A Bit of Ukraine in the Spring
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April 1–6, 2012
There’s a gas station in Ukraine whose logo looks like a “POW!”
And there are also several intergalactic gas stations currently under construction—with futuristic displays, scrolling arrows, iPhone-like exteriors and other wonders of the universe. None are operational yet, so it’s hard to say what kind of out-of-this world experience awaits drivers.
Odessa
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The city is still as magnificent as always.
Where else will you see people drying laundry on the fire escape?
One of the interesting old things: the street name signs.
Uchilischnaya Street
And one of the new things: advertising pillars around street posts.
Vinnytsia
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Unbelievable but true: zebra crossings in Vinnytsia are purposely equipped with two floodlights to light them from above. This simple and necessary setup doesn’t exist anywhere else in Ukraine, much less in Russia.
Kamianets-Podilskyi
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A lovely little town.
With a pleasant, quiet downtown area.
With giant trash cans.
And an unusual sign with a fire truck and an emergency services phone number.
Chernovtsy
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One of the world’s most wonderful and yet completely unknown (to the general public) cities.
It has its own local color.
It has its own sense of humor.
I’ll show you how to draw on the walls, asshole :D
It has things to see.
Notary
It has retro-trolleys.
It’s great to simply walk around.
Because it’s awesome.
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License plates for sale.
You simply can’t have plain old regular wells around Chernovtsy — only elaborate, richly ornamented ones.
A countrywoman.
People honestly toil in the fields here.
And because of this, it ends up looking nothing like a Russian village and much more like Europe.
There’s still some snow in parts of the Carpathian Mountains.
A marvelous idea—the winding road sign has another one under it indicating the number of curves ahead. Drivers can just keep track of the turns themselves.
New café signs have been put up all over Ukraine. The cup on the sign resembles a bucket with a handle.
Another new sign: divided highway ahead. It takes a few moments to grasp its meaning.
The road shoulders are embellished with surface markings consisting of little drops and glass thingamajigs of unknown purpose. Either they make the car rumble if it drives over them, or they glimmer back at you in the night.
Lviv
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The most noticeable innovation in the city is the new bilingual street signs.
And the wayfinding signage, executed in the same style.
The new fire hydrant sign is also wonderful.
FH
Of course, the old signs were even more wonderful. But the new one is remarkable due to the fact that some effort was clearly put into it, when they could have easily just taken a tin sheet and painted numbers on it.
Trash dumpsters.
One of the main sources of revenue from tourism is the legend about nationalism and the accompanying sale of Nazi paraphernalia. Which is purchased primarily by the Russkies, of course.
Lviv has learned how to attract tourists.
And attracted they are.
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi
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Such a long name can fit on very few signs. What’s curious is that sometimes it’s abbreviated to „Pereiaslav-Kh.“ and sometimes to „P.-Khmelnytskyi.“.
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