THURSDAY JULY 23RD, LAST DAY AS TOURISTS IN NEW YORK

Thursday, july 23rd-New York City

We left our deluxe accomodations at Phyllis' friends very large Upper West Side apartment and took the subway with two train changes to enjoy a tour of the Tenement Museum.  The organization that operates the museum acquired an old brownstone house that had been occupied from the 1880's to 1935 by more than 7,000 people, primarily immigrant families.  The building is original and they carefully reproduced some of the apartments down to the slightest detail.  The tour we took was the story of two families who were the actual occupants of the two three-room apartments we visited.  They don't allow photography but it's a very enjoyable and educational tour I'm sure all who read this would appreciate.

After the tour we went to lunch at Russ and Daughters, a famous very old deli in lower Manhattan.

The food was great and we each got some halvah to go.  I had never tasted the halvah from Russ and Daughters, but Phyllis said it's worth crossing the country for.

In the evening we ate a a really good but noisy French restaurant on Broadway within walking distance of our accomodations.  We met with a couple from Brooklyn that contacted Phyllis when we were Jeruslalem.  The man, recently started tracing his ancestry and it appears we are related.  It was nice to meet them.  They emigrated to the US from Ukraine in 1977.  He was a PhD in Electrical Engineering.  His masters degree and PhD were not recognized in the States and he repeated both in New York.  She was a pediatrician in Europe and had to repeat all her specialized training in pediatric medicine.  They have since realized the American dream with children and grandchildren.

We said our goodbyes to them and began the process of the final packing of this trip. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22ND, WE'RE NEW YORK TOURISTS AGAIN

Wednesday in New York, July 22nd

Even though the principal purpose of our trip is over, we still feel like we want to see all we can see.  We recovered a bit of our sleep deprivation and set out from the Upper West Side to the Chelsea neighborhood near 14th street close to the Hudson River.  We met a genealogy friend of Phyllis and had lunch and then he took us to the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway that has been artfully converted into a beautiful city park with trees, lots of flowers, benches, lounge chairs for sunbathers, some food places and souvenir stands (I've now lost count of how many refrigerator magnets I've purchased on this trip), and great views of the city and the river.  I couldn't resist photographing the sign for the condos for sale....

Later we went to a screening in Greenwich Village of a new film called "Famous Nathan" about the founder of Nathan's Hot Dogs.  The film was made by Nathan's grandson who was in the audience along with many other relatives of Nathan which made for a great Q and A session after the film.

One more day tomorrow of being Big Apple tourists and we leave for our respective homes on Friday....

TUESDAY JULY 21ST-WE RETURN TO AMERICA

Tuesday, July 21st, the beginning of the end of our journey,

We were up early to enjoy the excellent breakfast and great surroundings at Aster House in London.

By 9AM we were checked out and ready to walk the short distance to the South Kensington Underground station to travel to Heathrow Airport.  But, before leaving Aster house I took pictures of the gardern area in back and the cute little Mandarin Duck who lives there with his own little pond and cage to protect him at night from city foxes (yes, city foxes).  I had never heard of a Mandarin Duck and it looked pretty ordinary to me.  However, Leone showed us a picture of what a Mandarin Duck looks like before it seasonally molts it feathers.  Look up Mandarin Duck on Google and prepare to be amazed at the outrageously colored creature you will see.  

The train ride to Heathrow was easy and uncrowded as the mobs of Londoners were all going the other way to work in the City of London.  When we got off at the Heathrow Underground we cashed in our subway "oyster cards".  To ride you have to get one of these cards and charge it up with cash or credit card at a machine in the station.  You scan it on the gates to the train area when entering or exiting the station areas and it chips the money off.  We got almost thirty pounds back and set out to spend it on frivelous things at the airport before boarding our Newark bound flight.

