Why Ukraine?

Why Ukraine is a good question. Let me take you on a short journey back in time and how I fell in love with Ukraine. The year 1976 I was a farm kid from a small town in Wisconsin, one year out of high school. A chance opportunity had come my way to travel overseas on an agricultural tour over a period of 3 weeks.

This was too good of opportunity to pass up. I decided school could wait (it still is)! Where I went to me was truly amazing. I got to see Paris and I was there on Bastille Day to watch the incredible fireworks display. I fell in love with French hard rolls, and a cup of hot chocolate. I was introduced to tea which I love to this day. After Paris it was to a farm in the countryside and a different way of doing farming with a unique set of buildings. The animals were housed alongside the house as the building was all attached! Farming equipment that was strange to me and some great hospitality.

From France it was onward to Switzerland. To see the architecture in the cities of Berne and Lucerne and hear about the history. The beauty is burned into my memory. The Swiss Alps, and taking a bus through and over them with the front of the bus over the edge as it went around the swithbacks. The farm fields on the mojuntainsides. A local cheese factory, a small dairy farm high up on the side of a mountain and the views looking out over the valley. We had a chance to walk into a glacier!!!! Trust me you can't do that in Wisconsin. The people were kind, the food incredible but it went fast and the next thing I knew we were on a plane flying into Warsaw Poland. Remember this was at the time when it was the old Soviet Union and Poland was part of it. The Cold War was still going strong and Heart Failure. When the plane came to a stop outside a very old looking terminal there were soldiers standing holding automatic weapons.

Warsaw. Some of the most amazing old European buildings I had ever seen. A very strange language at least to me. We saw some horse drawn carts in the streets. The farm was what I would call old style with a lot of hard hand labor to run things instead of with farm equipment like we americans were used to.

Next to Hungary and the cities of Buda and Pest across the river from each other. The chance to ride in ancient trolly cars. To see huge government buildings. Bullet holes from WWII in the side of buildings! Our group noticed that people were nice but a little aloof here just as in Poland, but this was a Soviet state after all. Service clerks were a little gruff but the concept of customer service had never come to them which was normal for that time. Jobs were for life you didn't have to have customer service. We toured a well known horse farm. Well known for them at least. Saw some amazing feats done with beautiful horses and were showed all about how they worked with them. Then.....

Moscow...did you say MOSCOW? Yes this was our next stop. What a city with the onion domes on buildings. Red square was HUGE! People lined up to go see Lenin's tomb. No I didn't go in. A museum with artifacts of old. Gold, diamonds, artwork all of which I found incredible. What came next is what made me fall in love with Ukraine. We flew out of Moscow to go visit one of their Mega sized farms. It was in the area of Ukraine but I never did find out the exact location. I don't remember the size but it was HUGE! Out of the plane and into an old bus to be taken to the farm with a police car in front of us and one behind us. Some of the largest flatest fields I had ever seen. Very poor Soviet Agricutural equipment and a lot of waste. The people who farmed complained that the officials in Moscow told them what to grow and didn't know what was really needed to be done. Some things never change. We were showed all of their equipment, allowed to run their tractors. They put on a show with their traditional dress and dance in the farm hall. We were served copious amounts of food. Every person and thing you could think of were toasted with endless shots of Vodka. Personal note, I never want a shot of vodka again. They said our governments didn't get along but that we were all people who just wanted a peaceful comfortable life. There was something special about the area, the people and they grabbed my heart and I knew someday I would return if possible.

Norway, yes one more stop. A beautiful land with fjords, the interesting city of Oslo. The chance to visit an older Olympic ski jumping hill. People actually ski down off this thing. They must be nuts! Some wonderful parks with sculptures. Again more food. Smorgsboards and viewing recovered Viking ships. Wooded park areas with trams and beautiful Scandinavian ladies. Hey I was a young man remember. A little farm with some ancient buildings but it served it's purpose but the surrounding countryside unlike anything I had ever seen.