Eastern Europe

Thanks for the kind words. It was late October and the light had that specular winter quality. Days were short. Things I learned: The Georgians had the best food, the saunas were hot, and you could buy vodka at a stationery store.
 
Also: with my Leica around my neck I was the target for scams. In Red Square, a man standing next to me pointed down and said, "Look!" at what appeared to be a roll of 100 dollar bills on the ground. I just looked him in the eye and said, "not mine" and moved on. I know what comes next for the unwary traveler . . . .;)

I was staying with a friend, a journalist, who was there as the Moscow bureau chief for his paper. So my lodgings were free and so was I to roam the streets during the day. I have no Russian, but learned quickly that if I headed to a store with a sign that read to me as "Pektopah," and grunted and pointed, that I could get sweet tea and blinis enough to sustain me until sitting down for an evening meal with my friend.
 
In the Eastern Bloc, more than in other places, poverty has acted as a means of preserving the sadness of the past.

LeicaM3/ElmarM50mmf/2.8/TMY400/IlfordMGFB

Stolin/Belarus/2005

Erik.

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In the Eastern Bloc, more than in other places, poverty has acted as a means of preserving the sadness of the past.
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Not just 'poverty' but also the mismanagement of funds, corruption and ineffective planning. In regard to 'sadness', go and travel -whenever that will be possible, and you'll find many more 'past sadness' places in this world we live in. Cheers, OtL
 
Out to Lunch said:
Not just 'poverty' but also the mismanagement of funds, corruption and ineffective planning. In regard to 'sadness', go and travel -whenever that will be possible, and you'll find many more 'past sadness' places in this world we live in. Cheers, OtL
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And I can think of a lot of places like that where the reason for the ruins is taxation and nothing else.

Regards, David
 
santino said:
The question is where does Eastern Europe start? Where‘s the exact center of the continent?
But good idea! I‘ll contribute a bit later.
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Gepgraphically, i think the Ural mountains represent the border with Asia.
That puts the center of Europe swhere in Ukraine lol.

Politically everything east of Vienna and Berlin, is eastern europe:D

Hungary, Czech, Slovakia like to call themselves central europe.

Difficult question. Here's a photo set instead.
Eastern Carpathians. Romania, around 1991. There were no ski lifts yet... The last one is myself :)
 

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Pherdinand said:
Hungary, Czech, Slovakia like to call themselves central europe.
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Oh, in such case I'm afraid Eastern Europe is just Poland, Belarus and Ukraine because Baltics are now considered Nordics, south to the Hungary are Balkans, and Russia is just Russia :)
 
a few more here in my gallery.

Small towns in southern Transylvania, Romania. 2005.

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Eastern Carpathians, Romania, 2005.
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My home town Szekelyudvarhely, Romania. 2005
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Go check a definition of 'Eastern Europe' and you'll find dozens of them. A UN team concluded the following: "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct". Cheers, OtL
 


The Circus, Chisinau, Moldova. During my stay in the country it was shut down and, as far as I know, it never reopened. Structural problems, they said.
 
valdas said:
Oh, in such case I'm afraid Eastern Europe is just Poland, Belarus and Ukraine because Baltics are now considered Nordics, south to the Hungary are Balkans, and Russia is just Russia :)
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Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia want to be Central Europe, as it sounds better, it's closer to West and cuts off the post-soviet "heritage". But there is no such thing, let's be honest.

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I like to collect those remnants of the past, I think that's the part of the romantic sadness in my slavic soul. Soon they will be gone, either demolished or covered with styrofoam painted in ugly colors.
 
Well, Russia is Russia. That is true, after all. But I looked at my files and the only other files I had from anywhere near Eastern Europe were from Vienna -- which is definitely not Eastern, despite being "Ostria." :0

So Russia's what I got. Love to see the Czech Republic sometime - and Latvia, where my one of my grandfathers emigrated from a bit over a century ago.
 
jbielikowski said:
Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia want to be Central Europe, as it sounds better, it's closer to West and cuts off the post-soviet "heritage". But there is no such thing, let's be honest.

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I like to collect those remnants of the past, I think that's the part of the romantic sadness in my slavic soul. Soon they will be gone, either demolished or covered with styrofoam painted in ugly colors.
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Amen! Thats exactly what I think... styrofoam and ugly colors will soon or later cover everything up.
 
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