Blog Archive: February 2017
First plants for Rock Garden
| Home Remodeling | 4 seen
Last summer we not only concreted a lot and demolished walls, but planted some plants and trees in the surrounding territory.
See: Planting an Apple Tree (Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi / Дочь Мелбы)
After we shaped a little bit our rock garden it was time to plant first plants.
First plants at rock garden
For the record - thyme and rosemary
Short Day Trip To Kiev, Ukraine
| Travel guides | 8 seen
Long story short - we had a chance to spend in Kiev couple of hours, during our latest flight Tbilisi - Kiev - New York city, after our flight was delayed for about 10 hours at Kiev's Borispol airport we decided to use these hours by exploring Kiev, instead of waiting at airport's transit area.
Out of the airport terminal at Borispol, there are buses taking passengers either to Kharkivksya or Vokzalnaya. The ticket prices are really cheap there. Since we didn't had any clue which station should we go, we asked just a bus going to the city center. We were taken to the Vokzalnaya from which we took a taxi and headed to the Khreshchatyk street to try some Ukrainian cuisine, see the Maidan square. At the end We did some metro ride to the Kharkiskaya station, from which we were taken back to the airport.
Despite harsh weather (end of December 2016) I really enjoyed Kiev and was surprised to see that city is not at all expensive (taxi's, metro and even meal on central street were under USD 10). Amazing. Kiev - I will come back for more, most probably during Summertime.
Shaping Rock Garden
| Home Remodeling | 10 seen
It was on the same day when guys and I demolished walls and poured in concrete for home foundation, while the better part of me, decided to shape a little bit rock garden we recently formed from stones used at cowshed's foundation, during pond excavation works. See: Building a Rock Garden and Pond Digging - Part 3 - The Result
The idea was simple, we are looking to plant some flowers and plants into rock garden, we should make a good soil there, and also we should give some shape and trails inside, so we could enjoy our evening coffee's while sitting on the rocks and watching amazing sunsets, probably playing with cats. See: Red Sunset in our Rock Garden - Cool Evening Mood and Cats on The Rocks
We agreed to lay film on the ground and at some of the parts of rock garden add gravel (the same we are using for concrete) while in other parts (flowers and plants) the soil from pond. It was just a matter of some 50 wheelbarrows (both gravel and soil) and we got something like this:
Gravel for rock garden
Smaller stones are used to shape outer borders of rock garden. For the record, in Spring we still had a large dump here consisting from old TV screens, see: The Big Spring Territory Cleanup
View towards house from rock garden
Yup, someone will need cut grass here, see: Edward The Brushcutter AW-BC620TH Trimmer
Independence Square in Kiev
| Tourism objects | 16 seen
Maidan Nezalezhnosti (literally:Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.
One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square has been known under many different names, but often it is called simply Maidan ("square").
I had a brief chance to visit and make one photography of Kiev's Maidan Square at the end of 2016, during unplanned short Kiev city tour after our flight to NYC was delayed for about 10 hours at Borispol instead of waiting at airport's transit area for our flight we opted to have some Kiev tour. At that included a trip to the heart of Kiev.
So here I was, for the first time in Kiev, standing in front of Maidan Square. Weather was cold and I really didn't wanted to take camera out from my backpack, but after all I made one shot here:
View of Maidan Nezalezhnosti from Khreshchatyk Street
Since the start of Ukraine's independence movement in 1990, the square has been the traditional place for political rallies, including four large-scale radical protest campaigns: the 1989 student "Revolution on Granite", the 2001 "Ukraine without Kuchma", the 2004 Orange Revolution, and the 2013–14 Euromaidan. Maidan is also a regular site for non-political displays and events.
Independence Square is one of three squares located along Khreshchatyk, close to the northeastern end of the street. It is situated close to European Square, which is the terminal end of Khreshchatyk. Besides Khreshchatyk, which splits the square in half, several other streets lead to the square. These include Architect Horodecki Street, Institute Street, Michael Street, Kosciol Street, Minor Zhytomyr Street, Sophia Street, Taras Shevchenko Lane, and Boris Hrinchenko Street.
