by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 26, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
Our last day in Kyiv was another special treat.
First, we stopped back at the office It was our colleague Sergei Sous’ birthday, and (lucky for him, they sell alcohol at those roadside gas stations, remember? 😉) We were able to pick him up a bottle of vodka (his favorite) and present it to him as his birthday gift. Also, everyone loved the LP Hawaiian shirt, so we are ordering a bunch of them. 👍
It was our colleague Sergei Sous’ birthday!
The next morning, I was honored to have breakfast at the home of Pasha’s parents, Anatoliy and Anna. If you look closely, you can see behind us are dozens of hockey pucks Anatoly played for the Soviet National team against the NHL and the other top teams in the world (he even had a Buffalo Sabres puck from when he played vs. the Sabres in the 90’s in Buffalo. Still a big, tough guy 🙂
Pasha’s parents, Anatoliy and Anna.
Andrii and his lovely wife, Radmila (and baby Adrian), joined us. Check out the spread—and this is only HALF the table. What a feast! It was all prepared by Pasha’s Mom, Anna.
Afterward, Anatoly and I took a shot of his Mom’s homemade vodka. Pretty damn good!
And then Andrii and I took a dip in their pool, joined by their beautiful dog, Afina.
No words necessary here–The picture is worth 1,000 words 😊
It is clear to me what wonderful parents Pasha has, why he is such a good “kid,” and what a wonderful family Andrii and Radmila will build.
Did my heart/all our hearts good, I believe.
A(nother) special day!
Onward!
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by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 25, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
We bid a fond farewell to Odesa and our LP colleagues. Odesa is a BEAUTIFUL city, and (other than the constant air raid alarms) life goes on there pretty normally. It’s hard to imagine, but I think that’s true most of the time in a situation like this.
My Dad was a US Army Air Corps (the predecessor to the US Air Force) airplane mechanic during WW2 and was based at Sudbury, Suffolk. He (like most WW2 vets) never talked much about the war, but I remember him telling me that he was amazed that when Hitler’s bombs started dropping, and the alarms sounded, everyone quietly, casually went into the bomb shelters. The famous British “stiff upper lip.” And then, when it was over, life resumed as usual. I also remember him telling me about his experience in Suffolk that “the Vicar’s daughter was lovely” 🙂
So, in Zoryana’s capable hands we head back to Kyiv to say goodbye to the gang and to get a special treat before we head to Berlin.
Onward!
In Zoryana’s capable hands
Passing one of our loads of pipe heading from the port to the well sites on our way out 👍
And, of course, we stopped for another Road Dog
And Derek had to show us up 😀
I found it funny that besides the road dogs, the roadside gas stations sell all this, too. Shelves and shelves of alcohol at rest areas–what could go wrong? 🤪
And as beautiful as the drive was, there are still occasional reminders that the nation is still under attack by Russia.
Beautiful poppy fields appeared now and then along the highway. What a beautiful country!
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by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 24, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
We had a lovely evening with the Odesa team. Shared some good stories, had some good laughs, and learned a bit about everyone’s personal history.
Walking to dinner on a beautiful Odesa night
A lovely restaurant. Ole’s son, Sviatoslav, joined us for the evening. I hope we didn’t bore him TOO much with all our old stories 🙂
Ole (I call him the The Professor. I hope he takes it as the compliment it’s meant) had some interesting conversations about our past lives. Interesting points of connection.
OD telling me about life in Odesa during the war. A quiet guy, but worlds of experience and knowledge. Both guys are total gems!
Next, we’re heading back to Kyiv (and ready for more Road Dogs 🤪)
Onward!
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by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 21, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
It really has been go-go-go (a good thing), but it really has been non-stop. So, with an evening free, Zoryana, Andrii, Derek, and I did what people have done for centuries in Odesa. We went to the beach!
Zoryana leading the way 🙂
And maybe if Derek and I didn’t deserve the break, Zoryana surely did. Lots of driving and running around.
But we got to take a break too. And, honestly, it sure felt good.
While we were there, the air raid sirens went off again. It’s a weird feeling. You know something is coming–cruise missile, ballistic missile, hypersonic missile, drone. But these warnings go off very often in this part of the country. It has been hit more than Kyiv has. Plus, its proximity to the sea (cruise missiles can be fired from ships/subs, though the Ukrainian forces have largely driven the Russian fleet out of the Black Sea), as well as its proximity to occupied Crimea, means that a hypersonic missile will hit in 3-5 minutes. They are launched from that close.
And what do you do? There are no bomb shelters on the beach, and it would take more than five minutes to get to one.
Most people just stay. These are mostly (mostly) false alarms, or the missile/drone is shot down by air defense. But a sort of fatalism sets in. The odds of the missile striking where you are are low (but not 0), but you just kind of “take the chance.” Almost no one left the beach. They just enjoyed the beautiful spring day despite the alarms.
