Київ Пасажирський

Kyiv Passenger Station

December 2013

Київ Пасажирський an accidental stereogram.

I don't remember much. The smell, the sounds, the temperature outside, the scratching of my old yet warm sweater. Memories are shrouded in fog, beyond which it is difficult to see anything; Just like the capital that day.

It is December 31, 2013.

It's cold in Kiev. I would say that the first thing we do is head towards the Motherland Monument, but you can't see shit in this fog.

I'll take a quick pause here for a little wink towards the Ukrainian Railways. It's not just about the plackard places, the samovar in the carriage, a tea for 2.50PLN / 0.50EUR (10 years ago); or the potential of meeting your travel companions. All this deserves a separate post. But. At this moment, let me just mention, that it's an overall great way to cover long distances and stay overnight at the same time. There is a train from Lviv, at 23 with minutes, which arrives at the Kiev Passenger Station at 7 in the morning.

▉▉▉

Railway station blues. Less than 20 hours ahead.

January 1, 2014, just before dawn.

Despite the loud festival in the center and people coming from everywhere, there is relative peace at the station. Interrupted occasionally by the musicians accompanying us in the waiting room.

crisis

I never said Canada is perfect. Of course it isn’t. As many developed nations it suffers a lot of problems … housing crisis, opioid crisis, industry against nature or reconciliation with indigenous past.

East Hastings and Gore Ave

What surprised me the most is the general condition of homeless in Vanc. Unlike polish smelly, dissolved in alcohol men or New York’s half-zombified heroinists, folks in Vanc supprise you with how tidy and clean they keep themselves. (Usually inhabiting tents in less popular parks.) Or their manners - trying to earn a honest loonie by holding the door for you when you go to Horton’s for a cup of coffee.

tents at CRAB Park

Industrial Bronx / 01 / Port Morris

Port Morris is a highly industrialized area in the southeastern Bronx. Its name comes from Governor Morris II Jr., a railroad tycoon and son of one of the founding fathers of the United States. Today a bit forgotten, a former port full of warehouses, plants, and power plants. Cut off from the rest of the district on one side by a highway; From Harlem and the rest of the city by a river or an overgrown strait called simply 'the swamp'.

There is some evidence that a British treasure ship went down off the coast of Port Morris during the American Revolutionary War. There were millions of dollars in gold on board. The treasure was never recovered.

Today, the area's population is approximately three and a half thousand, almost half of whom live below the federal poverty line and receive public assistance.

The city is slowly remembering its neglected coast. Gentrification processes have already begun, former warehouses are being transformed into lofts, and pubs and restaurants are springing up here and there. Bold plans are also being formulated to completely revitalize the overgrown coast.