The square itself is a multi-level location. At ground level is the intersection of Khreshchatyk, which splits Institute Street (vulytsia Instytutska), and Michael Street (vulytsia Mykhailivska). Underneath the square, the Kurenivsko-Chervonoarmiyska Line of the Kiev Metro stretches across with its station Maidan Nezalezhnosti located underground.
Rooms Hotel Kazbegi
| Hotel reviews | 53 seen
Located at the base of Kazbek Mountain in Stepantsminda Village, 7 km from the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church, Hotel Kazbegi features a lobby bar with a library (I even got local Georgian Forbes magazine in English) and free Wi-Fi.
We booked our stay at Rooms hotel Kazbegi in the middle of December 2016, and were accompanied by friends of us, who luckily had a ground transport and were able to take us there, as speaking of public transport, I have no idea is it actually possible to reach this place (probably by some marshrutka). Anyhow, seems Rooms Hotel is mostly visited by those who have a SUV car and who can afford to spend about USD 120-150 per night in a hotel.
Although as stated on hotel's booking.com page:
Kazbegi bus stop, offering a link to Tbilisi, is 10 minutes’ walk from Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, and Tbilisi Airport is 185 km away. A shuttle from the airport to the hotel is provided at surcharge.
For our 2 night stay here we spent about USD 300 + some USD 50-80 at hotels lobby bar. I decided to come here mostly for one reason - to make some photography, which I did:
View towards mount Kazbek and Gergeti trinity church from Rooms Hotel
Many people I have met, or have heard, are saying is there is a reason to stay at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, then it's because of the view. Here you go - view from Rooms Hotel towards mount Kazbegi and Gergeti Tirinity church with town of Stemantspinda at the bottom.
Made a lovely 25 seconds exposure from a trip. For some reason, this picture got very popular on Georgia Expat Photographer club Facebook page.
Lobby at Rooms Kazbegi hotel
The Rooms Kazbegi’s stylish restaurant, decorated with wooden furnishings, serves international cuisine. Guests can read a book and have a drink in the lobby bar, while meals can be enjoyed on the terrace with the mountain view.
Dinning hall at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi
Had a chance to make a decent HDR photography properly exposing both interior and exterior (mountains through the window)
Breakfast at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi
Let's Keep Demolishing Walls, Construct Foundation From Ceramsite Blocks And Pour In Some Concrete
| Home Remodeling | 10 seen
Yeah, let's do that - another day on steroids from my home remodeling adventures during late Summer 2016 (August)
Frankly speaking, by now, browsing through the images from last Summer works I'm getting a little bit dizzy - it looks way too dramatic.
On the other hand, we already had experience and knowledge about demolishing walls, see: Remove a Wall to Finish Foundation Concreting, also constructing missing foundation from fibo blocks, not to speak about pouring concrete footing.
Today I had two guys helping me out Uldis and Guntars. We did a lot today.
Demolishing log wall
Just look how enthusiastic this guy seems.
Now the bad thing, at this part of house we were missing foundation completely,so it was tricky to demolish walls without having some ground support, but we still had to pour in concrete footing, on which later to add fibo ceramsite blocks. We did a footing thing a few days ago for the part were log wall is hanging in the air. See: Fall Through The Ceiling, Dig a Trench Around Foundations, Stone Wall Concreting.
Idea for today's works were simple, we will demolish a wall, but before that we will add supporting beam to store roof in place. Unfortunately the old flooring (if we can call it so) started to crack and we had a few minor landslides, making our further works a little bit complicated, as we had to avoid any landslides while pouring in concrete for foundation..
Constructing foundation from fibo blocks
As you can see, foundation footing is already there, all is leveled and we will construct foundation just for this part today. While for the other part, we still need to pour in footing.
In the background, guys are finishing mortar thing ot the other wall we completed few days ago. See: The Last Row of Aerated Concrete Blocks Masonry
Overall scene
Did I had a good sleep tonight? Definitely no - I was too worried about that one supporting beam and its ability to hold roof on place. It turned out better than I thought, and soon we will actually start constructing walls from aac blocks here as well. Doesn't it look just amazing?
Hiking trails near Turtle lake, Tbilisi in Winter
| Outdoor Activities | 14 seen
I'm fond of hiking/trekking trails near Turtle lake in Tbilisi, I have done several routes, with my favorite being unaccessible anymore after the Tbilisi flooding in June 2015.