Just a small sample of what the people in Odesa live through every day.
We went out to a nice dinner, went to bed, and got awakened several times during the night. The first one, we all trudged down to the bomb shelter (except for Zoryana—she’s a badass). We hung out there for awhile with some of the other guests. We discussed it a bit, and one by one, we went back to bed.
After that, we just rolled over and went back to sleep for the other air raid sirens. Nothing hit while we were there, though we did hear one explosion that was anti-missile batteries taking one out. But it becomes a way of life that is hard to picture when you’re not there but easy to understand if you live through it. After all, what are the options?
Onward!
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by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 20, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
We got to Odesa after our beautiful 4-hour drive (Zoryana kicks ass!)
Odesa is such a historic city. Worth checking it out on Google if you get the chance.
We stayed in a beautiful hotel, The Bristol. Not only is it very nice, but it has a bomb shelter in the basement, which is one of the reasons we chose it—for security.
The Bristol Hotel
The main lobby. Clearly, you can see the luxuriousness of the place. Not what most people picture when they think of Odesa now.
Luckily, our good friends from Allrise Capital invited us to visit their stadium in Odesa. They bought the stadium a few years ago–it is absolutely beautiful and seats 35,000 fans. They also own the local women’s professional football team that trains and plays there, FC Chornomorets Odesa, nicknamed The Seasters (Odesa is a Black Sea Port–get it? 😊)
First because of Covid, and now because of the war, they play the games but with no fans in the stands, so it’s been a tough few years. But these guys are smart and resilient (surprised? 😉) and are investing in the stadium with a hotel, a conference center, and a beautiful training facility, and it looks world-class to me. We can’t wait to return when they can play in front of fans again.
Pretty cool stadium, eh? Club Director, Sergey Burka was kind enough to show us around the facility. Very gracious with his time, and his energy/passion for this was clearly visible.
The daily message to the team at their facility
Got to walk on this beautiful pitch (Pitch = field for any of you who don’t know proper soccer/football terms 🤪)
Zoryana, enjoying the view from the luxury boxes 😊
This is their pool. There is a hotel, conference center, business center, world-class gym. What a facility!
They presented us with a jersey and a promise to have us back. Can’t wait.
What an awesome day.
Onward!
by Ryan Markiewicz | Jun 19, 2024 | Berlin's Wall
We took off bright and early from the hotel, picked up Andriy (cool), and were on our way.
Our driver, former Formula 1 International champ Zoryana (well, I made up the F1 International Champ part, but she is one hell of a good driver), took great care of us and made great time. It’s about 300 miles, and we made it in just over 4 hours (you can do the math 😉). Zoryana has driven several of our folks and spent lots of time with LP’ers there, so she knows our crazy sense of humor, and she was able to handle us with ease.
The entire drive, all you could see was beautiful farmland on both sides as far as the eye could see. Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of the world, and it is easy to see why. There are HUGE farms with crops of every kind. It looked a good bit like Pennsylvania, only with less forest and a lot more farmland. It was very green and lush.
Again, there were really no signs of war the whole way. Other than a couple of checkpoints, which only caused a one—or two-minute delay, there was nothing to indicate that this country has been at war for almost two and a half years. Again, it was very normal-seeming.
We had a fun time. Just the 3 of us as Derek went overnight via train, and we will meet him when we get to Odessa in the afternoon. We stopped at a roadside gas station to try one of their famous hot dogs (we call ’em Road Dogs because every roadside gas station has them). They are delicious. They are regular hot dogs. You can get the normal size or the giant size. You can get different kinds, more red to more brownish. You can get them with mustard, ketchup, and mayo. But the coolest thing is, instead of a normal bun, they have this bun that is closed on one end. They put the condiments through the hole in the top of the bun (they hold the road dogs upright, not sideways) and then slide the dog in.
What’s brilliant about this (besides that they taste so frigging good) is that there is no muss/no fuss. You actually hold them in one hand. No spilling. No mess. It’s Brilliant. Not sure why America and the rest of the world do not eat their hot dogs this way (then again, maybe the rest of the world already does, and I am just behind the times). But man, they are good. I’m already thinking about the drive back to Kyiv later this week so we can stop and get another road dog or two 🤪
As you can see, it’s a straight shot south, a bit over 300 miles from Kyiv (blue dot) to Odessa
Luckily for us we had an Ace driver, Zoryana, who made it in a little over 4 hours 👍
I knew Ukraine has always been known as “The breadbasket of the world” and I have traveled a lot, but I have never seen 300 uninterrupted miles of such beautiful farmland. Was a site to see.
300 miles of THIS!!!
And NOTHING beats THIS. A road dog from the local gas station. DEEEEE-licious
Onward!!
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