Our Journey from
Ukraine to the Baltics
via Trains, Planes and Automobiles
February 9-21, 1999
My wife Beverly and I finished with Ukraine 99, our medical and optometric mission to Transcarpathian Ukraine and proceeded to visit our brethren in Lithuania and Estonia. There is no easy from western Ukraine to the Baltics because a regular visa is required for train passengers traveling through Belarus. To get the visa we had to go to Kiev. But, we found that there was as twice weekly flight from Kiev to Vilnius, Lithuania. So, we took an overnight train to Kiev from Khust. Then flew to Vilnius, then had a chauffer drive us to Kaunas, the home of Henrikas Klovas. In the following three set of photos we would like to share this trip with you.
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Crossing the Carpathians from Mukachevo
to Lvov. A blizzard was beginning. We just
missed one of the centuries biggest storms
A trestle
In Kiev - monument to the victory of the
Soviet army over the Nazi's. The statues depicts
the Mother Country--Rodina
Pecharskaya Lavra, viewed across
the Dnieper River
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On our Air Ukraine flight from Kiev to Lithuania! Our
30 seater plane had only a handful of passengers,
some of whom were from Chicago
Our meetings with a Lithuanian Publisher for
future booklet printing
The charming "Freedom Street" in Kaunas. Kaunas
reminded us of a mini-Paris
Henrikas and Beverly
Cathedral of the Warriors
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A high elevation Carpathian settlement viewed
from our train in almost blinding snowfall
A winter wonderland
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A church just restored in Kiev
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Ice fishing on the Dnieper River
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A cold drab day
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In Kaunas, Lithuania. Henrikas Klovas and
Beverly in front of the Red Cross Hospital
Cathedral of the Warriors in Kaunas
Winter street scenes of Kaunas
Henrikas wife Vijole and daughter Vidmante with grandson Dovydas
Vidmante showing me book about Lithuanian landscapes