See: Failed attempt to complete Tskneti - Turtle lake hiking route
Now, since it was about a year since our latest hiking activities in Georgia, on a lovely's Sunday morning (February 5, 2017) we decided to catch a taxi (see: How to Get around in Tbilisi by Taxify (Taxi Mobile Application) ) and head to the Turtle lake and let's see. I was into a photography mood, so I packed a new backpack I ordered recently from Amazon to store gear and of course a tripod. I decided to go with a HDR and panoramic photography today, also made few short video clips.
Hiking trails in Tbilisi in Winter
God's path is untraceable! Today I met an American teenage girl in the middle of nowhere (trails around Turtle lake in Tbilisi) being able to speak 6 languages (English, French, Russian, Hebrew, Georgian and even Megrelian). About two years ago I met on the same trails a Russian American speaking Georgian. Holy trails.
Some outpost from the past
There are many interesting buildings down the path, back from the Soviet days, I keep wondering what has been in this are back in these days. See military heritage
View towards Tbilisi
A TV tower and the city - another great angle with a huge rock in the foreground.
Some concrete installation
I still keep wondering, it seems it should be used for military means.
Frozen Turtle lake in Tbilisi
Quite unique scene
Snowy and steep trails
Yes, it was fun to climb here with a tripod and camera installed on it, some parts of the trails were really slippery, and I have no choice but took the snow covered, thus puffy, rock road.
Tasty Ukrainian Cuisine on Khreshchatyk street in Kiev
| Restaurant reviews | 19 seen
Wow, my first (yet, only one) Kiev restaurant review and I can't remember name of this place.
Shame on me. On the other hand it was not planned to make any Kiev restaurant reviews this time, as we were having just a layover flight in Kiev before departing to NYC. See: About Tbilisi - Kiev - New York Flight by Ukrainian Airlines
Unfortunately our flight was delayed for 10 hours and instead of waiting at Borispol's airport transit area we opted to have some Kiev tour. At that included a trip to the heart of Kiev (at least I think so)
As Wikipedia have helped me to learn more now, we were wondering somewhere around Khreshchatyk (central street) in Kiev. And it was just that time to start looking for authentic Ukrainian cuisine, quickly we found ourselves in one of the backyards of beautiful Khreshchatyk street and noticed following entrance (at that stage I thought there is written name of this place)
Restaurant in Kiev
Seemed very Ukrainian for us and we decided to enter. This was a good choice.
Ukrainian traditional cuisine
Mmm, the stuff I like and often feature at food blogger series - pancakes, dumplings, mashed potatoes. Yummy.
Cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo
| Restaurant reviews | 5 seen
I just love those small roadside cafeterias and cafe at Hotel Mate in Khulo (region of Adjara in Georgia) is just another great discovery.
Hotel Mate is located in the center of Khulo in front of the hospital up the hill from central road. Address: 1 Davit Aghmashenebeli st, Khulo
Hotel cafe in Khulo
The food served at this cafe is just delicious, let's say made with countryside love.
Traditional Georgian meal - Ostri
Ostri is a hot, spicy beef stew that is very popular in Georgia, both as a home prepared meal and as a dish in restaurants.
A Perfect Harmony
| | 6 seen
It was on a still and tranquil evening after a hard work day on home remodeling - for the record, today was one of the toughest days in my constructors career as we faced some really though obstacles to overcome.
More about that, learn in this article: Fall Through The Ceiling, Dig a Trench Around Foundations, Stone Wall Concreting
In the evening, during sunset, I took camera and decided to document overall progress both of house and surrounding territory. I made just some random shots, not thinking much of scene or composition, when suddenly realized objects been captured to the SD card for some reason forms harmony - they duplicates and reflects. An idea for Piece of Life article born - A Perfect harmony
Overall scene in the front of house
Summer dinning table outdoors placed in the meadow, grass just mowed, some aac blocks in the background, a grill, pond and a veggie garden.
A pair of shovels
For no reason they were propped against wall each to other.
Two hay forks
Seriously? I didn't even know we have these.
Mowed grass
Almost ideal line.
