Today was mainly Jim's day. We visited Cholosno where his family lived until they came to Canada in 1928. But on the way we also stopped in Tschernigov where Cathy's grandfather was born, and spent a bit of time in the market there. In Cholosno things got really interesting. Through a few inquiries of several locals, we once again were led to an older German man, although he no longer spoke German. His name was Ivan. He said he was nine years old when his family ...

Today was the day we got to visit the villages of the Guhl/Bartz families. We were in Kremjanka (see pic of road sign in Ukrainian), Karolinow, and Barashe. These were the birthplaces of my Dad, Grandpa Bartz, and Aunt Margaret respectively and all three were within a few kilometers of each other. We would drive into these villages, find some old people, and start asking them questions through Alex, our tour guide. We were very well received by everyone we met. W...

First thing after breakfast today we went to a local market across the road, which happens every Thursday. Basically a giant flea market where everything from clothes, to tools, to paint, to bread, to you name it, (new and used) is sold by vendors who move from town to town in the area. There are no regular stores in the towns with this kind of stuff. Nothing of interest for us to buy, but interesting to observe how the local economy works. Then we headed for Zhi...

We had to get up at 4:00 am and take a taxi to Heathrow airport for our 7:00 am flight to Kiev. Terminal 5 looks very new. It's spacious and well designed, probably the best I've been through. Had breakfast there and the flight went smoothly. No one was at the airport in Kiev to meet us, but eventually Don Miller and Alex, our local guide/interpreter, showed up. Shortly thereafter the rest of the group also arrived. All of our flights were within a hour of each o...

For our last day in London, Jim and I split up for the day. He had a business appointment and some research to do, whereas I wanted to do some more touristy things. The Tube is on strike, with only limited service, so I did a lot of walking. Went past Big Ben more than once (see pic). I visited the Cabinet War Rooms, which display the rooms from which the Brits conducted WW2, as they were at the time. Also a museum dedicated to Winston Churchill's life. Then I wa...