Bannerghatta Safari Park

Last week I have taken you on a tour in the Bannerghatta Zoological Garden. This week I will show why they just next to it you can find such interesting buses.



Let's get on one of them (obviously with a ticket!) to start a ride through a very large area. It is protected by a fence but this fence is large abough to allow animals to live in conditions close to those in the wild. The first animals we will meet are the termites.

But just a few hundred meters further we meet a nice sleeping kitty. Hello Kitty!

 His white friend is also resting, but not fully asleep.

Everywhere around you can see banyan trees.

And their shadow helps the entire royal family to fall asleep. Simba and Mufasa meets the Sleeping Beauty.

Another group of sleeping animals, the teddy (Himalaya) bears is blocking our road!

Please look at their feet, aren't they like human's ?

And here you will fully understand why the elephant is the best human's friend in India. The first animal not sleeping in the whole Safari park we meet.

Since we are in a fairy tales place, after all this Shir Khans, Lion's King, Jumbo, Winnie The Pooh, Sleeping Beauty it is the time to find Bambi.

Let them eat in silence and move to our next destination.

Bannerghatta Biological Park

Last time when I was in Bangalore, there was not enough time to see most of the attractions of the city and its sourroundings. Fortunately a new longer possibility to be in these region occured. Taking advantage of the great weather (winter in India) I want to show you today my friends and cousins that you can meet near Bangalore. Ladies, gentlemen, animals, welcome to Bannerghatta Biological Park.

Today I will show you its first part, the zoological garden. Let's start with a visit to the bird's king - the black crowned crane.

Just next to him, you can find another big bird - the emu.

A bit further you can find the king of the junge - the tiger.

And its smaller cousin - the leopard.

The most hilarous animals, the hyenas live quite close.

But if we are in India there is also the human's best friend, especially at work - the majestic Indian elephant.

In fact there are many of them.

But I feel most comfortable with the Indian hog deers.

Probably because they are the smallest.

Apart of interesting animals, you can find in Bannerghetta also fantastic trees.

But not all the animals live there behind the nets.

Next week I will show you what the monkey was sitting on.

Maidan Nezalezhnosti

Ladies, gentleman and horses. Welcome to Maidan Nezalezhosti, the Independence Square, the place where everything important to Kyiv and Ukraine has started.

This is the square where you can see the monument of three brothers Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and their sister Lybid. According to the Primary Chronicle, they were the founders of the medieval city of Kyiv.

It is also a place where the Revolution on Granite has started in 1990 and lead to Ukrainian Independence in 1991.



It is the place where under the Lach Gates (meaning Polish Gate), another remaining from the medieval times, the Orange Revolution started in 2004.

And this is the place where the last revolution, the Euromaidan errupted and run to the successful changes.

Just under the 61 meter high Independence Monument everyone can read and recall what was happening here in January and February 2014.

With the pictures you can easily imagine the dramaturgy and determination of the people fighting for their freedom.

Unfortunately over 100 fighters perished. One of the first ones was Serhiy Nigoyan, depicted now on a mural on of the nearby buildings.

Altogether 130 people lost their lives, including 112 civilians. They are called the Heaven's Hundred.

Fortunately the freedom won and today there is also a place to celebrate the Love on the Maidan. This is the emotion that we all should feel leaving this place.

Kyiv's cathedrals

Last week I took you on a quick tour to let you feel the vibes of Kyiv. Today we will start our trip with something really impresive - an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus', the Saint Sophia Cathedral.

The cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The cathedral is surrounded by a monastery complex and protected by a high wall.



As typical in Eastern Europe the entrance is guarded by the very tall Bell Tower.

On Sofiyivska Square, just in front of the tower, stands the tallest Christmas tree in Kyiv.

But on that square you can admire a much more important statue - the monument of the famous horse of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who was the Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host. He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates (1648–1654) that resulted in the creation of a state led by the Cossacks of Ukraine, which was the only Ukrainian state between the time of Kievan Rus' and the twentieth century.

Just two hundred metres further down the Volodymirskyi Passage there is a monument of Princess Olga, the first known female ruler of the country, with educators St. Cyril and St. Methodius at her right hand and apostle St. Andrew at the left one. Olga was Princess of Kiev and wife of Prince Igor. Being a wise and educated woman she did her best to strengthen the influence of Kievan princedom, and expanding its territories as well as in defending it from the attacks of enemy tribes. She was one of first persons in Kievan Rus who was christened (in Constantinople, in 955) and that is likely be one of the reasons why her grandson Vladimir has chosen Christianity as a state religion fourty years later. Russian Orthodox church ranked her as a saint.

The bulding with pillars just right from St. Cyril & Methodius is the seat of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreigh Affairs.

Here you can admire the full view of the Vladymirskyi Passage with the Saint Sophia Cathedral at its end.

Just behind us there is another magnificient bell tower. This one leads to the Saint Michael monastery.

Behind the walls you will find a nice chappe, as well as ...



... a very impressive Monastery with several golden domes.

Just outside the monastery wall you will notice a monument devoted to one of the biggest tragedies of th etwentieth century. Probably also one that is the least know. The Holodomor was a genocide of the same size as the Holocaust and also was targeted againt one nation.

Next week we will see the witness of another great Ukrainian tragedy, but this time it changed the country for much better.