Ukraine album

Do you fancy girls and guys in uniforms? The National Aviation University in Kyiv has 10 000 of them. All students have to wear the school outfit during daytime.



Kyiv's hotel "Russia" was renamed "Ukraina" after the anti-Russian Orange Revolution in the winter of 2004-05. Most of the western journalists lived here during the Revolution, and had a prime view of...



...the Independence Sqare, which was the focal point of demonstrations in Kyiv. The man on the picture had nothing to do with the revolution, though. ( Photo by Valentina Lyashenka)



There was a lot of meetings in Ukraine. This one took place in one of Kyiv's back yards on a Thursday night. Anthony's smiling vaguely, but he's veeery tired at this moment. Tatsiana's looking at her phone, probably trying to set up another meeting.



Dima (left) took care of us from Kyiv to Rivne and Lviv and back to Kyiv again.



In Lviv, Tanya's standing between two of the most powerful in Ukrainian student politics: Olexiy Klaztorny (left) and current president of the Ukrainian Association of Student Self-governments, Anatoly Ignatovich.



The masqueraded parade at Lviv's 750 year anniversary was one of the highlights of the tour.



Love was in the air at Lviv's weekend of celebration. The concerts were good, too.



In Ukraine as well as in a lot of other countries, beer tastes better than in Norway. The anniversary brand "Legend" is sold only during 2006. For some strange reason, they had Tuborg as well.



Before Ukraine, there was a brief detour to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Nice city. This was the last half-hour of peace and quiet in one week. ( Photo by Elena Shelygina)

Bohemian intermission

Sleep-deprived and exhausted after two weeks of meetings and travel, I had to change planes in Prague on my way from Kiev to Oslo. But there is much comfort in Czech beer.