Security at British airports is much tighter than in America.  As people waited in line (or "in the queue" as they say in England) to check their luggage, police with luggage sniffing dogs examined the luggage.  Behind each dog handler was another police officer (usually quite large) with a machine gun in his hands pointing down, ready for the dog to react and a passenger with offending luggage to react badly.  Our checked luggage had been checked in at the Lviv, Ukraine airport all the way to Neward, and spent the night at Heathrow so we didn't have to bother with it.  We set out for our departure gate and for the first time for me or Phyllis, we accepted a ride on one of those little golf cart type vehicles that take people to their departure gates.  I figure after all the airports we walked miles in, that we earned this bit of comfort.  

We boarded our completely full United Air Lines flight to Newark and were on our way back to the States.  On other flights we had aisle seats across from each other.  On this flight we were four rows apart.  We independently determined that the chicken and avocodo sandwich from Harrods was tastless and way too much bread.  So much for their fabulous food department.  I watched a bit of two movies i had already seen and ate airline food when I wasn't sleeping as we prepared ourselves for jet lag and New York city.

At Newark airport, while other passengers waited in line for inspection by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) we went to the empty line designated for Global Entry members.  Global Entry cost $100 for five years and gives you the "trusted traveler" benefit for domestic flights plus an easy reentry to America.  I was surprised when I saw it was a self-service process at kiosk terminals where you insert your passport and press four fingers of either hand on a glass panel.  Once you are identified as a Global Entry member, the terminal asks you some questions about Ebola, what you are bringing into the US that you aquired abroad and the value of those items, etc.  Once approved you are on your way.  It was a breeze and well worth the $100.  A taxi ride that cost as much as 5 room nights in Mogilev-Podalsky, Ukraine, and we were on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at the apartment of Phyllis' friends.  We went out to dinner with our hosts and proceeded to get some much needed sleep.

MONDAY JULY 20TH-LEAVING LVIV, UKRAINE

Greetings Blog Readers its day 23 of this travelblog,

I awoke today with the thought that our travel to London today and New York on Tuesday was the beginning of the end of this great journey.

We didn't leave Ukraine without enjoying one more excellent breakfast buffet at the Swiss Hotel.  White tableclothes and waitstaff hovering to fulfill your every breakfast wish.  

Alex drove us to the airport which was not at all busy.  We said our goodbyes to Alex, who, besides being and incredibly knowledgable historian and gifted linguist, is a gracious and friendly host and fellow traveler.  We were first in line for security and got through quickly although one of the security people got a radio call instructing me to return to the Lufthansa ticket counter because of a problem with my checked luggage.  As I began to walk back to where I checked my suitcase he got another call telling me everything is okay.  My theory is that they were puzzled by the images of many small hotel bars of soap, shampoo bottles, and complimentary slippers.  I won't know if there's a problem  until we get to New York on Tuesday because our checked luggage was checked all the way through.  It was a relief to be light and fast in London even if it was only for one night.  Our flight from Lviv,Ukraine was uneventful except that every Lufthansa Airline flight in Europe seems to include a change of planes somewhere in Germany.  We had a brief stopover in Munich and headed for London. 

Phyllis had arranged for a car service to pick us up and take us to our repeat stay at Aster House Bed and Breakfast in South Kensington.

We had a little confusion because of the multitudes of drivers with little signs with names on them as they try to find their passengers.  A phone call and we found him.  Once at Aster House we dropped our hand luggage and joined the enless crowds of Londoners in the Underground and traveled to Knitsbridge Station where we surfaced just one block from Harrods Department Store. 

 Harrods is an extremely high-end department store in a very high-end part of London.  Inside Harrods are a maze of very overly expensive designer clothes, shoes, perfume and furs (yes, furs).  You may remember that Harrods was owned by the Father of Dodi Fayed, the man who was dating, and died with, Princesse Diana in that Paris car crash.  According to Leone, our Inkeeper for the night, Harrods is now owned by members of the Quatari royal family which has attracted the many very wealthy Arabs in Lodon to shop at Harrods.  While walking through the store Phyllis pointed out a woman walking in front of us wearing a Hermes (I learned it's pronounced "her-mezz") blouse and that such a blouse costs $1,000 US.  I then realized that that was who actually buys stuff at Harrods.  The rest of the people are tourists riding the Egyptian escalator and salivating at the red velvet cupcakes costing 3.95 pounds, not dollars, each.  We bought a sandwich at the very elegant Harrods food department for the long flight to New York tomorrow and went across the street from Harradsto have dinner at a chain sushi and bento restaurant called "Wasabi"  It's set up like any fast food place for take out or take the food to a table.  The sushi is absolutely great and the prices are really low compared to any sushi bar I've been to.  We headed back on the London Underground to our South Kensington (also a very nice neighborhood) Bed and Breakfast for our final overnight of this trip.  Tomorrow morning, after breakfast we take the London Underground all the way to our departure terminal at Heathrow Airport for the long flight to New York. 

