Cool Places YOU'VE Been! (A Photo Thread)

[Isadora]

peaks Island, Maine, last summer. It was neat to visit this little island because my parents used to vacation here. The last year they vacationed here was when I was a few months old, so they thought it was pretty neat when I told them we stopped there.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Isadora T - How did you enjoy the Ark Encounter? It is a very very long drive away from us, but my Mother in Law wants to visit so badly - we'd love to surprise her for her birthday

 

[Happy hen lover]

View attachment 2818185The ark encounter!

Oh I'm jealous I heard it was amazing!

 

[azurbanclucker]

A few photos from a visit I made for work to Novi Sad, which is a city in Serbia. Serbia is an interesting mix of cultures and influences. I landed in Belgrade and took a car to Novi Sad (about 90 miles or so). If you dodn't know any better you would swear you were on a stretch of I-70 rolling through Kansas. Wheat everywhere, Farms, tractors, etc. The only giveaway was some of the bombed out older buildings you'd see here and there decaying away in fields.

You have everything from traditional local culture, what you would imagine as cold war era eastern bloc influences, and a growing western influence as the country moves further away from it's cold war past and tries to find a new way in modern Europe. The people are somewhat closed off and suspicious at first, and some of the outside places seem cold and sterile. Once they know you and welcome you in though, it's a lot of warmth, color, and rakija (fruit brandy, often plum. Every family has their own special blend, and all of it would stun an ox. 10/10 do recommend. ) A lot of what I took is photos of old architecture, because I'm into that, but here they are. I'll give some notes about each place with the photos.

1. Novi Sad Synagogue. This was the main Synagogue in town until WWII, when they fled or were lost in the holocaust after Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941. Today the venue is used for concerts and entertainment, and the small Jewish community still in NS celebrates elsewhere. Normally access is not permitted to the building except on event nights, but My guides made arrangements for us to have access with the caretaker (AKA slipped him 20 bucks to let us take photos.) He had a ton of super cool info about the building too and was happy to spend an hour or so talking to us and sharing stories. I took a lot of photos, but this one is the one that really stands out to me.

2. The Name of Mary Church. The largest Roman Catholic Church in Novi Sad. It's across the plaza from the hotel I was staying in, and open to the public. I was able to get a number of photos of it as well. I don't get the change to see this style of architecture very often being from the western US. Everything here is new (200 years or or less) or Spanish Mission style. So for me this was an opportunity to gorge myself on cool old European architecture and I soaked up as much of it as I could. I was in Malta on the same trip, and spent 2 whole days just snapping photos all over the island.

3. Novi Sad from Petrovaradin Fortress at sunset.

4. The Danube River.

As a westerner, I was not at all prepared for my experience in Serbia. It was a mix of stereotypical things (like adidas track suits EVERYWHERE and dour-faced people who looked at you with suspicion if you obviously didn't belong), but also ther were a lot of familiar things as well. Food was the most common example. McDonalds food was the same. Coke and Pepsi were everywhere. Common snacks were all over the place, and steaks were DIRT CHEAP. I would absolutely go again and I would feel safe enough there to take my family as well. Many people spoke English, particularly places with lots of tourist traffic. I never felt unsafe, there was a lot to do, and the people really made me feel welcome.

 

[KingD]

The Murray Mouth

 

[Isadora]

@Isadora T - How did you enjoy the Ark Encounter? It is a very very long drive away from us, but my Mother in Law wants to visit so badly - we'd love to surprise her for her birthday

We love it. We've been twice, once in 2017 and then again in 2019. They keep adding more exhibits every year. Really the only complaint is that it's a bit "touristy" and therefore expensive, but I thought it was worth it.
And if you can go, try not to go in the middle of summer. First time we went it was in may, and the second time was in August. I was pregnant both times but in August I thought I was going to die! Obviously there's ac inside, but they have zoo and other things outdoors.

 

[hizen]

I was in Chernobyl in Sept. First thing I thought was "Hey, Pripyat looks better than large parts of Kyiv, and this place has been abandoned for many years!".
Some areas are much more radioactive than others. The places where the contaminated tools and vehicles used in the hasty cleanup were buried are still very radioactive and one should not go there.
We went through chernobyl tours. They were incredible.