Dubno—The Place Where I Was Born.

Dubno is a town of about 35000 in population, about two and a half hour drive from Lviv.  It is the place where both of my grandparents used to live when I was little.   It is also the place where my parents met and got married, and where I was born. After we moved to Lviv, when I was almost four, we went to visit Dubno many-many times, by car, by train, or by a very-very slow train, called “elektrichka”.   I wanted to show our children this town during our trip, but it was hard to figure out what was the best way to get there and make it a daytrip.  I still have family living there, so we wanted to see them as well. After much thought, we decided to rent a big minivan and hire a driver to drive us there and back.  It turned out to be an excellent idea, and for almost the same amount as it would cost us to just rent a car and drive ourselves we had a personal chauffer for the day who actually knew how to drive in Ukraine.

Dubno is a very old town.  It was first mentioned in a chronicle from the 11st century.  It became a city in 1400s and played an important role through all the many invasions and change of rule over the next five hundred years.  Dubno was also the place where a very important WWII battle was fought, called the Battle of Brody.  We still have an old WWII tank meeting you at the entrance to the city to remind us of its historical significance.

The drive from Lviv to Dubno is pretty easy, and rather picturesque, especially during harvest time.  Since it was November when we were there, it was not so green or even yellow any more.  We still passed this famous Olesko Castle. 

And a Soviet monument that “hangs” over the road.

It looked like in preparation for Euro 2012 earlier this year, new signs with English translation of town names were installed, making it much easier for foreigners to navigate.

As we arrived to Dubno and were passing the main streets of the city, I was engrossed in the memories of my childhood.  A mental picture of how everything used to be and how simple life seemed back then overwhelmed me.  It was wonderful to see some improvements and sad to see some places that did not survive the commercial revolution of the last twenty years.

Some apartments on the right—people always try to make more room by installing windows on their balconies.

This part looks very different from what it used to be.  It says “supermarket” on the yellow store.

And some things never changed.  Robert was taking these pictures and he was still fascinated with these trucks.

This car model on the left was considered to be a luxury kind of car in Soviet times.  It’s a Volga, a bigger kind of vehicle, that mostly only rich people could buy.

The first stop was at the cemetery, to visit my papa’s grave.  He was buried next to his dad, so our kids had an opportunity to see the place where he is resting as well.

Secondly, we went to visit my Aunt Natasha.  She is technically not my Aunt, since she is my dad’s cousin, but she’s always been really close to me and my family.  I cannot remember how many times I came to visit her!  My favorite memories of her house were when I’d come during the summer months to pick strawberries and apricots.  Yum! It’s just such a unique, close to nature experience being there.  She grows most everything in her back garden!  And only maybe five years ago she finally installed an inside toilet.  I remember staying at her house when there was no inside plumbing….always an adventure.

I snapped this picture of Mark in front of the “fire place” which is really a warm radiator wall, so to speak, and the lamp.  The lamp has been in the house as long as I remember the house. 

And of course, who comes to a Ukrainian home and leaves without food?  Okay, it was more of a feast once again. Lots of good fresh food.  Robert had too  much too eat.  Again.

This is the place we always take pictures with my aunt.  I remember when I was visiting in 2001 we took pictures in this exact spot.

Our final stop was at my dad’s mom’s house, maybe ten minute drive from my aunt’s house.  This is the apartment building where my dad lived when he was young.

My grandma Valia (aka babushka Valia), my Russian grandma.  She was born in a city called Yekaterinburg, behind the Ural mountains.  The same year she was born, her dad was killed in a battle by Leningrad (St. Petersburg now) during WWII, so she never knew him. Her mom lived till she was a very old woman in her 90s.  My grandma came to Ukraine for work when she was around sixteen (one of her older sisters was married and living near Dubno).  She met and married my grandpa and then had two boys.  Her whole life she worked as a post woman, walking (never driving) for miles and miles each day. Slowly she learned to speak Ukrainian and forgave me for cutting her head scarf with scissors(something I did when I was three…).

My uncle Alex lives in the same apartment as my grandma. He has a wife and one of the kids still at home.  Mark, Alex and Danilo (technically, Danilo is ther uncle) played so nicely!

And more yummy food:)!

This is all of us—Robert, babushka Valia, me, Alex (my dad’s brother), Natalia (his wife), and all our kids.

We took a short walk from there house towards the place where I went to a preschool type school when I was really little.

That’s how we, as kids, used to sit on this fence.  Mark did not like this idea, he was barely hanging on.

It’s always necessary to let them run around and play a bit on our trips.  It was very touching for me to bring them all to the place where I played when I was their age.

So glad we made it happen.  I think it is important for them to see the place that their mom comes from.  It’s so fun to think about the town where Robert grew up and contrast it with this.  Such different upbringings

All right, I won’t get all philosophical.  Just wanted to  make sure to journal this part of the trip for children to read someday.  It was a lovely trip.

Cheers!