SUNDAY JULY 19TH, WE RETURN TO LVIV, UKRAINE

(The posts for the past two or three days have not been completed because they involved a lot of photos and small towns.  I'll get them done and up before I arrive home on the 24th)

Today we awoke in a great hotel in Kamanets-Podelski (don't confuse it with Mogilev-Podelski, the place of our Grandmother's birth, where we stayed for two days in a dreadful hotel.)  Kamanets-Podelski is a wonderfully picturesque town of over 100,000 people and was founded in the year 1002.  The following are pictures of the town including the castle which is a big tourist attraction.  This is a popular tourist spot for Ukranians.  The only English I heard spoken was by Ukranians who learned in school.  The hotel personnel all speak English to some degree and the menus at our hotel were in Russian and English.  Here are some photos of this very interesting town and our hotel and our amazing Guide Alex, translator in a multitude of languages and dialects, driver, and Mitsubishi Outlander all wheel drive vehicle.  The roads in Ukraine are pretty bad.  Nobody I know would regularly drive on them.  The drivers are very courteous and attentive to their driving and not distracted.  Cars will move over promptly to let you pass on narrow roads and the concept of "road rage" is unknown here.  Please note the bridge railing with all the padlocks left by couples, with names painted or engraved on them.  Alex said he saw the same thing in Odessa, Ukraine. 

  

We began our road trip back to Lviv (where, regrettably, we will stay only one night, and leave for London just after noon tomorrow.   The following photos show some churches. There are churches everywhere is Ukraine.  Even in small villages there will be a very ornate church.  Also shown are some pictures from a stop for gas.  Note the man cleaning the windshield in the uniform that matches the colors of the station.  That is available to all, not like the "full service" at additional price in America.  Also note the availability of American junk food.  I haven't the slightest idea while the name "Pringles" had to be changed to "Pringoooals" for the Ukraine market.  While not pictured, you can buy hard liquor as well as beer and wine at every gas station convenience store.  If you can't make out the gas prices on the sign, its about 22 grvenias per liter or about $4 per US gallon.  In Poland it was $6 per US gallon.  The picture of the fellow driving down the highway on a wagon being pulled by a garden tiller is not at all unusual in Ukraine.  You see them all the time outside of the cities, sometimes pulling bales of hay or a wagon with a whole family in it.  If you can't afford a family car or a real tractor, this seems to work well.  They have no license plates and the police don't bother them and its just a fact of some people's existence in Ukraine.

We arrived back in Lviv and checked in at The Swiss Hotel which is wonderful.  I never stayed in a hotel where there was a rose in the vase of the all marble bathroom.

Phyllis and I took a walk around the downtown area and went to dinner at a place we ate at when we were here a few days ago.  A sort of a cellar dining room with wonderful Eastern European food and Ukranian wine.  Photos include the Lviv Opera House, the ever-present McDonalds (there was a McDonalds in Israel at the visitors center at the foot of the Fortress at Masada in the Judean Desert too), and a Lviv police car.  I never saw a full size police car in Poland or Ukraine, of course you may only need to catch up to the guy being pulled by the garden tiller, so a small car is fine.

It's going to take awhile for me to articulate all my impressions and learning experiences on this trip, but I'll relate what I have before I end this blog after arriving home on the 24th.  

We've been traveling for three weeks and it's all been great.

Vic