

Now I'm working on my letter to Stav and I really hope that soon I'll be able to announce a lot of outgoing mail! I really feel bad each time my answers are delayed, but I hope not to disappoint my penpals. Tomorrow I'm most likely leaving Ukraine again and will be back on 15th or 16th February. And of course I'll keep you updated about my crazy journeys! :)

Benelux 2015: I've seen something in Belgium too!

Each time I visit my dad in Belgium, we end up spending more time traveling to other countries than within Belgium itself. Perhaps it's caused by my love for crossing the borders (even if they're already non-existent in EU) and visiting different countries. :) Moreover, I've already visited the vast majority of Belgium's tourist destinations. Another thing is that I may be confusing them all in my head due to my dad's habit of visiting several places within one day, which I've already mentioned a few days ago. :) As a result, I don't really get excited about going anywhere in Belgium anymore, but I have a good news: next time I'll be traveling to this country with a friend, who has never been to Western Europe! I know she'll be excited - actually she already is! - and that will let me get a fresh glimpse of Belgium as well! :) Because, in fact, Belgium is a beautiful country full of precious historic and cultural heritage. I shouldn't value it less just because I've been there for so many times.

And it's still possible to find places in Belgium, which would be new for me. For example, one Sunday afternoon my dad decided we should go to Lier. It's only about 50 km away from Brussels, but he also hadn't been there before.

St. Gummarus church in Lier

I'd say that Lier is a typical old Flemish town - rather small, but full of historic sights. The first object to draw our attention as soon as we arrived in the town was the huge St. Gummarus church. Looking at it, I started wondering, whether there've ever been enough people in Lier to fill it totally? Especially that there are quite a few other churches in the town. But I suppose that in the Middle Ages nobody would calculate, whether such an enormous church was necessary. The bigger church you've built - the bigger your love for God and your chances for salvation, that's how it probably worked. Thanks to it, nowadays we can see such impressive churches in most of Western European countries. Eastern Europeans weren't just rich enough and therefore had to build slightly smaller ones. ;)

The town hall and Belfry in Lier

Belgium is a great country for those, who are into visiting the objects from UNESCO World Heritage List. You can find them in nearly each old Belgian town. For instance, Lier has two of them: the Belfry and the Beguinage. The belfries served as watchtowers and alarm bell towers. There are 33 of them in Belgium (and some more in France) inscribed on the UNESCO list, so it takes time to see them all. :) Most of them are connected to a bigger building, such as a town hall (like in Lier) or church, but there are also some standalone ones.

The Béguinage in Lier

As for the Béguinages, they're small neighbourhoods of small houses, which served as communities for religious women, who were either single or widows and wanted to serve God without becoming nuns. Living in such a community guaranteed them quite a high level of personal indepenence, which was hard to achieve for women in those times. The Lier Béguinage was founded in 1th century, but most of houses come from 17th and 18th century. And there are 13 Flemish Béguinages on the UNESCO list, so yes, there's much to see in Belgium!

The Cathedral in Antwerp

Our another Belgian trip was to Antwerp - the country's second biggest city. I had been there before, but that was a long time ago, so I couldn't remember much. Speaking of big churches, the Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady is so huge that it's even hard to take a photo of it! Only one of its towers has ever been completed (and is a UNESCO site as a Belfry - the other one in Antwerp is the town hall), but it's over 100 m high! I don't think I'd ever like to climb it - 52 m in Zwolle were more than enough! :)

Me and Het Steen

There's also a castle in Antwerp (and I love castles!) called Het Steen, which means "The Stone" in Dutch. It's quite a logical name for a castle, don't you think so? :) The castle was built to control the banks of Scheldt river, later served as a prison and nowadays it's some kind of a cultural centre. To be honest, I'd still like to come back to Antwerpen to visit the Jewish quarter, which I've never seen. Well, I think I'll have such a chance in a few months. ;)

My dad lives just next to Brussels, but we barely ever go sightseeing there. I'd lie if I said that I've seen everything in Belgium's capital - for instance I've never been to the famous Atomium. But my love for capital cities is so great that it's best to mantain it as a long-distance relationship! ;) This time we only went to the centre of Brussels for a couple of hours and have visited the German bookshop. There were two soldiers standing just next to it, but I guess in fact they were protecting some government building. The Belgian government had to take such measures because of the high risk of terrorist attacks, which you've probably heard of... I've even received some messages from my friends asking whether I was fine while I was in Belgium, but I should be honest with you: after spending a year listening to the news about the war in my country, my brain started filtering them and ignoring most of them. It doesn't mean that I don't care about what's going on in West Europe - I think the situation is really threatening and I'm not even sure whether it's possible to find any solution at this point. I just didn't want it to spoil my mood - for the same reason I rarely read Ukrainian news. 