Back view of house
One part already been replaced with aac block, while second still waiting
veggie garden after strong wind and rain
Kyiv-Passazhyrskiy Railway station
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 20 seen
Kyiv-Passazhyrsky, also called just as Vokzalna, is a railway station in the capital of Ukraine, Kiyv (Kiev)
The Kiev Metro station Vokzalna is adjoining the complex, constituting the station's main intersection with city transport. The Kiev tram terminal Starovokzal'na (the terminal for Kiev's High-Speed Tram line) is also adjacent via a passageway.
I had a chance to spend here some 5 minutes, during our latest flight Tbilisi - Kiev - New York city, as our flight was delayed for about 10 hours at Kiev - Borispol airport we decided to use these hours by exploring Kiev, instead of waiting at airport's transit area.
Out of the airport terminal at Borispol, there are buses taking passengers either to Kharkivksya or Vokzalnaya. The ticket prices are really cheap price. Since we didn't had any clue which station should we go, we asked just a bus going to the city center. Bus driver told, we must then go to the Vokzalnaya. Latter turned out that this railway station is not at all located in city center, but some 7 km from it, though from here it is possible to take a metro ride to the city center, we took a taxi instead, but before that I spent my five minutes photographing this place, making my first photography in Kiev.
Railway station in Kiev
Officially, Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi Railway Station is regarded as the whole huge complex of passenger terminals, railways, depots etc. with respective personnel. Practically, such installations in post-Soviet countries are widely known as railroad vokzals, which means the building(s) and services immediately serving passengers for various types of transport. The official name Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi is not used colloquially, appearing only in tickets, schedules etc. By the same token, the locally popular terms "Central Station" and "Southern Station" do not appear in such technical literature, as for internal purposes they are treated as the same location.
The name Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi (literally Kiev Passenger) is also used to differentiate it from other railway stations across the city such as Kyiv-Volynsky, Kyiv-Moskovsky, Kyiv-Tovarny, others.
Buses serving Borispol airport
Although this railway station is located some 30 km from Borpispol airport, it took us about an hour ride.
McDonald's building near railway station
I wonder is that some central office space for McDonald's or what? Anyhow we didn't try to get answer on this question, as weather was really bad. We took a taxi and headed to the city center.
Postcards from Khulo
| | 5 seen
It was in middle of November 18, we booked a train ticket to Batumi, leaving Tbilisi. Prior to that we booked a really lavish hotel with bath tube next to king size bed for a really cheap money, see Hotel Sputnik in Batumi. After spending lazy first days in Batumi, see: 16 things to do in Batumi I decided to get to the place I had heard so much before, to the Khulo.
Khulo is a townlet in Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia, 88 km east of the regional capital Batumi, in the upper valley of Adjaris-tsqali. The town and adjoining 78 villages form the mountainous Khulo District.
We hired a taxi driver in Batumi and agreed for a 100 lari price (about USD 37) he will takes us to Khulo and back. Wow, that was one of the best trips I've had that year. That part of Adjara is just spectacle, waterfalls, arched bridges, mountains, rivers... you name it. A true inspiration for Piece of Life.
Khulo
Although I didn't made my best shot here, I'm still pretty happy with result. For those of you who have been to the Sighnaghi, don't you find some similarities from this distance shot?
A typical day in Khulo
The town, formerly known as Khula and Hulo, was a merchant place located on a medieval road that linked Samtskhe-Javakheti to the Black Sea coast. During Ottoman times, Khulo was a chief settlement of Upper Adjara governed by the Khimshiashvili family. In 1829, it was briefly occupied by the Russian force of General Osten-Sacken who sacked the Khimshiashvili residence before withdrawal. Khulo's population, largely Islamized under the Ottomans, diminished dramatically under the Russian oppression of Islam in the 1870s. A series of floods and avalanches in the 1990s-2000s induced another wave of migration from the mountainous villages of the rayon.
Khulo townlet
In the district are medieval historical monuments - Khikhani Fortress (10th century) where rebel against Ottoman Empire Selim Beg Khimshiashvili was defending himself until he was captured and beheaded in 1785. On the way to Khikhani fortress there is an active Monastery of Skhalta cathedral (13th century).
Besides historical monuments there are many other interesting tourist sights in Khulo district such as Beshumi Resort and Green Lake located near Goderdzi pass as well as Khulo Cable Cars which is used for daily means of transportation by the locals from Khulo to Tago village.