Varna, Bulgaria

Bucharest is called sometimes a little Paris.. Yes, there are sometimes some remains of faded glory. And Ciausescu left for the posterity his monument -- the enormous House of the People -- second largest building in the world after Pentagon.

Then i went to the Danube Delta, which was declared by UNESCO a World Natural Heritage Site. Below the town of Tulcea the river splits into 3 channels. The boat trips on the middle arm from Tulcea to Sulina(another faded glory) and back was nice. I also enjoyed the bus trip Tulcea-Constanta through the vinyards of Dobrugia.

And it turned out that before me another great poet has visited Constanta. It was Ovid exiled there by the Roman emperor. But I am sure you are eager to hear the masterpiece composed by Leo Falk on that occasion. Here it is:

Ovid exiled was to Constantsa,
Complained a lot about his fate --
But Leo Falk composed this stanza
And sends to you a little bit late.
As he is now in Bulgaria
Observimng local viticulture--
And in composing this scenario
He failed to use his wit and culture.

Now i am already in Varna. In antiquity it was called Odessos. (After acquiring Crimea and the adjoining lands Catherine the Great has founded several towns naming them after Greek cities known form the literature. Later on it became obvious the Kherson, Sevastopol, and Odessa should have been in other locations). The archeological Museum here is magnificent -- and about the beaches everybody has heard. But in 2 days I am moving further in Bulgaria.

Бухарест иногда називают маленъким Парижем. Да, конечно кое-где заметни остатки билой роскоши. А Чаушеску оставил для потомства гигантский Народний дом -- второе по величине здание в мире после Пентагона.
Оттуда я отправился в делъту Дуная, которая объявлена ЮНЕСКО объектом биологического наследия мирового значения. Ниже города Тулъча делъта образуется тремя рукавами. Приятно било проплитъ на корабле туда и назад между Тулъчей и Сулиной, которая знавала лучшее время, судя по остаткам билого. И оченъ хорошо било прокатитъся по Добрудже мимо многочисленних виноградников до Констанци.
Но оказалосъ, что до меня другой великий поет побивал в Констанце. Ето бил Овидий Назон. Напомню вам об Онегине:

...что занимало целий денъ его тоскующую ленъ,
Била наука страсти нежной, которую воспел Назон,
За что страдалъцем кончил он
Свой век печалъний и мятежний
В Молдавии, в глуши степей,
Вдали Италии своей.

Но вам, конечно, нетерпится услишатъ шедевр Лео Фалъка, написанний по етому поводу. Так вот он:

В Констанце дни влачил Овидий
И жаловался о судъбе,
Но Лео Фалък там бсе увидел
Всего за денъ. И о боръбе
С судъбой совсем не помишляя,
По городу он побродил --
И с вами вести разделяя,
К болгарам бистро укатил.

Сейчас я уже в Варне, котиорая в древности називаласъ Одессос. (После покорения Крима и Новороссии Екатерина Вторая основала несколъко городов, присвоив им древнегреческие имена, известние по литературе. Но впоследствии оказалосъ. что Херсон, Севастполъ и Одесса оказалисъ не на своем месте). Тут великолепний Археологический музей и знаменитие пляжи. Но завтра отправляюсъ далъше по Болгарии.

Чао! Напечатано на болгарском компъютере -- алфавит чутъ отличается от русского.

Brasov, Romania

So, I spent nine days in my native city Kiev. Perhaps not enough, but I wanted to speed up my moving to the next destinations. Visited many old familiar places and the graves. Met few relatives and friends -- few because not many left. Kiev did change, perhaps for the better. The city is clean, many old buildings have been and are being renovated. And the construction boom is in full swing -- not less, maybe more than in Moscow. At the same time I noticed the new distinctly Kievan architectural style. I would call it neoeclecticism or pseudo antique. In the old city areas the new buildings are built in a style similar to the surrounding edifices -- mainly of the turn of the 19/20 centuries time. And they are enhanced by the metal details (balcony railings, hoods, etc.) obviously from one or more workshops which are especially fond of art deco style.

But in spite of those positive developments (and I do not mention the negative ones) I did not have a strong "nostalgic click". I.e. I would not like to return to live here even with a good income.

From Kiev I went by train to Suceava, Romania. After exploring the painted churches of Southern Bukovina (15-16 centuries with remarkably well preserved frescos both inside and outside) I moved to Transylvania: Sighisoara, Sibiu, Brasov. This is the country of the infamous Vlad Tepes better known as Count Dracula. This poor guy maybe just wanted to make donations to the neighborhood's depleted blood bank. But he did not hire a proper PR company -- so they gave him a bad publicity. So now I am visiting some medieval castles which claim to be Dracula's own -- though there is doubt he has ever been there.

Anyway in couple of days I am going to Bucharest and later to Bulgaria.

So with the best wishes after visiting Dracula's castle
your Leo


Itak, ya provyol v svoyom rodnom Kieve 9 dney. Veroyatno nedostatochno, no ya hotel uskorit svoyo peredvizhenie k sleduyushchemu naznacheniyu. Posetil mnogie znakomye mesta i mogily. Bstretil nemnogih rodstvennikov i druzey -- nemnogih potomu chto malo ostalos.
Kiev izmenilsya, veroyatno k luchshemu. Gorod chist, mhogie zdaniya obnovleny ili obnovlyayutsya. I stroitelnyy bum v polnom razgare, he menshe, a veroyatno bolshe, chem v Moskve. V to zhe vremya ya otmetil novyy kievskiy arhitecturnyy stil. Ya by nazval ego neoeklektikoy ili psevdoctarinoy. V staroy chasti goroda novye zdaniya ctroyatsya v stile sosednih domov -- glavnym obrazom rubezha vekov 19/20. I oni ukrashayutsya metallicheskimi detalyami (balkonnye reshotki, kozyrki i t.p.) raboty odnoy ili bolee masterskich, kotorye ochen uvlekayutsya stilem modern.

No nesmotrya no polozhitelnye cherty (a ya ne upominayu otritsatelnyh) nichgo ne yoknulo vo mne. T.e. ya by ne hotel bernyttsa tuda zhit dazhe esli by u menya bylo mnogo deneg.

Iz Kieva poezdom ya pribyl b Suchavu (Cevernaya Rumynia). Posle obsledovania paspisannyh tserkvey Yuzhnoy Bukoviny -- 15-16 vekov s zamechatelno sohranivshimisya freskami vnutri i snaruzhi -- ya otpravilsya v Transilvaniyu: Sigishoara, Sibiu, Brashov. Eto zemli Vlada Tepesha bolee izvestnogo pod imenem grafa Drakuly. Vozmozhno bednyaga prosto hotel popolnit oskudevshie zapasy v mestnom institute perelivaniya krovi. No on ne nanyal cootvetstvuyushchey reklamnoy kompanii -- i oni emu sozdali plohuyu reputaziyu.

Tak chto nyne ya poseshchayu zamki, kotorye utverzhdayut, chto tut byl Drakula, hotya eto vesma somnitelno.

Zavtra edu v Buharest, a potom v Bolgariyu.

S nailuchshimi pozhelaniyami iz zamkov Drakuly

vash Lev