German books :)

But back to the German bookshop, it's a really lovely place! Its owner comes from Germany, but has been living in Belgium and running the shop together with his wife since 1981. First I got scared when he started talking to me and asking what I was interested in, because "I can't speak German!!!", but after a while I realized that I could understand him perfectly well and I was even able to answer his question. :) We've had some interesting discussion about politics and the situation in Ukraine and he's helped me to choose books that might be interesting for me. One is about the global process of migrations from rural areas to the cities and the other one is about the economical and political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. I've started reading the first one and I can understand it fairly well, although I think I should read with a dictionary if I want to improve my vocabulary in German. I'm also very thankful to my dad, who believes in me more than I do myself and who managed to encourage me to read in German. :) 

Last but not least, I've sent some letters from Belgium:

For Katalin in Slovakia

One to Katalin in Slovakia, written in 3 languages. Well, mostly in English, but I've used some poor Hungarian and even poorer Slovak. ;) She has already received it!

For Natasha in England

An intro letter for Natasha in England, who wanted to become my penpal after reading my interview on Penpal of The Week blog. I hope she's also received it by now. :) Yeah, I had to use boring white envelopes, because the ones I've taken from Ukraine weren't big enough for the postcards that I wanted to send. There was also an intro letter for Kim in Belgium (sent from Belgium!), who also found me through that interview, but I didn't manage to take a photo of it before the post office clerk took it away. ;) 

Tomorrow I'll finally be able to write about all the crazy things that have happened to me this week! For example, did you know that I've been to Poland today? :D But that's the least interesting one of all my news. :)

Benelux 2015: Small but Beautiful? Luxembourg!

I'm afraid that with the amount of events that have been happening in my life this winter, I'll always be behind with my blog, but I still believe I'll catch up one day - perhaps when the new semester begins! ;) Today I'd like to tell you about my favourite Western European countries (out of those that I've been to, of course!): Luxembourg.

Esch-sur-Sûre

You may ask: why exactly Luxembourg? It's not a very famous country. But I've loved it since the first time I went there in 2005. That very first trip was only to the capital city (also named Luxembourg), but I could already feel that there was something special about this country, making it different than its neighbours. Perhaps it's due to it's small size and population (less than 550 thousands of people), which means it's not as urbanized as Belgium or the Netherlands. Contrary to quite a widespread misconception, Luxembourg isn't that small and it doesn't consist of just one city. There are many more small towns, villages and about 100 castles! I've already been to Luxembourg for several times, but there's always something new to see and I love it! I also like it that driving through Luxembourg is much more pleasant than through other West European countries: there are few motorways, so for most of the time your ride small roads with few cars and are able to watch wonderful landscapes. Luxembourg is a montanous country, even if the mountains are rather small and should probably be called hills. ;)

This time me and my dad went on a trip to three Luxembourgish towns with castles that we haven't been to before. Yet I should tell you that Luxembourgish towns are just like Luxembourgish mountains - some of them have less than 300 inhabitants! ;)

Me at Esch-sur-Sûre castle

Our first stop was in Esch-sur-Sûre, a town with 314 inhabitants! And no, it's not a village. :) It's a real town with a real post office, which works... 1 hour a day! :D It's located at a beautiful meander of Sûre river and surrounded by hills. The 10th century castle stands on one of them. Nowadays it's a ruin (but I really love castle ruins!) and is open to visitors for free.

As you may have noticed, the name of the town is in French. But, in fact, the linguistic situation in Luxembourg is quite complicated. So complicated that even I can't fully understand it. ;) They have 1 national language: Luxembourgish (considered as a dialect of German by some linguists), and two official languages: French and German. Most of people (at least those, who were born in Luxembourg - there are also a lot of immigrants) speak Luxembourgish among each other, but it's mostly a spoken language. As for writing, they use French (higher class) or German (middle or lower class). At least that's what Wikipedia says. :D I could hear people speaking all 3 languages and I think that living in such a multilingual society is a big advantage!

Bourscheid castle

Our next stop was in Bourscheid castle, which is a bit away from the town with the same name. The castle is also a ruin, but a really huge and well-preserved one. It was first mentioned in 1095, although it's believed to be older. Of course, the whole castle wasn't built at once - some parts of it come from the 18th century. In this castle we had to pay the entrance fee and got an audio guide in English... Which was so boring that we ended up just walking around the castle the way we wanted and pretending that we've listened to everything! ;) So perhaps we've skipped some historic details, but we have our own impressions and I think it matters more. Do you also get bored with audio guides? I usually read a bit about the place before going there and more after coming back. I always prefer to read than to listen. The biggest sightseeing torture I can think of was visiting one castle in Belgium a couple of years ago, in which we had both audio guide and a human guide and we were in a group, so we couldn't run away... ;) But that's a completely different story!

Me in Bourscheid.

