Well, it is certainly the longest I have ever seen or heard about… This is in Kiev, Ukraine and is the way down to the city’s subway system which is very, very far underground. The escalator moves quite quickly by Western standards, but it still takes several minutes to get to the bottom. Continue reading
The original Stalin Line was a line of fortifications along the western border of the Soviet Union. Work began on the system in the 1920s to protect the USSR against “western aggression.” The line was made up of fortified bunkers and gun emplacements, similar but less elaborate than the Maginot Line (and equally ineffective). Following … Continue reading
Bratislava, Slovakia Report # 1 I have found that countries for which I have low expectations before visiting have always wildly exceeded my expectations and have proved remarkably enjoyable, while countries that are supposed to be enjoyed and that I am supposed to like, invariably disappoint me. Slovakia, and Bratislava in particular, fall into the … Continue reading
This was my first real view of Minsk – a big burst of Soviet-style architecture in the form of a new library. For the record, I love these sort of grandiose and ambitious projects. This was the view from my hotel room. We were told the building closest to us housed some sort of secret … Continue reading
On our first full day in Belarus, we hired a driver to take us out to the remote Khatyn Memorial. This “village” is deep in the forest, down the road pictured below. However, you will not find this small Belorussian village on even the most detailed geographic map today. It was obliterated by fascists on … Continue reading
At my first job during high school I used to work at Lucky bagging groceries. Justin Ames bagging groceries? Yeah, I’m not above a little manual labor now and then and it was a good first job because the hours were flexible and it paid quite well (Also, as I found out later, Snoop Dogg’s … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 