My First Time in Philly

Over the last almost year I've been living in Philadelphia and posting very little about my adventures here...
Now if you know me at all, you'll know that I can't live without adventure!
My phone started acting up and I was [this] close to losing all my memories from the last year so I decided it was time I caught this little guy up on everything that's been happening.

So where to begin?
I thought my very first trip to Philadelphia would be a good place...

My first trip to Philadelphia was just for a weekend visit. Even though I've lived an hour away from here for a good 10 years of my life I never thought to drive down and see it.

The first morning waking up in this brand new city was filled with clear skies: perfect for walking about and getting to know the place!

The first time I saw City Hall I fell in love! 

This is by far one of my favorite buildings I've ever seen.

The inside houses a courtyard with little tables.
Great for sitting and chatting, and listening to the street performers that you're bound to find inside these walls.

The Liberty Bell was also on the list of things to see.
Because who goes to the nation's capital, and skips to see the symbol of freedom for the last 200 years in person?

The rest of the day was spent in meetings and planning what the rest of the weekend should look like... at least the view from the balcony of the hotel wasn't half bad.

The city always looks so different by day than it does by night... I've found that for me, by night, a city is full of mystery, giving a false sense of security to abandon all reason, and by day so much more proper, intimidating almost.

Much of Philadelphia's history is owed to Benjamin Franklin, signs for which you can see all over the city.

Not too far from City Hall is the Reading Terminal.
A foodie's dream, and a must-see for everyone visiting.

Walking a bit further out from City Hall (the center of town), one will find fountains and statues and buildings of all sorts that decorate your walk.

All leading to this grand view of the city skyline (see below)... And to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

My favorite part of the museum is the view of Philly at dusk...

There's just something about this time of night that makes any city look magical.

After a whirlwind two days Philadelphia had shown me its' colors, and I could say that I very much wanted to come back and see it again.

Little did I know, I'd be moving here a few weeks later...

Lakeside in Navariya

There's a lake in Navariya that used to be the jewel of the whole Lvivs'ka oblast.
People used to swim and have picnics here. Camp out. Have weddings. Sports competitions were held here. Any sunny day you could bet the beach was packed.

And then people stopped caring, and started polluting the water. And now it 's just a lake.
The kayaking team trains on it still. And some people still swim here.
But the majority of people wouldn't.
And that makes me so sad.
Because I remember being little and having my grandpa and grandma take me down to the beach and set up a picnic and have a jolly ol' time.

Almost a year ago, one warm evening we packed up a little car with a baby, beer and meat, and drove down to the lake.

While us, girls walked around and chatted, the boys got busy making the fire.

When we got back, we threw the meat on to cook and chatted until the sun set.
I think this is by far one of my favorite Ukrainian traditions.

The Beautiful Vienna, Austria

We left off in Bratislava, just jumping on a train to the next destination...
Vienna, Austria.

We arrived late one weekend night (9pm-ish), hungry as can be.
The hotel was only a 15 minute walk from the city center, and surprisingly the only thing we can find open was a take out pizza shop.
All the restaurants within a 4 block radius were either closed or only serving alcohol.
What?!

The next morning we bounced out of bed and skipped down into the city center.

What's even more surprising, all the shops on the way into town were still closed, and mind you it was almost 10am.

I love elephants... we had to wait 20 minutes to get this picture because we thought it would be inappropriate to shoo little kids off of it for my picture.

The Hofburg Imperial Palace was beautiful and definitely worth a visit!!

One of the coolest memories I have from Vienna is while walking through this alleyway and admiring the architecture, all of a sudden the space was filled with beautiful opera singing.
We looked around for speakers, or a chorus, and next thing you know two parents pushing a stroller walk past, and we found the source of the sound.
The space echoed with a sound I have never heard in person, and it was so fitting for the time and space.

Vienna served as home to some of the best composers in the world.
You can see actors and musicians walking around in time appropriate dress and wigs and there are shows you can watch in a lot of historic concert halls.

Halfway through the day we sat down to coffee and cake; a tradition we were told was popular in Vienna.

I really wanted to go into Mozart's home, however lo-and-behold, it was closed already.

The next morning we woke up in our gorgeous little hotel room to sunshine and headed to the train for the next destination...

VIENNA TRAVEL TIP 1: Get your money exchanged to Euro's before you get here. There is only one money exchange in the city that's opened on the weekend and the exchange rate is horrendous.

VIENNA TRAVEL TIP 2: Find out what you want to do before you get here and check the hours. Things don't seem to stay open very late.