The last and biggest town that we've visited was Clervaux. It has more than 1000 inhabitants and a post office with normal working hours. There's also a castle, which is used both as the town hall and a museum, which unfortunately was closed. But we also went for a walk to the Clervaux abbey, which is located on a hill, so we had to fight our laziness a bit and could feel proud of ourselves. :)

Clervaux castle and church

Last but not least, I went to a bookshop in Clervaux and got myself a philosophic magazine in German (I think they have about the same amount of books and magazines both in German and French, but almost nothing in Luxembourgish), because I wanted to start reading in this language, but didn't feel brave enough to buy a book. Yet when I started reading and realized that I could understand philosophic articles without a dictionary, I suddenly felt much better! :) I ended up buying some German books, but that was already in Belgium, so I'll tell you about it next time! :) And I really hope to come back to Luxembourg this year. There's still so much to see and experience in this tiny, yet amazing country!

Benelux 2015: Snowy Maastricht

There've been a lot of unbelievable - and mostly positive - things going on here since I've come back home yesterday, but you'll have to wait a bit for this lazy blogger to tell you all her news! ;) Today I'll take you on a short virtual trip to Maastricht, a beautiful city in the very South-East on the Netherlands.

That was the day before my departure that the winter came to Belgium - finally everything was covered with snow! Of course, Belgium isn't the same as Israel, so a bit of snow doesn't paralyse the whole country, but it still makes traveling a bit more complicated. Snow is quite rare in Belgium and so many drivers don't even have the winter tyres, which leads to an increase in the number of car accident. Still, my dad decided that we should try to go to Maastricht and just drive carefully. That's how I went to the Netherlands for the 3rd time in just 10 days! :)

The Meuse river in Maastricht.

Maastricht might be the oldest city of the Netherlands, although they have a dispute with Nijmegen, which got the status of town earlier, even if the settlement of Maastricht was older. You know, it's probably a bit like with the "geographic centres of Europe" - there are at least 5 of them and I've seen 2! ;) But no matter if Maastricht is indeed the oldest city, or "only" the 2nd oldest, it's definitely a wonderful place full of fascinating historic sights. And, even from my ignorant point of view, it looks quite different than other Dutch cities. Probably it's due to it's location in Limburg region, which is just next to the borders with Belgium and Germany and has been ruled by several countries at different points in history. Have you ever heard of the Limburgish language? I found out about its existence just one day before our trip to Maastricht! It has the status of a regional language in Limburg province and you can indeed see bilingual street names in Maastricht.

Another church turned into a bookshop.

One of my favourite places in Maastricht was the Dominicanen Bookshop located in a 700-years old former church. It's quite similar to the one in Zwolle - it also consists of the bookshop itself and a café, but I think the one in Maastricht is more stunning and also better planned. I wonder, whether there are more church-bookshops in the Netherlands? I should check it one day. Coming back to the topic, which I've started in my previous blog entry, it's an interesting issue: what should be we do about the empty churches, while there are less and less relgious people in West European countries? I'm not going to write about the reasons of decrease in religiousness, which would be an even more controversial issue, but the fact is that it costs a lot to mantain those enormous medieval churches and that there are few people left, who'd come to the services each Sunday. There are also not enough priests and, as a result, many churches have to be closed. This isn't exactly the case with the Dominican Church in Maastricht, which was closed over 200 years ago, but there are many other churches, which used to serve their original purpose until recently. So is it acceptable to run a business in a former church? From my point of view it is, because we have to be realistic and accept the fact that our society has changed. And I think a bookshop is one of those options, which are easiest to take even for those people, who are against the secularisation. After all, books can also help people to develop spiritually. I'm a bit more sceptical when it comes to turning churches into pubs (my dad has told me about such case in Belgium). It doesn't offend me, but I think it might still hurt the feelings of the religious people. And although I'm very liberal, I think that hurting people should be avoided, whenever it's possible. Moreover, I think that old churches still have a special atmosphere, which is just perfect for contemplation and meditation, but not neccesarily for partying. Therefore I really admire this idea of using former churches as beautiful and unusual bookshops! My dad has even been able to buy some books there. :) And me? Unfortunately I can't speak Dutch yet. ;)

Next to the Basilica of Saint Servatius.

But of course, not all the churches in Maastricht have been turned into bookshops. ;) This Catholic basilica has existed for almost 1500 years, although the current structure, which is partly in Romanesque and partly in Gothic style, was built between 11th and 12th century. Sometimes it saddens me a bit when I read how people would destroy very ancient churches to buy bigger and newer "versions" from time to time, but well, they had no idea about protection of historic heritage back in the Middle Ages. ;)

At the market square.

Maastricht also has a very nice market square and of course they sell my dad's favourite "Dutch sushi" there - I think he had 2 this time! ;) I still didn't dare to taste it, but I've tried crab meat for the first time - at least it was cooked and not raw! ;) After those gastronomic experiments we went for a walk along the old city walls...

The city walls

I loved this part of old Maastricht, as there were very few people and it felt just very cosy. The snow made my impressions even better! The gray sky (which is unfortunately typical for this part of Europe in the winter) is so much easier to stand, when you have some snow under your feet! :) Surely, that's nothing compared to those mountains of snow which I've seen in Odessa on 1st January, but as for the Netherlands and Belgium that was real winter! :) I'm glad I was able to experience it before flying back home. And tomorrow I'll tell you about my favourite country of Benelux. Yes, that small one! ;)