(To see everything from my Ukraine trip, see
here.)
While I spent most of September 5
in the Vinnitsa Archive, we also had time during lunch and after the archive closed to see Vinnitsa.
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| Downtown Vinnitsa |
While much of old Vinnitsa was destroyed during WWII (you can tour Hitler's bunker nearby; I passed on that one), there are still some remnants of the old, and much of the new is beautiful.
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| Vinnitsa Water Tower |
One thing we noticed was that Vinnitsa was filled with statues--both formal ones from the Soviet times, as well as more whimsical ones, such as this bench dedicated to a local architect.
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| Downtown Vinnitsa |
The shul (synagogue) in Vinnitsa survived and is right in the center of town. It was used as a movie theater during the Soviet era, but it's now used again by the Jewish community.
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| Vinnitsa Shul |
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| Inside the Vinnitsa Shul |
In the evening, we went to the Roshen Fountain. Roshen is a local chocolate company (owned by Ukraine's current President). They have amazing marketing--after my short stay in Ukraine, I already know what it is, so I can only imagine how much locals are aware of the company! The President is from Vinnitsa, and his company sponsored a fountain in the local river--kind of like the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas. At night, the promenade along the river comes alive with vendors and people, and people start assembling to see the evening's show.
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| Roshen Fountains--Notice the building in the background as part of the branding |
The show actually was a condensed version of the Ballet
Swan Lake. Images of the dancers were projected onto the water.
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| Ballet dancers in water |
After the show, we headed to the train station for an overnight train to the Carpathian Mountains. Stay tuned for the Carpathian part of the trip!
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| Waiting for the train in Vinnitsa |
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Glad to see that the shul is in use again by the Jewish community. It's strange that the ROSHEN sign is in the Latin alphabet, not Cyrillic. They are catering to international visitors, I guess. But projecting ethereal images of a ballet as part of a light show sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteEven the chocolate itself has Latin letters. I wondered as well.
DeleteThey have the show every night?
ReplyDeleteYes. We caught the beginning Sunday night and saw the whole thing Monday night.
DeleteThat's so neat!
DeleteMore great photos and history! I love being a tag along of your trip.
ReplyDeleteI just "discovered" your blog. Two of my grandparents are from Vinnitsa. It's looking less and less likely that I will ever be able to go there, so I really appreciate your entries on the town -- and the rest of your site as well!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete